| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: belongings, by heart. This back-stairs erudition gave to her
conversation a flavor of "oeil-de-boeuf"; her soubrette gossip passed
muster for courtly wit. Morally, the mayoress was, if you wish to say
so, tinsel; but to savages paste diamonds are as good as real ones.
The woman found herself courted and worshipped by the society in which
she lived, just as her mistress had been worshipped in former days.
She gave weekly dinners, with coffee and liqueurs to those who came in
after the dessert. No female head could have resisted the exhilarating
force of such continual adulation. In winter the warm salon, always
well-lighted with wax candles, was well-filled with the richest people
of Soulanges, who paid for the good liqueurs and the fine wines which
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: them, it seems. Don't look very happy--eh?"
Then, changing his tone abruptly, he desired Powell to get all hands
on deck and make sail on the ship. "I shall be leaving you in half
an hour. You'll have plenty of time to find out all about the old
gent," he added with a thick laugh.
In the secret emotion of giving his first order as a fully
responsible officer, young Powell forgot the very existence of that
old man in a moment. The following days, in the interest of getting
in touch with the ship, with the men in her, with his duties, in the
rather anxious period of settling down, his curiosity slumbered; for
of course the pilot's few words had not extinguished it.
Chance |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: minute or two. then he wheeled the dresser beneath the sky-
light and, placing the chair on top of it, scrambled to the
seat of the latter. His head was at the height of the sky-
light. to force the skylight from its frame required but a
moment. A key entered the lock of the door from the op-
posite side and turned. He knew that someone without was
pushing. Then he heard an oath and heavy battering upon
the panels. A moment later he had drawn himself through
the skylight and stood upon the roof of the building. Be-
fore him stretched a series of uneven roofs to the end of
the street. Barney did not hesitate. He started on a rapid trot
The Mad King |
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 First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: indistinct, vanishing at last into an absolute black, a vast swaying
multitude of the minor dignitaries of the moon. Their feet made a
perpetual scraping whisper on the rocky floor, as their limbs moved with a
rustling murmur.
"As I entered the penultimate hall the music rose and expanded into an
imperial magnificence of sound, and the shrieks of the news-bearers died
away. ...
"I entered the last and greatest hall....
"My procession opened out like a fan. My ushers and guards went right and
left, and the three litters bearing myself and Phi-oo and Tsi-puff marched
across a shiny darkness of floor to the foot of the giant stairs. Then
The First Men In The Moon |
