| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: doctor, Lorrain.
"Then it is certain?" said the prince.
"Prince, humanum est errare,* but..." replied the doctor, swallowing
his r's, and pronouncing the Latin words with a French accent.
*To err is human.
"Very well, very well..."
Seeing Anna Mikhaylovna and her son, Prince Vasili dismissed the
doctor with a bow and approached them silently and with a look of
inquiry. The son noticed that an expression of profound sorrow
suddenly clouded his mother's face, and he smiled slightly.
"Ah, Prince! In what sad circumstances we meet again! And how is our
War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: carriage arrived below, La Palferine had skilfully piloted the
conversation to the subject of the functions of his visitor, whom he
has since called 'the unmitigated misery man,' and learned the nature
of his duties and his stipend.
" 'Do they allow you a carriage to go about the town in this way?'
" 'Oh! no.'
"At that La Palferine and a friend who happened to be with him went
downstairs with the poor soul, and insisted on putting him into the
carriage. It was raining in torrents. La Palferine had thought of
everything. He offered to drive the official to the next house on his
list; and when the almoner came down again, he found the carriage
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: box, which would only be opened on his return.
The monks came from the North of the Empire. Three
months before they had left the town of Archangel. They
had visited the sacred islands near the coast of Carelia, the
convent of Solovetsk, the convent of Troitsa, those of Saint
Antony and Saint Theodosia, at Kiev, that of Kazan, as well
as the church of the Old Believers, and they were now on
their way to Irkutsk, wearing the robe, the cowl, and the
clothes of serge.
As to the papa, or priest, he was a plain village pastor,
one of the six hundred thousand popular pastors which the
|
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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: across his bed in the wildest disorder imaginable, but at the same time in
the most lamentable attitude of a man borne down with sorrows, that ever
the eye of pity dropp'd a tear for.--The palm of his right hand, as he fell
upon the bed, receiving his forehead, and covering the greatest part of
both his eyes, gently sunk down with his head (his elbow giving way
backwards) till his nose touch'd the quilt;--his left arm hung insensible
over the side of the bed, his knuckles reclining upon the handle of the
chamber-pot, which peep'd out beyond the valance--his right leg (his left
being drawn up towards his body) hung half over the side of the bed, the
edge of it pressing upon his shin bone--He felt it not. A fix'd,
inflexible sorrow took possession of every line of his face.--He sigh'd
|
