| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: circumstances are grave and it will be necessary to act
promptly."
"Still!" said the queen. "I thought that we were finally
quit of Monsieur de Beaufort."
"Yes, you saw only the torrent that threatened to overturn
everything and you gave no attention to the still water.
There is, however, a proverb current in France relating to
water which is quiet."
"Continue," said the queen.
"Well, then, madame, not a day passes in which I do not
suffer affronts from your princes and your lordly servants,
Twenty Years After |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: of him, she caught his shoulders, and looked keenly, steadily,
into his eyes.
"Hugh!" she cried, in a desperate whisper,--"oh, boy, not that!
for God's sake, not that!"
The vacant laugh went off his face, and he answered her in a
muttered word or two that drove her away. Yet the words were
kindly enough. Sitting there on his pallet, she cried silently
a hopeless sort of tears, but did not speak again. The man
looked up furtively at her now and then. Whatever his own
trouble was, her distress vexed him with a momentary sting.
It was market-day. The narrow window of the jail looked down
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: Father Goriot
Sarrasine
Carigliano, Duchesse de
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Peasantry
The Member for Arcis
Guillaume
Cesar Birotteau
Lebas, Joseph
Cesar Birotteau
Cousin Betty
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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 Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: hair, and said it was grown long and silky, and he said they would go back
to Denmark now. He asked her why her feet were bare, and what the marks on
her back were. Then he put her head on his shoulder, and picked her up,
and carried her away, away! She laughed--she could feel her face against
his brown beard. His arms were so strong.
As she lay there dreaming, with the ants running over her naked feet, and
with her brown curls lying in the sand, a Hottentot came up to her. He was
dressed in ragged yellow trousers, and a dirty shirt, and torn jacket. He
had a red handkerchief round his head, and a felt hat above that. His nose
was flat, his eyes like slits, and the wool on his head was gathered into
little round balls. He came to the milk-bush, and looked at the little
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