| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: himself ran out of his stuffy, Philistinish lair in
his absurd, hunted-animal manner, making for the
garden door.
To this day I don't know what made me call
after him. "I say! Wait a minute." Perhaps
it was the sidelong glance he gave me; or possibly
I was yet under the influence of Captain Giles'
mysterious earnestness. Well, it was an impulse
of some sort; an effect of that force somewhere
within our lives which shapes them this way or
that. For if these words had not escaped from my
The Shadow Line |
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: to Roguin, and the wealth of his father, a rich farmer of Brie, were
certainly obstacles in the lad's way; but even these were not the
hardest to conquer. Popinot buried in the depths of his heart a sad
secret, which widened the distance between Cesarine and himself. The
property of the Ragons, on which he might have counted, was involved,
and the orphan lad had the satisfaction of enabling them to live by
making over to them his meagre salary. Yet with all these drawbacks he
believed in success! He had sometimes caught a glance of dignified
approval from Cesarine; in the depths of her blue eyes he had dared to
read a secret thought full of caressing hopes. He now walked beside
Cesar, heaving with these ideas, trembling, silent, agitated, as any
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 Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: first. He was about to be useful to her, and as soon as a tool belongs
to us we look upon it with other eyes.
"M. Fraisier," said she, "you have convinced me of your intelligence,
and I think that you can speak frankly."
Fraisier replied by an eloquent gesture.
"Very well," continued the lady, "I must ask you to give a candid
reply to this question: Are we, either of us, M. de Marville or I,
likely to be compromised, directly or indirectly, by your action in
this matter?"
"I would not have come to you, madame, if I thought that some day I
should have to reproach myself for bringing so much as a splash of mud
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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 A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: whom I would have told my wretchedness. It is all my own fault; I
married a man whose incapacity is almost beyond belief. Yes, I am,
indeed, most unhappy."
"Listen to me, madame," said the little old man, "and don't weep; it
is most painful to me to see a fair lady cry. After all, your son
bears the name of Husson, and if my dear deceased wife were living she
would wish to do something for the name of her father and of her
brother--"
"She loved her brother," said Oscar's mother.
"But all my fortune is given to my children, who expect nothing from
me at my death," continued the old man. "I have divided among them the
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