| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: hill, and when they knew what it was that sat upon my shoulders, they
were smitten with fear. Yet they did not run, because of their great
wonder, only they walked backward before me, clinging each to each and
saying nothing. I too came on silently, till at length I reached the
kraal, and before its gates sat the old woman basking in the sun of
the afternoon. Presently she looked up and cried:--
"'What ails you, people of my house, that you walk backwards like men
bewitched, and who is that tall and deathly man who comes toward you?'
"But still they drew on backward, saying no word, the little children
clinging to the women, the women clinging to the men, till they had
passed the old wife and ranged themselves behind her like a regiment
Nada the Lily |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: might have to be referred to the corporation counsel, Judge
Bowker. What his opinion would be was past finding out. He was
beyond the reach of "pulls," and followed the law to the letter.
The minority--a minority of two, the president and the veterinary
surgeon--began to distrust the spirit of McGaw's adherents. It
looked to the president as if a "deal" were in the air.
The Scotchman, practical, sober-minded, sensible man as he was,
had old- fashioned ideas of honesty and fair play. He had liked
Tom from the first time he saw her,--he had looked after her
stables professionally,--and he did not intend to see her, dead or
alive, thrown out, without making a fight for her.
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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 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: I believe: and how do you like the rest of the family?"
"Very, very much indeed: Isabella particularly."
"I am very glad to hear you say so; she is just the
kind of young woman I could wish to see you attached to;
she has so much good sense, and is so thoroughly
unaffected and amiable; I always wanted you to know her;
and she seems very fond of you. She said the highest
things in your praise that could possibly be; and the
praise of such a girl as Miss Thorpe even you, Catherine,"
taking her hand with affection, "may be proud of."
"Indeed I am," she replied; "I love her exceedingly,
Northanger Abbey |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: had a stove called a /chauffe-doux/; the floor, carefully polished by
Dame Tirechair's apprentices, shone like the woodwork of a shrine.
Instead of stools, the lodgers had deep chairs of carved walnut, the
spoils probably of some raided castle. Two chests with pewter
mouldings, and tables on twisted legs, completed the fittings, worthy
of the most fastidious knights-banneret whom business might bring to
Paris.
The windows of those two rooms looked out on the river. From one you
could only see the shores of the Seine, and the three barren islands,
of which two were subsequently joined together to form the Ile Saint-
Louis; the third was the Ile de Louviers. From the other could be
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