| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: indicated distraction of mind. "Better rest a minute," he said.
"It may be better then--or it may be worse. If only I had some of my
medicines here! I'm Court-Physician, you know," he added, aside to me.
"Shall I go and get you some blackberries, darling?" Sylvie whispered,
with her arms round his neck; and she kissed away a tear that was
trickling down his cheek.
Bruno brightened up in a moment. "That are a good plan!" he exclaimed.
"I thinks my foot would come quite unhurted, if I eated a blackberry--
two or three blackberries--six or seven blackberries--"
Sylvie got up hastily. "I'd better go she said, aside to me, before he
gets into the double figures!
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: when the Northern Express thundered over the long bridge to the
railway station. A passenger who was alone in a second-class
compartment stood up to collect his few belongings. Suddenly he
looked up as he heard a voice, a voice which he had learned to know
only very recently, calling to him from the door of the compartment.
"Why! you were in the train too? You have come to Venice?"
exclaimed Joseph Muller in astonishment as he saw Mrs. Bernauer
standing there before him.
"Yes, I have come to Venice too. I must be with my dear lady - when
- when Herbert - " She had begun quite calmly, but she did not
finish her sentence, for loud sobs drowned the words.
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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 Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: Tours bold enough to take up your defence; for I know the provinces
and men and things, and, better still, I know self-interests. But
these friends of yours, though full of the best intentions, are
leading you astray into a bad path, from which you won't be able to
extricate yourself. Take my advice; if you want to live in peace,
resign the vicariat of Saint-Gatien and leave Tours. Don't say where
you are going, but find some distant parish where Troubert cannot get
hold of you."
"Leave Tours!" exclaimed the vicar, with indescribable terror.
To him it was a kind of death; the tearing up of all the roots by
which he held to life. Celibates substitute habits for feelings; and
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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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: excursions.
Patience once enabled me to find her, at ten o'clock in the
evening, taking the air on the flat roof of her house, where she
was doubtless waiting for the game to pass. Startled by the light
of my candle, the lover of darkness at once returned indoors,
refusing to reveal any of her secrets. Only, next day, there was
one more corpse hanging from the wall of the cabin, a proof that
the chase was successfully resumed after my departure.
The Clotho, who is not only nocturnal, but also excessively shy,
conceals her habits from us; she shows us her works, those precious
historical documents, but hides her actions, especially the laying,
The Life of the Spider |
