| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: snap his fingers or fling away his cigar (as the case may be) with a
'Pooh! there are other women in the world.' Beware of that man for a
dangerous reptile. Still, the Government may employ that citizen
somewhere in the Foreign Office. Blondet, I call your attention to the
fact that this Godefroid had thrown up diplomacy."
"Well, he was absorbed," said Blondet. "Love gives the fool his one
chance of growing great."
"Blondet, Blondet, how is it that we are so poor?" cried Bixiou.
"And why is Finot so rich?" returned Blondet. "I will tell you how it
is; there, my son, we understand each other. Come, there is Finot
filling up my glass as if I had carried in his firewood. At the end of
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: be seen if we observe the transformations which take place in a
hundred comrades, when ten years supervene between the time when they
leave college or a public school, to all intents and purposes alike,
and the period when they meet again after contact with the world.
Andoche accepted Popinot's perturbation as a compliment.
"Now then, before dinner, let's get to the bottom of the prospectus;
then we can drink without an afterthought," said Gaudissart. "After
dinner one reads askew; the tongue digests."
"Monsieur," said Popinot, "a prospectus is often a fortune."
"And for plebeians like myself," said Andoche, "fortune is nothing
more than a prospectus."
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: understand, and vibrated with that experience,--I wasn't
quite sure whether I was alive. Mahon began to stamp
with both feet and yelled at him, 'Good God! don't you
see the deck's blown out of her?' I found my voice, and
stammered out as if conscious of some gross neglect of
duty, 'I don't know where the cabin-table is.' It was
like an absurd dream.
"Do you know what he wanted next? Well, he
wanted to trim the yards. Very placidly, and as if lost
in thought, he insisted on having the foreyard squared.
'I don't know if there's anybody alive,' said Mahon,
Youth |
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 Art of War by Sun Tzu: service in this respect: "Worthy men who have been degraded from
office, criminals who have undergone punishment; also, favorite
concubines who are greedy for gold, men who are aggrieved at
being in subordinate positions, or who have been passed over in
the distribution of posts, others who are anxious that their side
should be defeated in order that they may have a chance of
displaying their ability and talents, fickle turncoats who always
want to have a foot in each boat. Officials of these several
kinds," he continues, "should be secretly approached and bound to
one's interests by means of rich presents. In this way you will
be able to find out the state of affairs in the enemy's country,
The Art of War |
