| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: of that which had been in the earlier days upon the face of the
earth. Courtiers moved about the palace and there were people in
the radiant streets and the houses, for most of them were
occupied, but rarely did the vision show children coming through
their gates.
Of a sudden this scene shifted. Now we saw that same hall in
which we had visited Oro not an hour before. There he sat, yes,
Oro himself, upon the dais beneath the overhanging marble shell.
Round him were some ancient councillors. In the body of the hall
on either side of the dais were men in military array, guards
without doubt though their only weapon was a black rod not unlike
When the World Shook |
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 Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: journalist with a smile.
"I should suppose Madame de la Baudraye to have too much good taste to
trouble her head about that ugly ape," said Bianchon.
"Horace," said Lousteau, "look here, O learned interpreter of human
nature, let us lay a trap for the Public Prosecutor; we shall be doing
our friend Gatien a service, and get a laugh out of it. I do not love
Public Prosecutors."
"You have a keen intuition of destiny," said Horace. "But what can we
do?"
"Well, after dinner we will tell sundry little anecdotes of wives
caught out by their husbands, killed, murdered under the most terrible
The Muse of the Department |
