| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: "I can always tell by his face when he goes away. If you
have been good, he looks satisfied and walks briskly. If you
have plagued him, he's sober and walks slowly, as if he wanted
to go back and do his work better."
"Well, I like that? So you keep an account of my good and
bad marks in Brooke's face, do you? I see him bow and smile as
he passes your window, but I didn't know you'd got up a telegraph."
"We haven't. Don't be angry, and oh, don't tell him I said
anything! It was only to show that I cared how you get on, and
what is said here is said in confidence, you know," cried Meg,
much alarmed at the thought of what might follow from her
Little Women |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: cooled by years, could not equal his who had been constantly
in her presence. And thus his jealous soul speciously
argued to excuse the separation of father and child.
He returned to the house half expecting that she would have
vanished. No; there she was--just coming out from the
inner room, the marks of sleep upon her eyelids, and
exhibiting a generally refreshed air.
"O father!" she said smiling. "I had no sooner lain down
than I napped, though I did not mean to. I wonder I did not
dream about poor Mrs. Farfrae, after thinking of her so; but
I did not. How strange it is that we do not often dream of
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: them, striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their
escape and descended to the road; others rushed in to take their
place, so that two streams of human beings flowed in and out,
compressed within the limits of the gateway.
Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who,
leaning against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads
of food, fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a
brilliant shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates.
At this sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens,
Herodias |
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 Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: the last refinement of the fashion, though a little tumbled
by his passage in the wind. It was to be judged he had come
from the same formal gathering at which the others had
preceded him; and perhaps that he had gone there in the hope
to meet with them, for he came up to Ballantrae with
unceremonious eagerness.
'At last, here you are!' he cried in French. 'I thought I
was to miss you altogether.'
The Scotsmen rose, and Ballantrae, after the first greetings,
laid his hand on his companion's shoulder.
'My lord,' said he, 'allow me to present to you one of my
|
