| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: I wonder how the young man could have the assurance to ask it.
He must have a pretty good opinion of himself."
"I do not think he is conceited either, in general," said Harriet,
her conscience opposing such censure; "at least, he is very good natured,
and I shall always feel much obliged to him, and have a great regard
for-- but that is quite a different thing from--and you know,
though he may like me, it does not follow that I should--and
certainly I must confess that since my visiting here I have seen
people--and if one comes to compare them, person and manners,
there is no comparison at all, one is so very handsome and agreeable.
However, I do really think Mr. Martin a very amiable young man,
Emma |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: "'What did he say? Didn't he fume and fret?'
"I interrupted him, saying, 'Was it not natural that be
should be furious, you were so unjust and brutal, father?'
"'Well, now, are you mad?' cried my father; 'what immense
misfortune is it to crush a tulip bulb? You may buy a
hundred of them in the market of Gorcum.'
"'Perhaps some less precious one than that was!' I quite
incautiously replied."
"And what did Jacob say or do at these words?" asked
Cornelius.
"At these words, if I must say it, his eyes seemed to flash
The Black Tulip |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: no longer. At that point she resolved to throw herself on the mercy
of her mistress, the king's daughter, to whom she was a lady in
waiting. She took her newborn son to the princess and begged quite
pathetically for her help.
The king's daughter, knowing that he was a hard man who had never
hesitated to crush, kill, or otherwise persecute anyone who offended
him in the slightest, realized that she could not tell the truth or
say simply that the child had been found during one of the princess'
walks, because the king would then send it to a harsh life in an
orphanage--and that would be if she found him in a good mood. She
decided instead to declare to the king that the child was her own
|
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 Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: never a friend among them, her position seemed at last without
vestige of hope.
"I still live!" she whispered inwardly in a last brave attempt to
combat the terrible hopelessness that was overwhelming her, but
her fingers stole for reassurance to the slim blade that she had
managed to transfer, undetected, from her old harness to the new.
And now the groom was at her side and taking her hand was leading
her up the steps to the throne, before which they halted and
stood facing the gathering below. Came then, from the back of the
room a procession headed by the high dignitary whose office it
was to make these two man and wife, and directly behind him a
The Chessmen of Mars |
