| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: beaming with love and joy.
Rosa cast down her eyes, blushing. In her sweet confusion,
she did not observe the lips of Cornelius, which, alas! only
met the cold wire-grating. Yet, in spite of this obstacle,
they communicated to the lips of the young girl the glowing
breath of the most tender kiss.
At this sudden outburst of tenderness, Rosa grew very pale,
-- perhaps paler than she had been on the day of the
execution. She uttered a plaintive sob, closed her fine
eyes, and fled, trying in vain to still the beating of her
heart.
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: table, with a large lamp, which stood on a piece of crochet work,
and the paper shade of which was burnt on one side. The chief
inspector entered, with his usual sad and weary look.
"Take a seat, please. What is it you want?" he said, buttoning up
the middle button of his uniform.
"I have just been to the vice-governor's, and got this order from
him. I should like to see the prisoner Maslova."
"Markova?" asked the inspector, unable to bear distinctly because
of the music.
"Maslova!"
"Well, yes." The inspector got up and went to the door whence
Resurrection |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: "Yes, sir."
"So did I, madam, and I am excessively disappointed. The Carnatic,
its repairs being completed, left Hong Kong twelve hours before
the stated time, without any notice being given; and we must now wait
a week for another steamer."
As he said "a week" Fix felt his heart leap for joy. Fogg detained
at Hong Kong for a week! There would be time for the warrant to arrive,
and fortune at last favoured the representative of the law. His horror
may be imagined when he heard Mr. Fogg say, in his placid voice,
"But there are other vessels besides the Carnatic, it seems to me,
in the harbour of Hong Kong."
Around the World in 80 Days |
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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: All yesterday, and on this day likewise, the commander-in-chief
endeavoured to arouse the magistrates to a sense of their duty, and
in particular the Lord Mayor, who was the faintest-hearted and most
timid of them all. With this object, large bodies of the soldiery
were several times despatched to the Mansion House to await his
orders: but as he could, by no threats or persuasions, be induced
to give any, and as the men remained in the open street,
fruitlessly for any good purpose, and thrivingly for a very bad
one; these laudable attempts did harm rather than good. For the
crowd, becoming speedily acquainted with the Lord Mayor's temper,
did not fail to take advantage of it by boasting that even the
Barnaby Rudge |
