| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: Book. And now neither Cane or Golden Book are in existence." His
gesture startled me; it told of patriotism extinguished and weariness
of life.
"But if you were once a Venetian senator, you must have been a wealthy
man. How did you lose your fortune?"
"In evil days."
He waved away the glass of wine handed to him by the flageolet, and
bowed his head. He had no heart to drink. These details were not
calculated to extinguish my curiosity.
As the three ground out the music of the square dance, I gazed at the
old Venetian noble, thinking thoughts that set a young man's mind
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: It sang to the drowsy heart
Of the satyr carved in stone.
The fountain sang and sang,
But the satyr never stirred --
Only the great white moon
In the empty heaven heard.
The fountain sang and sang
While on the marble rim
The milk-white peacocks slept,
And their dreams were strange and dim.
Bright dew was on the grass,
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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 Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: if haply they might spy the quarters of the wounded, or some
straggling sleepers, unarmed and remote from the rest. As when two
mongrel curs, whom native greediness and domestic want provoke and
join in partnership, though fearful, nightly to invade the folds of
some rich grazier, they, with tails depressed and lolling tongues,
creep soft and slow. Meanwhile the conscious moon, now in her
zenith, on their guilty heads darts perpendicular rays; nor dare
they bark, though much provoked at her refulgent visage, whether
seen in puddle by reflection or in sphere direct; but one surveys
the region round, while the other scouts the plain, if haply to
discover, at distance from the flock, some carcase half devoured,
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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 The Call of the Wild by Jack London: dismay. "However in the world could I manage without a tent?"
"It's springtime, and you won't get any more cold weather," the
man replied.
She shook her head decidedly, and Charles and Hal put the last
odds and ends on top the mountainous load.
"Think it'll ride?" one of the men asked.
"Why shouldn't it?" Charles demanded rather shortly.
"Oh, that's all right, that's all right," the man hastened meekly
to say. "I was just a-wonderin', that is all. It seemed a mite
top-heavy."
Charles turned his back and drew the lashings down as well as he
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