| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: philosophy stood tail to the fire until morning. I
could always jump off anywhere for a shot, without
even the necessity of "tying him to the ground," by
throwing the reins over his head. He would wait for
me, although he was never overfond of firearms.
Nevertheless Bullet had his own sense of dignity.
He was literally as gentle as a kitten, but he drew a
line. I shall never forget how once, being possessed
of a desire to find out whether we could swim our
outfit across a certain stretch of the Merced River, I
climbed him bareback. He bucked me off so quickly
|
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 An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: the house, everything that we do is known, and every step is
watched----"
"What is it now?" asked another elderly woman, sitting by the fire.
"The man that has been prowling about the house yesterday and to-day,
followed me to-night----"
At those words all three dwellers in the wretched den looked in each
other's faces and did not try to dissimulate the profound dread that
they felt. The old priest was the least overcome, probably because he
ran the greatest danger. If a brave man is weighed down by great
calamities or the yoke of persecution, he begins, as it were, by
making the sacrifice of himself; and thereafter every day of his life
|
