| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: liarity I perceived in her was a slight hesitation in
her utterance, a sort of preliminary stammer which
passes away with the first word. When sharply
spoken to, she was apt to lose her head at once; but
her heart was of the kindest. She had never been
heard to express a dislike for a single human being,
and she was tender to every living creature. She
was devoted to Mrs. Smith, to Mr. Smith, to their
dogs, cats, canaries; and as to Mrs. Smith's grey
parrot, its peculiarities exercised upon her a posi-
tive fascination. Nevertheless, when that outland-
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: about a hiding-place.
Once she came in from the garden, all upset. A moment before (and she
showed the place), the father and daughter had appeared to her, one
after the other; they did nothing but look at her.
During several months she remained inert in her room. Felicite scolded
her gently; she must keep up for her son and also for the other one,
for "her memory."
"Her memory!" replied Madame Aubain, as if she were just awakening,
"Oh! yes, yes, you do not forget her!" This was an allusion to the
cemetery where she had been expressly forbidden to go
But Felicite went there every day. At four o'clock exactly, she would
A Simple Soul |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: Old Clousier's personal appearance was remarkable for a broad, high
forehead and two bushes of white hair which stood out from his head on
either side of it. His highly colored complexion and well-developed
corpulence might have made persons think, in spite of his actual
sobriety, that he cultivated Bacchus as well as Troplong and Toullier.
His half-extinct voice was the sign of an oppressive asthma. Perhaps
the dry air of Montegnac had contributed to fix him there. He lived in
a house arranged for him by a well-to-do cobbler to whom it belonged.
Clousier had already seen Veronique at church, and he had formed his
opinion of her without communicating it to any one, not even to
Monsieur Bonnet, with whom he was beginning to be intimate. For the
|
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 Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: round awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy thro'
labor and want of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep,
and continued so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind
enough to rouse me. This was, therefore, the first house I was in,
or slept in, in Philadelphia.
Walking down again toward the river, and, looking in the faces
of people, I met a young Quaker man, whose countenance I lik'd, and,
accosting him, requested he would tell me where a stranger could
get lodging. We were then near the sign of the Three Mariners.
"Here," says he, "is one place that entertains strangers, but it
is not a reputable house; if thee wilt walk with me, I'll show thee
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
