| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: there since late in the preceding autumn. It was a welcome sight for the eyes
of a tired and weary hunter. The tender kiss of his comely wife, the cries of
the delighted children, and the crackling of the fire warmed his heart and
made him feel how good it was to be home again after a three days' march in
the woods. Placing his rifle in a corner and throwing aside his wet hunting
coat, he turned and stood with his back to the bright blaze. Still young and
vigorous, Colonel Zane was a handsome man. Tall, though not heavy, his frame
denoted great strength and endurance. His face was smooth, his heavy eyebrows
met in a straight line; his eyes were dark and now beamed with a kindly light;
his jaw was square and massive; his mouth resolute; in fact, his whole face
was strikingly expressive of courage and geniality. A great wolf dog had
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: heart beat with a soft and rapturous surprise; so exquisite a
promise she read in the summons of that hyaline distance.
"And so death is not the end after all," in sheer gladness she
heard herself exclaiming aloud. "I always knew that it couldn't
be. I believed in Darwin, of course. I do still; but then
Darwin himself said that he wasn't sure about the soul--at least,
I think he did--and Wallace was a spiritualist; and then there
was St. George Mivart--"
Her gaze lost itself in the ethereal remoteness of the mountains.
"How beautiful! How satisfying!" she murmured. "Perhaps now I
shall really know what it is to live."
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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 Juana by Honore de Balzac: life in Paris, it is impossible to doubt the necessity of religion;
and yet Paris is situated in the forty-eighth degree of latitude,
while Tarragona is in the forty-first. The old question of climates is
still useful to narrators to explain the sudden denouements, the
imprudences, or the resistances of love.
Montefiore kept his eyes fixed on the exquisite black profile
projected by the gleam upon the wall. Neither he nor Juana could see
each other; a troublesome cornice, vexatiously placed, deprived them
of the mute correspondence which may be established between a pair of
lovers as they bend to each other from their windows. Thus the mind
and the attention of the captain were concentrated on that luminous
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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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: At last they spied him out, and, gladly welcoming him, bade him join
in their dance. But Thistledown was too sad for that, and when he
told them all his story they no longer urged, but sought to comfort
him; and one whom they called little Sparkle (for her crown and robe
shone with the brightest diamonds), said: "You will have to work
for us, ere you can win a gift to show the Brownies; do you see
those golden bells that make such music, as we wave them to and fro?
We worked long and hard ere they were won, and you can win one of
those, if you will do the task we give you."
And Thistle said, "No task will be too hard for me to do for dear
Lily-Bell's sake."
Flower Fables |
