| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: They told me that a mysterious crime had happened in your
neighbourhood, and sent me here to take charge of it. You will
pardon any ignorance I may show as a stranger to this locality.
I will do my best and it may be possible that I can help you."
The Count introduced the other gentlemen in order and they sat down
again at the table.
"And now what is it you want me for, Count?" asked Muller.
"There was a murder committed in this house," answered the Count.
"When?"
"Last night."
"Who is the victim?"
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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 Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: everybody suspected that he was going bankrupt. Godefroid married his
beloved Isaure and took shares in the mines to the value of a hundred
thousand francs. The Nucingens gave a ball even more splendid than
people expected of them on the occasion of the wedding; Delphine's
present to the bride was a charming set of rubies. Isaure danced, a
happy wife, a girl no longer. The little Baroness was more than ever a
Shepherdess of the Alps. The ball was at its height when Malvina, the
Andalouse of Musset's poem, heard du Tillet's voice drily advising her
to take Desroches. Desroches, warmed to the right degree by Rastignac
and Nucingen, tried to come to an understanding financially; but at
the first hint of shares in the mines for the bride's portion, he
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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 Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: "He is right," said Blondet. "What times we live in, gentlemen! When
the fire of intelligence appears among us, it is promptly quenched by
haphazard legislation. Almost all our lawgivers come up from little
parishes where they studied human nature through the medium of the
newspapers; forthwith they shut down the safety-valve, and when the
machinery blows up there is weeping and gnashing of teeth! We do
nothing nowadays but pass penal laws and levy taxes. Will you have the
sum of it all!--There is no religion left in the State!"
"Oh, bravo, Blondet!" cried Bixiou, "thou hast set thy finger on the
weak spot. Meddlesome taxation has lost us more victories here in
France than the vexatious chances of war. I once spent seven years in
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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 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: There was the story of Doffue Martling, a large blue-bearded
Dutchman, who had nearly taken a British frigate with an old iron
nine-pounder from a mud breastwork, only that his gun burst at
the sixth discharge. And there was an old gentleman who shall be
nameless, being too rich a mynheer to be lightly mentioned, who,
in the battle of White Plains, being an excellent master of
defence, parried a musket-ball with a small-sword, insomuch that
he absolutely felt it whiz round the blade, and glance off at the
hilt; in proof of which he was ready at any time to show the
sword, with the hilt a little bent. There were several more that
had been equally great in the field, not one of whom but was
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
