| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: To preach, and if but well the people laugh,
The hood puffs out, and nothing more is asked.
But in the cowl there nestles such a bird,
That, if the common people were to see it,
They would perceive what pardons they confide in,
For which so great on earth has grown the folly,
That, without proof of any testimony,
To each indulgence they would flock together.
By this Saint Anthony his pig doth fatten,
And many others, who are worse than pigs,
Paying in money without mark of coinage.
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: port--a liquor he detested--and to nod in his chair in solitary
and dismal gentility.
The Miss Lambs might now be seen flaunting along the
streets in French bonnets, with unknown beaux; and talking
and laughing so loud that it distressed the nerves of every good
lady within hearing. They even went so far as to attempt
patronage, and actually induced a French dancing-master to set
up in the neighborhood; but the worthy folks of Little Britain
took fire at it, and did so persecute the poor Gaul that he was
fain to pack up fiddle and dancing-pumps, and decamp with
such precipitation that he absolutely forgot to pay for his
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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 Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain: none o' dem places. We don't know de way, Mars
Tom."
That was a fact, and it stumped Tom for a minute.
Then he said:
"Looky here, it can be done, sure; and I'll tell you
how. You set your compass and sail west as straight
as a dart, till you find the United States. It ain't any
trouble, because it's the first land you'll strike the other
side of the Atlantic. If it's daytime when you strike it,
bulge right on, straight west from the upper part of the
Florida coast, and in an hour and three quarters you'll
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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 Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: on to his knee, held the card under the thumbs so as to hide it, and
then uncovered the letters one by one, spelling the name of
Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her anything more.
This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine's
secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
hopes. At last, thanks to chance, to which she had so often appealed,
Emilie could now see something very unlike a chimera at the fountain-
head of the imaginary wealth with which she gilded her married life.
Ignorant, as all young girls are, of the perils of love and marriage,
she was passionately captivated by the externals of marriage and love.
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