| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Land of Footprints by Stewart Edward White: fairly over us I saw it must be now or never. If I allowed him to
come closer, he must indubitably catch the first movement of my
gun and so charge right on us before I would have time to deliver
even an ineffective shot. Therefore, most reluctantly, I placed
the ivory bead of the great Holland gun just to the point of his
shoulder and pulled the trigger. So close was he that as he
toppled forward I instinctively, though unnecessarily of course,
shrank back as though he might fall on me. Fortunately I had
picked my spot properly, and no second shot was necessary. He
fell just twenty-seven feet-nine yards -from where we lay!
The buffalo vanished into the blue. We were left with a dead
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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 Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: room, where luxury seemed nothing more than good taste.
"Until this evening," said Mme. de Beauseant, turning her head to
give the Marquis a glance. "We are going to the Bouffons, are we
not?"
"I cannot go," he said, with his fingers on the door handle.
Mme. de Beauseant rose and beckoned to him to return. She did not
pay the slightest attention to Eugene, who stood there dazzled by
the sparkling marvels around him; he began to think that this was
some story out of the Arabian Nights made real, and did not know
where to hide himself, when the woman before him seemed to be
unconscious of his existence. The Vicomtesse had raised the
Father Goriot |
