| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: better satisfied if you appoint Baudoyer."
"Appoint Baudoyer!" echoed the minister. "Do you know him?"
"Yes," said des Lupeaulx; "but suppose he proves incapable, as he
will, you can then get rid of him by asking those who protect him to
employ him elsewhere. You will thus get back an important office to
give to friends; it may come in at the right moment to facilitate some
compromise."
"But I have pledged it to Rabourdin."
"That may be; and I don't ask you to make the change this very day. I
know the danger of saying yes and no within twenty-four hours. But
postpone the appointment, and don't sign the papers till the day 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 Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: praise does not aid thee a whit to increase in any one's esteem;
indeed, I hold thee in less esteem. Son, I chasten thee; but to
what end? It is of little use to advise a fool. He only wastes
his strength in vain who tries to cure the madness of a fool, and
the wisdom that one teaches and expounds is worthless, wasted and
unemployed, unless it is expressed in works." Then Meleagant was
sorely enraged and furious. I may truly say that never could you
see a mortal man so full of anger as he was; the last bond
between them was broken then, as he spoke to his father these
ungracious words: "Are you in a dream or trance, when you say
that I am mad to tell you how my matters stand? I thought I had
|
