| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: float, between their flashes, over the whole heavens. And the sky
where the sun was setting was all level and like a lake of blood;
and a strong wind came out of that sky, tearing its crimson clouds
into fragments and scattering them far into the darkness. And when
Sclnvartz stood by the brink of the Golden River, its waves were
black like thunder clouds, but their foam was like fire; and the
roar of the waters below and the thunder above met as he cast the
flask into the stream. And as he did so the lightning glared in his
eyes, and the earth gave way beneath him, and the waters closed over
his cry. And the moaning of the river rose wildly into the night as
it gushed over the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling: perfectly happy, listening to the "drum, drum, drum" of the hoofs
behind, and knowing that, in about twenty strides, Shackles would
draw one deep breath and go up the last half-mile like the "Flying
Dutchman." As Shackles went short to take the turn and came abreast
of the brick-mound, Brunt heard, above the noise of the wind in his
ears, a whining, wailing voice on the offside, saying:--"God ha'
mercy, I'm done for!" In one stride, Brunt saw the whole seething
smash of the Maribyrnong Plate before him, started in his saddle and
gave a yell of terror. The start brought the heels into Shackles'
side, and the scream hurt Shackles' feelings. He couldn't stop
dead; but he put out his feet and slid along for fifty yards, and
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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 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: wide awake, she forgot her daughter peacefully asleep in an adjoining
room, the door of which opened at the foot of her bed. At last she
cried "Birotteau!" but got no answer. She thought she had called the
name aloud, though in fact she had only uttered it mentally.
"Has he a mistress? He is too stupid," she added. "Besides, he loves
me too well for that. Didn't he tell Madame Roguin that he had never
been unfaithful to me, even in thought? He is virtue upon earth, that
man. If any one ever deserved paradise he does. What does he accuse
himself of to his confessor, I wonder? He must tell him a lot of
fiddle-faddle. Royalist as he is, though he doesn't know why, he can't
froth up his religion. Poor dear cat! he creeps to Mass at eight
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
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 O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: vet jacket sewn with silver buttons. Emil had
returned only the night before, and his sister
was so proud of him that she decided at once
to take him up to the church supper, and to
make him wear the Mexican costume he had
brought home in his trunk. "All the girls who
have stands are going to wear fancy costumes,"
she argued, "and some of the boys. Marie is
going to tell fortunes, and she sent to Omaha
for a Bohemian dress her father brought back
from a visit to the old country. If you wear
O Pioneers! |
