| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: something out of me. . . . You should have said so."
"As you please, only it is my duty to report it at once."
Without indignation or protest, simply, almost mechanically, the
old man takes two twenty-kopeck pieces out of his pocket and
gives them to the oiler. He takes them very calmly, too, and
looking good-naturedly at the old man enters into conversation.
"You are going to sell your cattle, I suppose. . . . It's good
business!"
Malahin sighs and, looking calmly at the oiler's black face,
tells him that trading in cattle used certainly to be profitable,
but now it has become a risky and losing business.
 The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
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 Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: It is here, where Nature herself is all vital with youth, that the
nutriment of youth must be sought. Near this spot is gold; guide
me to it."
"You cannot come with me. The place which I know as auriferous is
some miles distant, the way rugged. You cannot walk to it. It is
true I have horses, but--"
"Do you think I have come this distance and not foreseen and
forestalled all that I want for my object? Trouble yourself not
with conjectures how I can arrive at the place. I have provided
the means to arrive at and leave it. My litter and its bearers are
in reach of my call. Give me your arm to the rising ground, fifty
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