| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: with silver buckles: "The des Grassins have not come?"
"Not yet," said Grandet.
"But are they coming?" asked the old notary, twisting his face, which
had as many holes as a collander, into a queer grimace.
"I think so," answered Madame Grandet.
"Are your vintages all finished?" said Monsieur de Bonfons to Grandet.
"Yes, all of them," said the old man, rising to walk up and down the
room, his chest swelling with pride as he said the words, "all of
them." Through the door of the passage which led to the kitchen he saw
la Grande Nanon sitting beside her fire with a candle and preparing to
spin there, so as not to intrude among the guests.
Eugenie Grandet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Crowd by Gustave le Bon: the world has been so often the scene of the direst disorder, and
that so many millions of men have died on the battlefield, and
will yet die there.
There are great difficulties in the way of establishing a general
belief, but when it is definitely implanted its power is for a
long time to come invincible, and however false it be
philosophically it imposes itself upon the most luminous
intelligence. Have not the European peoples regarded as
incontrovertible for more than fifteen centuries religious
legends which, closely examined, are as barbarous[21] as those of
Moloch? The frightful absurdity of the legend of a God who
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