| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: you, for against this woman I can hold my own, seeing that you were
mine before you became hers, and are mine after it. But with the
children it is otherwise. They are hers and yours alone. I have
no part nor lot in them, and whether they be dead or living I know
well you love them always, and will love them beyond the grave if
you may find them there. Already I grow old, who waited twenty
years and more before I was your wife, and I shall give you no
other children. One I gave you, and God took it back lest I should
be too happy; yet its name was not on your lips with those strange
names. My dead babe is little to you, husband!'
Here she choked, bursting into tears; nor did I think it well to
Montezuma's Daughter |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: out of curiosity to see one whose name was familiar from pole to pole,
crowded behind their fellows.
As my identity was revealed I saw Dejah Thoris spring to her feet--
amazement writ large upon her face--and then through that jam of
armed men she forced her way before any could prevent. A moment
only and she was before me with outstretched arms and eyes filled
with the light of her great love.
"John Carter! John Carter!" she cried as I folded her to my breast,
and then of a sudden I knew why she had denied me in the garden
The Warlord of Mars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: to leave her absolute mistress of the house. Well, and yet it is
enough to awaken one's vanity to see how frightened he is of seeming
to listen to me. I must be in the right ten times over if he concedes
a single point.'
"(Emphatic negative gestures from du Bruel at every other word.)
" 'Oh, yes, yes,' she continued quickly, in answer to this mute
dissent. 'I know all about it, du Bruel, my dear, I that have been
like a queen in my house all my life till I married you. My wishes
were guessed, fulfilled, and more than fulfilled. After all, I am
thirty-five, and at five-and-thirty a woman cannot expect to be loved.
Ah, if I were a girl of sixteen, if I had not lost something that is
|
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 Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: you'll go back to town. You can get all the tobacco you want
there--and you're wasting your time here." I leaned on my broom
and looked down at him, but he was stretching out his foot and
painfully working his ankle up and down.
"Am I?" he asked, looking at his foot. "Well, don't count on it
too much, Minnie. You always inspire me, and sitting here I've
just thought of something."
He got up and hobbled off the porch, followed by Mr. von Inwald.
I saw him say something to Mr. von Inwald, who threw back his
head and laughed. Then I saw them stop and shake hands and go on
again in deep conversation. I felt uneasy.
|
