| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: for urgent private affairs in the country, and a present in money; he
promised himself that he would spend both in a little town in
Switzerland, studying the fair sex.
While Monsieur Hulot thus devoted himself to the lady he was
"protecting," he did not forget the young artist. Comte Popinot,
Minister of Commerce, was a patron of Art; he paid two thousand francs
for a copy of the /Samson/ on condition that the mould should be
broken, and that there should be no /Samson/ but his and Mademoiselle
Hulot's. The group was admired by a Prince, to whom the model sketch
for the clock was also shown, and who ordered it; but that again was
to be unique, and he offered thirty thousand francs for it.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: gifts on their Christmas trees! And what a lot of punishment they
will receive from their parents, and how they will flock to our Caves
of Selfishness, and Envy, and Hatred, and Malice! We have done a
mighty clever thing, we Daemons of the Caves!"
Now it so chanced that on this Christmas Eve the good Santa Claus had
taken with him in his sleigh Nuter the Ryl, Peter the Knook, Kilter
the Pixie, and a small fairy named Wisk--his four favorite assistants.
These little people he had often found very useful in helping him to
distribute his gifts to the children, and when their master was so
suddenly dragged from the sleigh they were all snugly tucked
underneath the seat, where the sharp wind could not reach them.
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: with ropes, who righted the vehicle, and got it quickly to dry
land, and disappeared at once with a herd of cattle, uttering
lusty yells.
She saw the tall one delaying beside the driver, and speaking. He
spoke so quietly that not a word reached her, until of a sudden
the driver protested loudly. The man had thrown something, which
turned out to be a bottle. This twisted loftily and dived into
the stream. He said something more to the driver, then put his
hand on the saddle-horn, looked half-lingeringly at the passenger
on the bank, dropped his grave eyes from hers, and swinging upon
his horse, was gone just as the passenger opened her mouth and
The Virginian |
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 Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: lace, and buttons, a Commander of the Royal Navy's full-dress
uniform -- dress sword, cocked hat, shiny patent leather boots
and all. We literally gasped.
'What!' we said, 'what! Are you going to put those things on?'
'Certainly,' he answered composedly; 'you see so much depends
upon a first impression, especially,' he added, 'as I observe
that there are ladies about. One at least of us ought to be
decently dressed.'
We said no more; we were simply dumbfounded, especially when
we considered the artful way in which Good had concealed the
contents of that box for all these months. Only one suggestion
Allan Quatermain |
