| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: writing."
"Then you mean to ruin Sechard?" asked Petit-Claud.
"Not exactly; but he must be in jail for some time----"
"And what is the object?"
"Do you think that I am noodle enough to tell you that? If you have
wit enough to find out, you will have sense enough to hold your
tongue."
"Old Sechard has plenty of money," said Petit-Claud. He was beginning
already to enter into Boniface Cointet's notions, and foresaw a
possible cause of failure.
"So long as the father lives, he will not give his son a farthing; and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: business, and at last, in sore perplexity, determined to wait
for the advice of his immediate superior, the class
assistant.
This was a young doctor, Wolfe Macfarlane, a high favourite
among all the reckless students, clever, dissipated, and
unscrupulous to the last degree. He had travelled and
studied abroad. His manners were agreeable and a little
forward. He was an authority on the stage, skilful on the
ice or the links with skate or golf-club; he dressed with
nice audacity, and, to put the finishing touch upon his
glory, he kept a gig and a strong trotting-horse. With
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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 The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: perpendicular crags which formed the last, but greatest,
natural barrier between them and their destination.
It was nearly noon before Tarzan, who headed the thin
line of climbing warriors, scrambled over the top of
the last cliff and stood upon the little flat table-land
of the mountaintop.
On either hand towered mighty peaks thousands of feet
higher than the pass through which they were entering the
forbidden valley. Behind him stretched the wooded valley
across which they had marched for many days, and at the
opposite side the low range which marked the boundary of
The Return of Tarzan |
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 A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: would invariably thwart their ruses and they held her in great
respect.
At various times, Madame Aubain received a visit from the Marquis de
Gremanville, one of her uncles, who was ruined and lived at Falaise on
the remainder of his estates. He always came at dinner-time and
brought an ugly poodle with him, whose paws soiled their furniture. In
spite of his efforts to appear a man of breeding (he even went so far
as to raise his hat every time he said "My deceased father"), his
habits got the better of him, and he would fill his glass a little too
often and relate broad stories. Felicite would show him out very
politely and say: "You have had enough for this time, Monsieur de
A Simple Soul |
