| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: fly like a swallow down the stream.
"You are a sorry fellow," said Jacqueline, giving the officer's
shoulder a familiar slap. "We have earned a hundred gold crowns this
morning."
"I like harboring lords no better than harboring wizards. And I know
not, of the two, which is the more like to bring us to the gallows,"
replied Tirechair, taking up his halbert. "I will go my rounds over by
Champfleuri; God protect us, and send me to meet some pert jade out in
her bravery of gold rings to glitter in the shade like a glow-worm!"
Jacqueline, alone in the house, hastily went up to the unknown lord's
room to discover, if she could, some clue to this mysterious business.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: fail not to return, or we shall seek you out."
And Ripple said she would consent, though she knew not if the jewels
could be found; still, thinking of the promise she had made, she
forgot all else, and told the Spirits what they asked most surely
should be done. So each one gave a little of the fire from their
breasts, and placed the flame in a crystal vase, through which
it shone and glittered like a star.
Then, bidding her remember all she had promised them, they led her
to the golden arch, and said farewell.
So, down along the shining path, through mist and cloud, she
travelled back; till, far below, she saw the broad blue sea she left
Flower Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: considered that they were getting the supper. Pos-
sibly Jane had reflected that she ought to get supper,
then she had taken another stitch in her work and
had not known fairly that her impulse of duty had
not been carried out. Imogen, presumably, was sew-
ing with the serene consciousness that, since she was
herself, it followed as a matter of course that she was
performing all the tasks of the house.
While Annie was making an omelet Benny came
out into the kitchen and stood regarding her, hands
in pockets, making, as usual, one set of muscles rest
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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 Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: in blood-curdling drama had long been her recognized right.
"Yes," she was now saying, her emphatic eyes on Ann Eliza,
"you may not believe it, Miss Bunner, and I don't know's I
should myself if anybody else was to tell me, but over a year
before ever I was born, my mother she went to see a gypsy fortune-
teller that was exhibited in a tent on the Battery with the green-
headed lady, though her father warned her not to--and what you
s'pose she told her? Why, she told her these very words--says she:
'Your next child'll be a girl with jet-black curls, and she'll
suffer from spasms.'"
"Mercy!" murmured Ann Eliza, a ripple of sympathy running down
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