| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: nodding.
"Well, then, say BAUDOYER to the court and clergy, to divert suspicion
and put them to sleep, and then, at the last moment, write RABOURDIN."
"There are some women who say YES as long as they need a man, and NO
when he has played his part," returned des Lupeaulx, significantly.
"I know they do," she answered, laughing; "but they are very foolish,
for in politics everything recommences. Such proceedings may do with
fools, but you are a man of sense. In my opinion the greatest folly
any one can commit is to quarrel with a clever man."
"You are mistaken," said des Lupeaulx, "for such a man pardons. The
real danger is with the petty spiteful natures who have nothing to do
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: PETRUCHIO.
Thy gown? Why, ay: come, tailor, let us see't.
O mercy, God! what masquing stuff is here?
What's this? A sleeve? 'Tis like a demi-cannon.
What, up and down, carv'd like an appletart?
Here's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash,
Like to a censer in a barber's shop.
Why, what i' devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this?
HORTENSIO.
[Aside] I see she's like to have neither cap nor gown.
TAILOR.
The Taming of the Shrew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: missed some easy opportunity. Not improbably he might have failed
altogether if he had been riding an ordinary horse, or if he had to try
roping from a fiery mustang. But Silvermane was as intelligent as he was
beautiful and fleet. The horse learned rapidly the agile turns and
sudden stops necessary, and as for free running he never got enough. Out
on the range Silvermane always had his head up and watched; his life had
been spent in watching; he saw cattle, riders, mustangs, deer, coyotes,
every moving thing. So that Hare, in the chasing of a cow, had but to
start Silvermane, and then he could devote himself to the handling of his
rope. It took him ten times longer to lasso the cow than it took
Silvermane to head the animal. Dave laughed at some of Jack's exploits,
The Heritage of the Desert |
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 Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: you will know who it is who is responsible for my death. His
name is - "
Here the letter came to an abrupt close.
Muller and Horn looked at each other in silence, then they turned
their eyes again toward the dead man.
"He was a coward," said the detective coldly, and turned away.
Horn repeated mechanically, "A coward!" and his eyes also looked
down with a changed expression upon the handsome, soft-featured
face, framed in curly blond hair, that lay so silent against the
chair-back. Many women had loved this dead man, and many men had
been fond of him, for they had believed him capable and manly.
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