| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: as happened often. His irascibility was so far beyond belief that I
will tell you nothing about it; you will have the opportunity of
judging of it. No one could be calm in his presence. I alone, perhaps,
was not afraid of him; he had indeed taken such a singular fancy to me
that he thought everything I did right. When he was in a rage his brow
was knit and the muscles of the middle of his forehead set in a delta,
or, to be more explicit, in Redgauntlet's horseshoe. This mark was,
perhaps, even more terrifying than the magnetic flashes of his blue
eyes. His whole frame quivered, and his strength, great as it was in
his normal state, became almost unbounded.
"He spoke with a strong guttural roll. His voice, at least as powerful
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: repress the habit of snivelling or to remove the brown blotches which
strewed the frills of their dingy shirts and the yellowing creases of
their crumpled collars. Their flabby cravats were twisted into ropes
as soon as they wound them about their throats. The enormous quantity
of linen which allowed these people to have their clothing washed only
once in six months, and to keep it during that time in the depths of
their closets, also enabled time to lay its grimy and decaying stains
upon it. There was perfect unison of ill-grace and senility about
them; their faces, as faded as their threadbare coats, as creased as
their trousers, were worn-out, shrivelled-up, and puckered. As for the
others, the general negligence of their dress, which was incomplete
Eugenie Grandet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: hands upon his knees, and say, "In the name of Zeus, the
father of Gods and men, I am your guest from this day
forth."'
Then the lad went in without trembling, for he too was a
hero's son; but when he was within, he stopped in wonder to
listen to that magic song.
And there he saw the singer lying upon bear-skins and
fragrant boughs: Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of
all things beneath the sky. Down to the waist he was a man,
but below he was a noble horse; his white hair rolled down
over his broad shoulders, and his white beard over his broad
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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 Koran: stability! Whoso does evil, he shall only be recompensed with the like
thereof; and whoso does right, be it male or female and a believer,
these shall enter into Paradise; they shall be provided therein
without count. O my people! why should I call you to salvation, and
you call me to the fire? Ye call on me to disbelieve in God, and to
join with Him what I have no knowledge of; but I call you to the
mighty forgiving One! no doubt that what ye call me to, ought not to
be called on in this world or in the hereafter, and that we shall be
sent back to God, and that the extravagant, they are the fellows of
the Fire!
'But ye shall remember what I say to you; and I entrust my affair to
The Koran |
