| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: soldiers, marching at ease, were clearly audible.
Demetrio raised his hand; the locks of rifles clicked.
"Fire!" he cried tensely.
Twenty-one men shot as one; twenty-one soldiers fell
off their horses. Caught by surprise, the column halted,
etched like bas-reliefs in stone against the rocks.
Another volley and a score of soldiers hurtled down
from rock to rock.
"Come out, bandits. Come out, you starved dogs!"
"To bell with you, you corn rustlers!"
"Kill the cattle thieves! Kill 'em!
The Underdogs |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: The figure turned as he addressed it, and displayed to his
wondering eyes the features, not of Lucy Ashton, but of old blind
Alice. The singularity of her dress, which rather resembled a
shroud than the garment of a living woman; the appearance of her
person, larger, as it struck him, than it usually seemed to be;
above all, the strange circumstance of a blind, infirm, and
decrepit person being found alone and at a distance from her
habitation (considerable, if her infirmities be taken into
account), combined to impress him with a feeling of wonder
approaching to fear. As he approached, she arose slowly from her
seat, held her shrivelled hand up as if to prevent his coming
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: his brilliant arguments and cast ridicule upon him.
Do not think me hard or revengeful. I do not hate anyone now that
death is so near. But is it inhuman that I should want to teach
these two men a lesson? a lesson which they need, believe me, and
it is such a slight compensation for the torture these last eight
years have been to me!
And now I will explain in detail all the circumstances. I have
arranged that Albert Graumann shall come to me on the evening of
September 23rd between 7 and 8 o'clock. I asked him to do so by
letter, asking him also to keep the fact of his visit to me a secret.
To-night, the 22nd of September, I received his answer promising
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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 Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: frightful dialect). "If he would take fifty thousand francs for one up
there that I know of, I would find the money if I had to hang myself.
Do you remember those little frames full of enameled copper on crimson
velvet, hanging among the portraits? . . . Well, those are Petitot's
enamels; and there is a cabinet minister as used to be a druggist that
will give three thousand francs apiece for them."
La Cibot's eyes opened wide. "There are thirty of them in the pair of
frames!" she said.
"Very well, you can judge for yourself how much he is worth."
Mme. Cibot's head was swimming; she wheeled round. In a moment came
the thought that she would have a legacy, /she/ would sleep sound on
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