| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: "I fight no more duels," said De Marsay.
"That seems to me even more tragical. Do you assassinate, then?"
"You travesty words. I execute."
"My dear friend," said Paul, "your jokes are of a very sombre color
this morning."
"What would you have? Pleasure ends in cruelty. Why? I don't know, and
am not sufficiently curious to try and find out. . . . These cigars
are excellent. Give your friend some tea. Do you know, Paul, I live a
brute's life? It should be time to choose oneself a destiny, to employ
one's powers on something which makes life worth living. Life is a
singular comedy. I am frightened, I laugh at the inconsequence of our
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: walnut-wood furniture chosen by the stranger lady was perfectly plain,
and the whole charm of the house consisted in its neatness and harmony
with its surroundings.
It was rather difficult, therefore, to say whether the strange lady
(Mme. Willemsens, as she styled herself) belonged to the upper middle
or higher classes, or to an equivocal, unclassified feminine species.
Her plain dress gave rise to the most contradictory suppositions, but
her manners might be held to confirm those favorable to her. She had
not lived at Saint-Cyr, moreover, for very long before her reserve
excited the curiosity of idle people, who always, and especially in
the country, watch anybody or anything that promises to bring some
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: may not take a mate until all his older brothers have
done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative,
which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as he
kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding
him to secure a mate."
Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I
began to entertain hopes that she might be warming up
toward me a bit, although upon what slender thread
I hung my hopes I soon discovered.
"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is
to become of you since you cannot be happy here with me,
At the Earth's Core |
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 Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling: Elephints a-pilin' teak
In the sludgy, squdgy creek,
Where the silence 'ung that 'eavy you was 'arf afraid to speak!
On the road to Mandalay . . .
But that's all shove be'ind me -- long ago an' fur away,
An' there ain't no 'busses runnin' from the Bank to Mandalay;
An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:
"If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught else."
No! you won't 'eed nothin' else
But them spicy garlic smells,
Verses 1889-1896 |
