| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: something on my own account."
"That's so," Marie sighed. "There are so
many, many things you can do. Almost any-
thing you choose."
"And there are so many, many things I can't
do." Emil echoed her tone sarcastically. "Some-
times I don't want to do anything at all, and
sometimes I want to pull the four corners of
the Divide together,"--he threw out his arm
O Pioneers! |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: wing, and flies away. But amongst all their birds there is none
more remarkable than the moroc, or honey-bird, which is furnished by
nature with a peculiar instinct or faculty of discovering honey.
They have here multitudes of bees of various kinds; some are tame,
like ours, and form their combs in hives. Of the wild ones, some
place their honey in hollow trees, others hide it in holes in the
ground, which they cover so carefully, that though they are commonly
in the highway, they are seldom found, unless by the moroc's help,
which, when he has discovered any honey, repairs immediately to the
road side, and when he sees a traveller, sings, and claps his wings,
making many motions to invite him to follow him, and when he
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: "Why do you come in without being summoned?" said des Lupeaulx,
harshly, when he and Dutocq were left alone. "Is the State in danger
that you must come here at ten o'clock in the morning, just as I am
going to breakfast with his Excellency?"
"Perhaps it is, monsieur," said Dutocq, dryly. "If I had had the honor
to see you earlier, you would probably have not been so willing to
support Monsieur Rabourdin, after reading his opinion of you."
Dutocq opened his coat, took a paper from the left-hand breast-pocket
and laid it on des Lupeaulx's desk, pointing to a marked passage. Then
he went to the door and slipped the bolt, fearing interruption. While
he was thus employed, the secretary-general read the opening sentence
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: during which the sound of a slow and regular step was heard
approaching. Shortly a human form appeared in the shade of the
corridor, and the young lieutenant, with whom we are already
acquainted, stopped at the threshold to receive the orders of the
baron.
"Come in, my dear John," said Lord de Winter, "come in, and shut
the door."
The young officer entered.
"Now," said the baron, "look at this woman. She is young; she is
beautiful; she possesses all earthly seductions. Well, she is a
monster, who, at twenty-five years of age, has been guilty of as
The Three Musketeers |
