| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: of the lip, instils a sort of terror in those whose lives and
happiness depend upon their favor. A maiden inexperienced in love and
easily moved by words may allow herself to be seduced; but in dealing
with women of this sort, a man must be able, like M. de Jaucourt, to
refrain from crying out when, in hiding him in a closet, the lady's
maid crushes two of his fingers in the crack of a door. To love one of
these omnipotent sirens is to stake one's life, is it not? And that,
perhaps, is why we love them so passionately! Such was the Comtesse de
Lanty.
Filippo, Marianina's brother, inherited, as did his sister, the
Countess' marvelous beauty. To tell the whole story in a word, that
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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 The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: been for your heroic bravery in daring fate to warn us of the
ambuscade we must surely have fallen into the well-laid trap.
Tell me more of yourself--from what country you come, and what
errand brings you to the court of Kulan Tith."
"I am from Hastor," I said, for in truth I had a small palace
in that southern city which lies within the far-flung dominions of
the Heliumetic nation.
"My presence in the land of Kaol is partly due to accident, my
flier being wrecked upon the southern fringe of your great forest.
 The Warlord of Mars |