| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: pain. "It concerns my life, my whole being, my inward self; it
contains a secret you must know or I must die in despair. It also
concerns you, who, unawares, are the lady in whose hand is the crown
promised to the victor in the tournament!"
Then I related to her my childhood and youth, not as I have told it to
you, judged from a distance, but in the language of a young man whose
wounds are still bleeding. My voice was like the axe of a woodsman in
the forest. At every word the dead years fell with echoing sound,
bristling with their anguish like branches robbed of their foliage. I
described to her in feverish language many cruel details which I have
here spared you. I spread before her the treasure of my radiant hopes,
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: Mary sprang up the last step and saw the two
confronting each other. She had heard the angry voices
from below.
"Why, Ella, what's the matter?" she gasped.
"He was trying to break into your room----"
Jim threw up his hands in a gesture of rage, and
Mary broke into a laugh.
"Why, nonsense, Ella, I asked him to come! This is
Mr. Anthony,"--her voice dropped,--"my fiance."
Ella's figure relaxed with a look of surprise.
"Oh, ja?" she murmured, as if dazed.
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