| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: pools over that waste land."
"There is all the more reason why madame should go there," said
Farrabesche, "because the late Monsieur Graslin, under the rector's
advice, bought three hundred acres at the opening of that gorge, on
which the waters have left sediment enough to make good soil over
quite a piece of ground. Madame will also see the opposite side of the
Roche-Vive, where there are fine woods, among which Monsieur Graslin
would no doubt have put a farm had he lived; there's an excellent
place for one, where the spring which rises just by my house loses
itself below."
Farrabesche rode first to show the way, taking Veronique through a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: Injun Joe got up and went about from window to
window cautiously peeping out. Presently he said:
"Who could have brought those tools here? Do
you reckon they can be up-stairs?"
The boys' breath forsook them. Injun Joe put his
hand on his knife, halted a moment, undecided, and
then turned toward the stairway. The boys thought
of the closet, but their strength was gone. The steps
came creaking up the stairs -- the intolerable distress
of the situation woke the stricken resolution of the lads
-- they were about to spring for the closet, when there
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: You half imagine all to be your own.
AD MARTIALEM
GO(D) knows, my Martial, if we two could be
To enjoy our days set wholly free;
To the true life together bend our mind,
And take a furlough from the falser kind.
No rich saloon, nor palace of the great,
Nor suit at law should trouble our estate;
On no vainglorious statues should we look,
But of a walk, a talk, a little book,
Baths, wells and meads, and the veranda shade,
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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 Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: ment in the Company as a second-class agent. Having not a penny in the
world he was compelled to accept this means of livelihood as soon as
it became quite clear to him that there was nothing more to squeeze
out of his relations. He, like Kayerts, regretted his old life. He
regretted the clink of sabre and spurs on a fine afternoon, the
barrack-room witticisms, the girls of garrison towns; but, besides, he
had also a sense of grievance. He was evidently a much ill-used man.
This made him moody, at times. But the two men got on well together
in the fellowship of their stupidity and laziness. Together they did
nothing, absolutely nothing, and enjoyed the sense of the idleness
for which they were paid. And in time they came to feel something
Tales of Unrest |
