| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: voice, as though she were reciting a lesson.
"You must know that the Marquess Zanipolo, though a great noble,
is not a rich man. True, he has large estates, but he is a
desperate spendthrift and gambler, and would sell his soul for a
round sum of ready money.--If you turn round I shall not go on!--
He wrangled horribly with my father over my dowry--he wanted me
to have more than either of my sisters, though one married a
Procurator and the other a grandee of Spain. But my father is a
gambler too--oh, such fortunes as are squandered over the arcade
yonder! And so--and so--don't turn, I implore you--oh, do you
begin to see my meaning?"
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: bedroom. After assuring herself that they were quite alone, she drew
from her bosom a soiled and crumpled letter.
"Read that," she said, making a violent effort to say the words.
She fell into a chair, seemingly exhausted. While the old man searched
for his spectacles and rubbed their glasses, she raised her eyes to
him, and seemed to study him with curiosity; then she said in an
altered voice, and very softly,--
"I trust you."
"I am here to share your crime," replied the good man, simply.
She quivered. For the first time in that little town, her soul
sympathized with that of another. The old man now understood both the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: fleeting vision of her own girlhood, with its mournful climacteric
and tragic ebb, was vouchsafed her, and for the moment she was
minded to read him a lesson from it. God! it must be less than
human brute who could not be held by such a tale, told as she
could tell it, but--bah! He was not worth it, nor worth the pain
to her. The candle was positioned just right, and even as she
thought of these things sacredly shameful to her, he was
pleasuring in the transparent pinkiness of her ear. She noted his
eye, took the cue, and turned her head till the clean profile of
the face was presented. Not the least was that profile among her
virtues. She could not help the lines upon which she had been
|
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 Odyssey by Homer: wist not, only I heard the groaning of men slain. And we in
an inmost place of the well-builded chambers sat all
amazed, and the close-fitted doors shut in the room, till
thy son called me from the chamber, for his father sent him
out to that end. Then I found Odysseus standing among the
slain, who around him, stretched on the hard floor, lay one
upon the other; it would have comforted thy heart to see
him, all stained like a lion with blood and soil of battle.
And now are all the wooers gathered in an heap by the gates
of the court, while he is purifying his fair house with
brimstone, and hath kindled a great fire, and hath sent me
The Odyssey |
