| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: orders, was waiting for him with a request that he would follow her.
"Monsieur," said Ursule, a woman of canonical age, conducting the Abbe
de Rastignac by the gallery through the garden, "Monsieur Bonnet told
me to ask if you had breakfasted. You must have left Limoges very
early to get here by ten o'clock. I will soon have breakfast ready for
you. Monsieur l'abbe will not find a table like that of Monseigneur
the bishop in this poor village, but we will do the best we can.
Monsieur Bonnet will soon be in; he has gone to comfort those poor
people, the Tascherons. Their son has met with a terrible end to-day."
"But," said the Abbe Gabriel, when he could get in a word, "where is
the house of those worthy persons? I must take Monsieur Bonnet at once
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: till he reached a lonely spot down by the river, just where the bridge
has since been built at the junction of the Canal Saint-Martin and the
Seine. Here he sat down on a stone, and I, sitting opposite to him,
saw the old man's hair gleaming like threads of silver in the
moonlight. The stillness was scarcely troubled by the sound of the
far-off thunder of traffic along the boulevards; the clear night air
and everything about us combined to make a strangely unreal scene.
"You talk of millions to a young man," I began, "and do you think that
he will shrink from enduring any number of hardships to gain them? Are
you not laughing at me?"
"May I die unshriven," he cried vehemently, "if all that I am about to
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to ask it; nor could I doubt their sincerity, since we had been
so instrumental in bringing them safely upon their journey
toward the Kro-lu village.
This was our last day together. In the afternoon we should
separate, To-mar and So-al going directly to the Kro-lu
village, while Ajor and I made a detour to avoid a conflict
with the archers. The former both showed evidence of nervous
apprehension as the time approached for them to make their
entry into the village of their new people, and yet both were
very proud and happy. They told us that they would be well
received as additions to a tribe always are welcomed, and the
The People That Time Forgot |
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 Persuasion by Jane Austen: and then Elizabeth was happy again. These were her internal persuasions:
"Old fashioned notions; country hospitality; we do not profess
to give dinners; few people in Bath do; Lady Alicia never does;
did not even ask her own sister's family, though they were here a month:
and I dare say it would be very inconvenient to Mrs Musgrove;
put her quite out of her way. I am sure she would rather not come;
she cannot feel easy with us. I will ask them all for an evening;
that will be much better; that will be a novelty and a treat.
They have not seen two such drawing rooms before. They will be delighted
to come to-morrow evening. It shall be a regular party, small,
but most elegant." And this satisfied Elizabeth: and when the invitation
Persuasion |
