| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: the painter's back was turned.
"Should I be likely to have our portraits painted by an artist who
wasn't decorated?" returned the former bottle-dealer.
Elie Magus here bowed to the Vervelle family and went away. Grassou
accompanied him to the landing.
"There's no one but you who would fish up such whales."
"One hundred thousand francs of 'dot'!"
"Yes, but what a family!"
"Three hundred thousand francs of expectations, a house in the rue
Boucherat, and a country-house at Ville d'Avray!"
"Bottles and corks! bottles and corks!" said the painter; "they set my
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: When Claus awoke he rubbed his eyes again, and laughed, and spoke
aloud his thanks to the Fairies and the Master Woodsman who had sent
them. With eager joy he examined all his new possessions, wondering
what some might be used for. But, in the days when he had clung to
the girdle of the great Ak and visited the cities of men, his eyes
had been quick to note all the manners and customs of the race to
which he belonged; so he guessed from the gifts brought by the
Fairies that the Master expected him hereafter to live in the fashion
of his fellow-creatures.
"Which means that I must plow the earth and plant corn," he reflected;
"so that when winter comes I shall have garnered food in plenty."
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: t'fooil gangs banning und raving to his cham'er, makking dacent
fowks dig thur fingers i' thur lugs fur varry shame; un' the knave,
why he can caint his brass, un' ate, un' sleep, un' off to his
neighbour's to gossip wi' t' wife. I' course, he tells Dame
Catherine how her fathur's goold runs into his pocket, and her
fathur's son gallops down t' broad road, while he flees afore to
oppen t' pikes!" Now, Miss Linton, Joseph is an old rascal, but no
liar; and, if his account of Heathcliff's conduct be true, you
would never think of desiring such a husband, would you?'
'You are leagued with the rest, Ellen!' she replied. 'I'll not
listen to your slanders. What malevolence you must have to wish to
Wuthering Heights |
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 A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: nobody is stronger, except myself. Yes, a person that doubts that
he is fine to see should see him in his beaded buck-skins, on my
back and his rifle peeping above his shoulder, chasing a hostile
trail, with me going like the wind and his hair streaming out
behind from the shelter of his broad slouch. Yes, he is a sight to
look at then - and I'm part of it myself.
I am his favorite horse, out of dozens. Big as he is, I have
carried him eighty-one miles between nightfall and sunrise on the
scout; and I am good for fifty, day in and day out, and all the
time. I am not large, but I am built on a business basis. I have
carried him thousands and thousands of miles on scout duty for the
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