| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: A prey to imperious sadness, I gave no thought to the end of my
journey. Lady Dudley was far, indeed, from my mind, and I entered the
courtyard of her house without reflection. The folly once committed, I
was forced to carry it out. My habits were conjugal in her house, and
I went upstairs thinking of the annoyances of a rupture. If you have
fully understood the character and manners of Lady Dudley, you can
imagine my discomfiture when her majordomo ushered me, still in my
travelling dress, into a salon where I found her sumptuously dressed
and surrounded by four persons. Lord Dudley, one of the most
distinguished old statesmen of England, was standing with his back to
the fireplace, stiff, haughty, frigid, with the sarcastic air he
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: Ayres [5] to the commandant of Patagones. This was taken
to General Rosas, who sent me a very obliging message; and
the Secretary returned all smiles and graciousness. We took
up our residence in the _rancho_, or hovel, of a curious old
Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the expedition
against Russia.
We stayed two days at the Colorado; I had little to do,
for the surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer
(December), when the snow melts on the Cordillera, is over-
flowed by the river. My chief amusement was watching the
Indian families as they came to buy little articles at the
The Voyage of the Beagle |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: trigger. Without a sound the brave Mugambi sank to the
floor at the feet of Jane Clayton.
An instant later she was surrounded and disarmed.
Without a word they dragged her from the bungalow.
A giant Negro lifted her to the pommel of his saddle,
and while the raiders searched the bungalow and outhouses
for plunder he rode with her beyond the gates and
waited the coming of his master.
Jane Clayton saw the raiders lead the horses from the
corral, and drive the herds in from the fields.
She saw her home plundered of all that represented
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
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 Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: in the shadows of the arcade to the city gate. He had already
given up as futile the thought of seeking out the girl and
attempting to succor her, for he knew that alone and with the
few remaining rounds of ammunition he possessed, he could
do nothing against this city-full of armed men. That he
could live to cross the lion-infested forest beyond the city was
doubtful, and having, by some miracle, won to the desert
beyond, his fate would be certainly sealed; but yet he was
consumed with but one desire -- to leave behind him as far
as possible this horrid city of maniacs.
He saw that the roofs rose to the same level as that upon
Tarzan the Untamed |
