| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: another burst of laughter, he disappeared in a flash out of three
looking-glasses, vanished suddenly from before her. For a time the
woman gasped and laughed at no one in the luminous stillness of the
empty room.
He reappeared, striding at her, and with a tumbler of water in his
hand. He stammered: "Hysterics--Stop--They will hear--Drink this."
She laughed at the ceiling. "Stop this!" he cried. "Ah!"
He flung the water in her face, putting into the action all the secret
brutality of his spite, yet still felt that it would have been
perfectly excusable--in any one--to send the tumbler after the water.
He restrained himself, but at the same time was so convinced nothing
Tales of Unrest |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: might be mistaken, but if we can see it and hear it, too, it must be
there."
"Where?" asked the Patchwork Girl.
"Somewhere near us," he insisted.
We will have to go back, I suppose," said the Woozy with a sigh.
So back they turned and headed for the walled city until it
disappeared again, only to reappear at the right of them. They were
constantly getting nearer to it, however, so they kept their faces
turned toward it as it flitted here and there to all points of the
compass. Presently the Lion, who was leading the procession, halted
abruptly and cried out, "Ouch!"
The Lost Princess of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: men it has been my lot to meet. He was an Italian. Now, whenever human
nature is truly fine in the lands of the South, it is really sublime.
I do not know whether you have ever observed the extreme fairness of
Italians when they are fair. It is exquisite, especially under an
artificial light. When I read the fantastical portrait of Colonel
Oudet sketched by Charles Nodier, I found my own sensations in every
one of his elegant phrases. Italian, then, as were most of the
officers of his regiment, which had, in fact, been borrowed by the
Emperor from Eugene's army, my colonel was a tall man, at least eight
or nine inches above the standard, and was admirably proportioned--a
little stout perhaps, but prodigiously powerful, active, and clean-
|
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 Gambara by Honore de Balzac: "And next we have a /cantabile/ (A flat major, six-eight time), that
might expand the soul that is least susceptible to music. Kadijah has
understood Mahomet! Then Kadijah announces to the populace the
Prophet's interviews with the Angel Gabriel (/maestoso sostenuto/ in F
Major). The magistrates and priests, power and religion, feeling
themselves attacked by the innovator, as Christ and Socrates also
attacked effete or worn-out powers and religions, persecute Mahomet
and drive him out of Mecca (/stretto/ in C major). Then comes my
beautiful dominant (G major, common time). Arabia now harkens to the
Prophet; horsemen arrive (G major, E flat, B flat, G minor, and still
common time). The mass of men gathers like an avalanche; the false
Gambara |
