| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: depraving. They tried to convince Madame de la Baudraye that her
principles and aversions were a survival of provincial prudishness;
and they preached the creed of woman's superiority.
Before long, her jealousy put weapons into Lousteau's hands. During
the carnival of 1840, she disguised herself to go to the balls at the
Opera-house, and to suppers where she met courtesans, in order to keep
an eye on all Etienne's amusements.
On the day of Mid-Lent--or rather, at eight on the morning after--
Dinah came home from the ball in her fancy dress to go to bed. She had
gone to spy on Lousteau, who, believing her to be ill, had engaged
himself for that evening to Fanny Beaupre. The journalist, warned by a
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: this escort. When madame wished to go home, Europe gave a call; the
man in waiting whistled to the driver, who was always within hearing.
When Lucien was walking with Esther, Europe and this man remained
about a hundred paces behind, like two of the infernal minions that
figure in the Thousand and One Nights, which enchanters place at the
service of their devotees.
The men, and yet more the women of Paris, know nothing of the charm of
a walk in the woods on a fine night. The stillness, the moonlight
effects, the solitude, have the soothing effect of a bath. Esther
usually went out at ten, walked about from midnight till one o'clock,
and came in at half-past two. It was never daylight in her rooms till
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: "Marty," she said, and smiled with trembling lips, "we - we owe
you a great deal."
The Sparrow gulped.
"Gee, you're all right again! They said it wasn't nothin', but you
had me scared worse'n down at the iron plant when I had to do the
rough act with that gent friend of yours to stop him from crawlin'
after you and fightin' it out, and queerin' the whole works. You
don't owe me nothin', Miss Gray; and, besides, I'm gettin' a lot
more than is comm' to me, 'cause that same gent friend of yours
there says I'm goin' to horn in on the rewards, and I guess that's
goin' some, for they got the whole outfit from Danglar down, and
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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 Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: their lessons were over, and talk about the beautiful garden
inside. "How happy we were there," they said to each other.
Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little
blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant
it was still winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there
were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a
beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw
the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped
back into the ground again, and went off to sleep. The only people
who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. "Spring has
forgotten this garden," they cried, "so we will live here all the
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