| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: was gathered to is fathers. (2)
When Sharpe first heard of the rebellion, he applied to Sir
Alexander Ramsay, the Provost, for soldiers to guard his
house. Disliking their occupation, the soldiers gave him an
ugly time of it. All the night through they kept up a
continuous series of 'alarms and incursions,' 'cries of
"Stand!" "Give fire!"' etc., which forced the prelate to flee
to the Castle in the morning, hoping there to find the rest
which was denied him at home. (3) Now, however, when all
danger to himself was past, Sharpe came out in his true
colours, and scant was the justice likely to be shown to the
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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 Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: to reveal to him a secret defaulting she had never been willing to
admit to herself, for she had steadily advanced to the abyss, relying
on some chance accident, which never happened, to relieve her. There
rose in her soul a feeling against Paul, that was neither dislike, nor
aversion, nor anything, as yet, unkind; but HE was the cause of this
crisis; the opposing party in this secret suit; he became, without
knowing it, an innocent enemy she was forced to conquer. What human
being did ever yet love his or her dupe? Compelled to deceive and
trick him if she could, the Spanish woman resolved, like other women,
to put her whole force of character into the struggle, the dishonor of
which could be absolved by victory only.
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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 Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: when he had again attained a new height, the ferryboat had
left the shore and was making for the opposite bank. Raoul,
seeing that he could not arrive in time to cross the ferry
with the travelers, halted to wait for Olivain. At this
moment a shriek was heard that seemed to come from the
river. Raoul turned toward the side whence the cry had
sounded, and shaded his eyes from the glare of the setting
sun with his hand.
"Olivain!" he exclaimed, "what do I see below there?"
A second scream, more piercing than the first, now sounded.
"Oh, sir!" cried Olivain, "the rope which holds the
Twenty Years After |
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 Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: conformation it was similar to a cat--a huge cat,
exaggerated colossal cat, with fiendish eyes and the most
devilish cast of countenance, as it wrinkled its bristling
snout and bared its great yellow fangs.
It was pacing, or rather, slinking, straight for Delcarte,
who had now leveled his rifle upon it.
"What is it, sir?" mumbled Snider again, and then a half-
forgotten picture from an old natural history sprang to my
mind, and I recognized in the frightful beast the Felis
tigris of ancient Asia, specimens of which had, in former
centuries, been exhibited in the Western Hemisphere.
Lost Continent |
