| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: his shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed
tightly about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a
sleeveless tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered
with a heavy, curling beard.
He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at
first. But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly
made the Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim
immediately laid both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful
shove; whereupon it quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived
 Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: "Wait for me. I want to see what is going on upstairs--I want to know
how their domestic quarrels are managed. By God! I believe she is
roasting her at a slow fire."
De Marsay lightly scaled the stairs, with which he was familiar, and
recognized the passage leading to the boudoir. When he opened the door
he experienced the involuntary shudder which the sight of bloodshed
gives to the most determined of men. The spectacle which was offered
to his view was, moreover, in more than one respect astonishing to
him. The Marquise was a woman; she had calculated her vengeance with
that perfection of perfidy which distinguishes the weaker animals. She
had dissimulated her anger in order to assure herself of the crime
 The Girl with the Golden Eyes |