| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: Clochegourde was a great event to the neighborhood. I reflected
gloomily that she was a great lady, and the thought made me conscious
of the spirit of caste in the daughter which the nobility of her
sentiments had hitherto hidden from me. Who was I--poor,
insignificant, and with no future but my courage and my faculties? I
did not then think of the consequences of the Restoration either for
me or for others. On Sunday morning, from the private chapel where I
sat with Monsieur and Madame de Chessel and the Abbe de Quelus, I cast
an eager glance at another lateral chapel occupied by the duchess and
her daughter, the count and his children. The large straw hat which
hid my idol from me did not tremble, and this unconsciousness of my
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: whistling of bullets and the flashing of swords, dealing blows to all,
and heeding not those aimed at himself. More than once their father
marvelled too at Andrii, seeing him, stirred only by a flash of
impulse, dash at something which a sensible man in cold blood never
would have attempted, and, by the sheer force of his mad attack,
accomplish such wonders as could not but amaze even men grown old in
battle. Old Taras admired and said, "And he too will make a good
warrior if the enemy does not capture him meanwhile. He is not Ostap,
but he is a dashing warrior, nevertheless."
The army decided to march straight on the city of Dubno, which, rumour
said, contained much wealth and many rich inhabitants. The journey was
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: Clayton--I, at least, with a sort of tight, stiff feeling about me
as though from the back of my skull to the middle of my thighs my
body had been changed to steel. And there, with a gravity that was
imperturbably serene, Clayton bowed and swayed and waved his hands
and arms before us. As he drew towards the end one piled up, one
tingled in one's teeth. The last gesture, I have said, was to swing
the arms out wide open, with the face held up. And when at last he
swung out to this closing gesture I ceased even to breathe. It was
ridiculous, of course, but you know that ghost-story feeling. It was
after dinner, in a queer, old shadowy house. Would he, after all--?
There he stood for one stupendous moment, with his arms open and his
|
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 Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: certainly have made a guilty woman turn pale, but which Celestine
received with unruffled brow and a laughing eye.
"And he is coming back to dinner," she said. "Why that startled air?"
"My dear," replied Rabourdin, "I have mortally offended des Lupeaulx;
such men never forgive, and yet he fawns upon me! Do you think I don't
see why?"
"The man seems to me," she said, "to have good taste; you can't expect
me to blame him. I really don't know anything more flattering to a
woman than to please a worn-out palate. After--"
"A truce to nonsense, Celestine. Spare a much-tried man. I cannot get
an audience of the minister, and my honor is at stake."
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