| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: reason to fear that he is in error on every other point in the
history."
"A nice sort of historian, indeed!" exclaimed Sancho at this; "he
must know a deal about our affairs when he calls my wife Teresa Panza,
Mari Gutierrez; take the book again, senor, and see if I am in it
and if he has changed my name."
"From your talk, friend," said Don Jeronimo, "no doubt you are
Sancho Panza, Senor Don Quixote's squire."
"Yes, I am," said Sancho; "and I'm proud of it."
"Faith, then," said the gentleman, "this new author does not
handle you with the decency that displays itself in your person; he
Don Quixote |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: she saw Mademoiselle de Verneuil go up to the young man with a
passionate look and, taking him by the hand, draw him close beside her
and into the light, with a coquettish glance that was full of
witchery.
"Now," she said, trying to read his eyes, "own to me that you are not
the citizen du Gua Saint-Cyr."
"Yes, I am, mademoiselle."
"But he and his mother were killed yesterday."
"I am very sorry for that," he replied, laughing. "However that may
be, I am none the less under a great obligation to you, for which I
shall always feel the deepest gratitude and only wish I could prove it
The Chouans |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: with a man not so brilliant, perhaps, but more reliable.
I daren't think of his face as it looked when he came
home to the little apartment and told me. The smoldering
eyes were flaming now. His lips were flecked with a sort
of foam. I stared at him in horror. He strode over to
me, clasped his fingers about my throat and shook me as
a dog shakes a mouse.
"Why don't you cry, eh?" he snarled. Why don't you
cry!"
And then I did cry out at what I saw in his eyes. I
wrenched myself free, fled to my room, and locked the
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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 Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: of astonishment.
"I wonder," said Abby, "whether she will have that baby call her
ma or aunty."
Meantime Eudora passed down the village street until she reached
the Lancaster house, about half a mile away on the same side.
There dwelt the Misses Amelia and Anna Lancaster, who were about
Eudora's age, and a widowed sister, Mrs. Sophia Willing, who was
much older. The Lancaster house was also a colonial mansion,
much after the fashion of Eudora's, but it showed signs of
continued opulence. Eudora's, behind her trees and leafing
vines, was gray for lack of paint. Some of the colonial
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