| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: other. The poor clerk resolved to attain an end which, if not
impossible, was at least gigantic in its enterprise,--namely, the
payment of his debts to their last penny. These three beings,--father,
mother, daughter,--bound together by the tie of a passionate
integrity, became misers, denying themselves everything; a farthing
was sacred in their eyes. Out of sheer calculation Cesarine threw
herself into her business with the devotion of a young girl. She sat
up at night, taxing her ingenuity to find ways of increasing the
prosperity of the establishment, and displaying an innate commercial
talent. The masters of the house were obliged to check her ardor for
work; they rewarded her by presents, but she refused all articles of
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: to-day. They're them big lizards, you /sabe/? I reckon, though, that
frijoles and side bacon would do me about as well. Do you care for
iguanas, Thacker?"
"No, nor for some other kinds of reptiles," said Thacker.
It was three in the afternoon, and in another hour he would be in his
state of beatitude.
"It's time you were making good, sonny," he went on, with an ugly look
on his reddened face. "You're not playing up to me square. You've been
the prodigal son for four weeks now, and you could have had veal for
every meal on a gold dish if you'd wanted it. Now, Mr. Kid, do you
think it's right to leave me out so long on a husk diet? What's the
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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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: be bright as the sunshine. Beholding them on the horizon,
myself and all the people will know that you are coming back
victorious, and will welcome you with such a festal uproar as
Athens never heard before."
Theseus promised that he would do so. Then going on board, the
mariners trimmed the vessel's black sails to the wind, which
blew faintly off the shore, being pretty much made up of the
sighs that everybody kept pouring forth on this melancholy
occasion. But by and by, when they had got fairly out to sea,
there came a stiff breeze from the north-west, and drove them
along as merrily over the white-capped waves as if they had
Tanglewood 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 The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: his purchase of the Jasper B. he recounted rapidly, but with
sufficient detail, all the facts with which the reader is already
familiar, weaving into his story the tale of Lady Agatha and the
adventures of Miss Pringle. Wilton Barnstable listened
attentively. So did Barton Ward and Watson Bard. The benign
smile which was so characteristic of Wilton Barnstable never left
the three faces, but it was evident to Cleggett that these
trained intelligences grasped and weighed and ticketed every
detail.
While Cleggett narrates, and Wilton Barnstable and his men
listen, a word to the reader concerning this great detective.
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