| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: as if some misfortune were awaiting me there. Why? Is it a cold
shiver which, passing over my skin, has upset my nerves and given
me a fit of low spirits? Is it the form of the clouds, or the
tints of the sky, or the colors of the surrounding objects which
are so change-able, which have troubled my thoughts as they
passed before my eyes? Who can tell? Everything that surrounds
us, everything that we see without looking at it, everything that
we touch without knowing it, everything that we handle without
feeling it, everything that we meet without clearly
distinguishing it, has a rapid, surprising, and inexplicable
effect upon us and upon our organs, and through them on our ideas
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: that he dreamed he was in Cipango. At first he thought it
was heaven, but when he saw golden roofs he knew it must
be Cipango, for in heaven where it never rained and there
were no nights, we shouldn't need roofs. One interrupted,
``We'd need them to keep the flying angels from looking
in!''
``It was Cipango,'' persisted Francisco, ``for the Emperor
himself came and gave me a rope of pearls. There were
five thousand of them, and each would buy a house or a
fine horse or a suit of velvet. And the Emperor took me by
the hand, and he said, `Dear Brother--' You might have
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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 Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: Lord Keeper, where he rolled on the ground, his limbs darkened
with the black death-sweat, and quivering with the last
convulsions of muscular motion.
Lucy lay senseless on the ground, insensible of the
wonderful deliverance which she had experience. Her father was
almost equally stupified, so rapid and unexpected had been the
transition from the horrid death which seemed inevitable to
perfect security. He gazed on the animal, terrible even in
death, with a species of mute and confused astonishment, which
did not permit him distinctly to understand what had taken place;
and so inaccurate was his consciousness of what had passed, that
The Bride of Lammermoor |
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 Professor by Charlotte Bronte: flung it back almost in your face; desired you to shut or open
the door as if you had been his flunkey; to say nothing of your
position at the party about a month ago, where you had neither
place nor partner, but hovered about like a poor, shabby
hanger-on; and how patient you were under each and all of these
circumstances!"
"Well, Mr. Hunsden, what then?"
"I can hardly tell you what then; the conclusion to be drawn as
to your character depends upon the nature of the motives which
guide your conduct; if you are patient because you expect to make
something eventually out of Crimsworth, notwithstanding his
The Professor |
