| 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: Manteca vied with each other in calling forth oaths and
obscenity.
XX
Villa is coming!"
The news spread like lightning. Villa--the magic word!
The Great Man, the salient profile, the unconquerable
warrior who, even at a distance, exerts the fascination of
a reptile, a boa constrictor.
"Our Mexican Napoleon!" exclaimed Luis Cervantes.
"Yes! The Aztec Eagle! He buried his beak of steel
in the head of Huerta the serpent!" Solis, Natera's chief
The Underdogs |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: And after luncheon she set to work again, and called up all the
cruel schoolmasters - whole regiments and brigades of them; and
when she saw them, she frowned most terribly, and set to work in
earnest, as if the best part of the day's work was to come. More
than half of them were nasty, dirty, frowzy, grubby, smelly old
monks, who, because they dare not hit a man of their own size,
amused themselves with beating little children instead; as you may
see in the picture of old Pope Gregory (good man and true though he
was, when he meddled with things which he did understand), teaching
children to sing their fa-fa-mi-fa with a cat-o'-nine tails under
his chair: but, because they never had any children of their own,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: To penalize a yacht in proportion to the fineness of her
performance is unfair to the craft and to her men. It is unfair to
the perfection of her form and to the skill of her servants. For
we men are, in fact, the servants of our creations. We remain in
everlasting bondage to the productions of our brain and to the work
of our hands. A man is born to serve his time on this earth, and
there is something fine in the service being given on other grounds
than that of utility. The bondage of art is very exacting. And,
as the writer of the article which started this train of thought
says with lovable warmth, the sailing of yachts is a fine art.
His contention is that racing, without time allowances for anything
The Mirror of the Sea |
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 Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: borrow charms from his clothes, Madame de Beauseant herself was
instinctively giving more attention to her toilette.
"I would rather not frighten people, at all events," she said to
herself as she arranged her hair.
In M. de Nueil's character, person, and manner there was that touch of
unconscious originality which gives a kind of flavor to things that
any one might say or do, and absolves everything that they may choose
to do or say. He was highly cultivated, he had a keen brain, and a
face, mobile as his own nature, which won the goodwill of others. The
promise of passion and tenderness in the bright eyes was fulfilled by
an essentially kindly heart. The resolution which he made as he
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