| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: every face had so candid an expression; it was so easy to read the
peace, the silence, the modest way of life in this family, that to an
artist accustomed to render nature, there was something hopeless in
any attempt to depict this scene, come upon by chance. The stranger
was a young painter, who, seven years before, had gained the first
prize for painting. He had now just come back from Rome. His soul,
full-fed with poetry; his eyes, satiated with Raphael and Michael
Angelo, thirsted for real nature after long dwelling in the pompous
land where art has everywhere left something grandiose. Right or
wrong, this was his personal feeling. His heart, which had long been a
prey to the fire of Italian passion, craved one of those modest and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: me, I see. Keek-eek-eek-eek! This is funny -- it's
really funny. Didn't know I was coming, did you? Hoo,
hoo, hoo, hoo! This is certainly amusing. But I'm here,
just the same."
"Hush up!" said a deep, growling voice. "You're
making yourself ridiculous."
Everyone looked to see where this voice came from;
but none could guess who had uttered the words of
rebuke. The rowers of the boat were all solemn and
silent and certainly no one on the shore had spoken.
But the little man did not seem astonished in the
Rinkitink In Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: clubs and spears together, and by various other gesticulations,
such as extending their arms and wriggling their
bodies. It was a most rude, barbarous scene, and, to our
ideas, without any sort of meaning; but we observed that
the black women and children watched it with the greatest
pleasure. Perhaps these dances originally represented actions,
such as wars and victories; there was one called the Emu
dance, in which each man extended his arm in a bent manner,
like the neck of that bird. In another dance, one man
imitated the movements of a kangaroo grazing in the woods,
whilst a second crawled up, and pretended to spear him.
The Voyage of the Beagle |
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 Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: Grand Duke, gain his confidence, and, when the time came,
give up the gates to the besiegers; and, that done, wreak his
vengeance on the brother of the Czar. The Tsigane San-
garre, who had accompanied him to the Angara, urged him
to put this plan in execution.
Indeed, it was necessary to act without delay. The Rus-
sian troops from the government of Yakutsk were advanc-
ing towards Irkutsk. They had concentrated along the
upper course of the Lena. In six days they would arrive.
Therefore, before six days had passed, Irkutsk must be be-
trayed. Ogareff hesitated no longer.
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