| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: all and hear all, without being seen or heard by them. If you will
furnish me with the means of doing so, I will reward that service with
the gift of two thousand francs and a yearly stipend of six hundred.
My notary shall prepare a deed before you this evening, and I will
give him the money to hold; he will pay the two thousand to you
to-morrow after the conference at which I desire to be present, as you
will then have given proofs of your good faith."
"Will it injure my daughter, my good monsieur?" she asked, casting a
cat-like glance of doubt and uneasiness upon him.
"In no way, madame. But, in any case, it seems to me that your
daughter does not treat you well. A girl who is loved by so rich a man
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: 'watching the ghost-wolves leap and leap to drag me down, till the
rock grew smooth beneath the wearing of their feet. So I sat seven
days and nights, being yet alive, the hungry wolves below, and hunger
gnawing at my heart. So I have sat many and many a year, being dead in
the heart of the old stone Witch, watching the moon and the sun and
the stars, hearkening to the howls of the ghost-wolves as they ravened
beneath me, and learning the wisdom of the old witch who sits above in
everlasting stone. Yet my mother was young and fair when I trod the
haunted forest and climbed the knees of stone. How seems she now,
Galazi?'
"'She is white and wrinkled and very aged,' I answered. 'They call her
Nada the Lily |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: village maid, tossing on her lonely couch, dreams with heaving bosom
of some hussar's spurs and moustache, and how the moonlight smiles
upon her cheeks. I would describe how the black shadows of the bats
flit along the white road before they alight upon the white chimneys
of the cottages.
But it would hardly be within my power to depict Ivan Ivanovitch as he
crept out that night, saw in hand; or the various emotions written on
his countenance! Quietly, most quietly, he crawled along and climbed
upon the goose-shed. Ivan Nikiforovitch's dogs knew nothing, as yet,
of the quarrel between them; and so they permitted him, as an old
friend, to enter the shed, which rested upon four oaken posts.
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
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 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: sagacity and prudence been less in repute
among his brethren than his valour and discipline;
in so much, that knights, both in eastern and western
lands, have named De Bois-Guilbert as one
who may well be put in nomination as successor to
this batoon, when it shall please Heaven to release
us from the toil of bearing it. If we were told
that such a man, so honoured, and so honourable,
suddenly casting away regard for his character, his
vows, his brethren, and his prospects, had associated
to himself a Jewish damsel, wandered in this
Ivanhoe |
