| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: again forward. Neither of us spoke.
Suddenly, at a great distance down the passage, much further
than I had been able to see before, I saw what appeared to be a
white wall extending directly across our path.
I called to Harry and pointed it out to him. He nodded
vaguely, as though in wonder that I should have troubled him about
so slight an object of interest, and crawled on.
But the white wall became whiter still, and soon I saw that it
was not a wall. A wild hope surged through me; I felt the blood
mount dizzily to my head, and I stilled the clamor that beat at my
temples by an extreme effort of the will. "It can't be," I said to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: house, which was falling to ruins, and was held together at each story
by iron cross-bars. The deceased proprietor had succeeded in getting
rid of all competitors, and had made his business a monopoly. In spite
of a few slight defects of education, his heiress was able to carry it
along, and take care of her stores, which were in coachhouses,
stables, and old workshops, where she fought the vermin with eminent
success. Not troubled with desk or ledgers, for she could neither read
nor write, she answered a letter with a blow of her fist, considering
it an insult. In the main she was a good woman, with a high-colored
face, and a foulard tied over her cap, who mastered with bugle voice
the wagoners when they brought the merchandise; such squabbles usually
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: not wholly unknown in the world; I have set my name at length, to
be a mark of infamy to mankind, if they shall find I deceive
them.
In one thing I must desire to be forgiven, that I talk more
sparingly of home-affairs: As it will be imprudence to discover
secrets of state, so it would be dangerous to my person; but in
smaller matters, and that are not of publick consequence, I shall
be very free; and the truth of my conjectures will as much appear
from those as the other. As for the most signal events abroad in
France, Flanders, Italy and Spain, I shall make no scruple to
predict them in plain terms: Some of them are of importance, and
|
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 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: "The blackguard!" I cried indignantly.
"Not at all. He is, on the contrary, a patriot. Think what he
stands to lose. I admire the man myself."
But I could not look at it in Poirot's philosophical way.
"And this is the man with whom Mrs. Cavendish has been wandering
about all over the country!" I cried indignantly.
"Yes. I should fancy he had found her very useful," remarked
Poirot. "So long as gossip busied itself in coupling their names
together, any other vagaries of the doctor's passed unobserved."
"Then you think he never really cared for her?" I asked
eagerly--rather too eagerly, perhaps, under the circumstances.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
