| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: the Cibot couple were looked upon as among the luckiest porters in the
arrondissement.
Cibot, small and stunted, with a complexion almost olive-colored by
reason of sitting day in day out in Turk-fashion on a table level with
the barred window, made about twelve or fourteen francs a week. He
worked still, though he was fifty-eight years old, but fifty-eight is
the porter's golden age; he is used to his lodge, he and his room fit
each other like the shell and the oyster, and "he is known in the
neighborhood."
Mme. Cibot, sometime opener of oysters at the /Cadran Bleu/, after all
the adventures which come unsought to the belle of an oyster-bar, left
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: pleasantest manner possible, trimming off an exuberance in this
place, shearing away some liberty of speech or action in that, and
conducting himself in his small way with as much high mightiness
and majesty, as the most glorious tyrant that ever had his statue
reared in the public ways, of ancient or of modern times.
As great men are urged on to the abuse of power (when they need
urging, which is not often), by their flatterers and dependents, so
old John was impelled to these exercises of authority by the
applause and admiration of his Maypole cronies, who, in the
intervals of their nightly pipes and pots, would shake their heads
and say that Mr Willet was a father of the good old English sort;
Barnaby Rudge |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: near at hand, when a very few months must of necessity discover
the impostor to all the world; in this point less prudent than
common almanack-makers, who are so wise to wonder in generals,
and talk dubiously, and leave to the reader the business of
interpreting.
On the 1st of this month a French general will be killed by a
random shot of a cannon-ball.
On the 6th a fire will break out in the suburbs of Paris, which
will destroy above a thousand houses; and seems to be the
foreboding of what will happen, to the surprize of all Europe,
about the end of the following month.
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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 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: ears they had heard the voice of a wild beast within.
What could it mean? Had a lion or a leopard sought
sanctuary in the interior, unbeknown to the sentries?
Tarzan's quick eyes discovered the opening in the roof,
through which Taglat had fallen. He guessed that the
ape had either come or gone by way of the break, and
while the Arabs hesitated without, he sprang, catlike,
for the opening, grasped the top of the wall and
clambered out upon the roof, dropping instantly to the
ground at the rear of the hut.
When the Arabs finally mustered courage to enter the
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
