| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: come and he is to teach us to fly."
John rubbed his eyes. "Then I shall get up," he said. Of
course he was on the floor already. "Hallo," he said, "I am up!"
Michael was up by this time also, looking as sharp as a knife
with six blades and a saw, but Peter suddenly signed silence.
Their faces assumed the awful craftiness of children listening
for sounds from the grown-up world. All was as still as salt.
Then everything was right. No, stop! Everything was wrong.
Nana, who had been barking distressfully all the evening, was
quiet now. It was her silence they had heard.
"Out with the light! Hide! Quick!" cried John, taking command
Peter Pan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: And Rob narrated his adventures.
Last, as the point of greatest weight,
The pair contrasted their estate,
And Robin, like a boastful sailor,
Despised the other for a tailor.
'See,' he remarked, 'with envy, see
A man with such a fist as me!
Bearded and ringed, and big, and brown,
I sit and toss the stingo down.
Hear the gold jingle in my bag -
All won beneath the Jolly Flag!'
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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 Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: Billardiere, his nightmare, his detestation, whom he was nevertheless
constantly wheedling so as the better to torment him on his weakest
side. He wrote him love letters signed "Comtesse de M--" or "Marquise
de B--"; took him to the Opera on gala days and presented him to some
grisette under the clock, after calling everybody's attention to the
young fool. He allied himself with Dutocq (whom he regarded as a
solemn juggler) in his hatred to Rabourdin and his praise of Baudoyer,
and did his best to support him. Jean-Jaques Bixiou was the grandson
of a Parisian grocer. His father, who died a colonel, left him to the
care of his grandmother, who married her head-clerk, named Descoings,
after the death of her first husband, and died in 1822. Finding
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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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: end. None but driveling idiots could spend time in inquiring into all
that is happening around them, whether Madame Such-an-One slept single
on her couch or in company, whether she has more blood than lymph,
more temperament than virtue. None but the dupes, who fondly imagine
that they are useful to their like, can interest themselves in laying
down rules for political guidance amid events which neither they nor
any one else foresees, nor ever will foresee. None but simpletons can
delight in talking about stage players and repeating their sayings;
making the daily promenade of a caged animal over a rather larger
area; dressing for others, eating for others, priding themselves on a
horse or a carriage such as no neighbor can have until three days
Gobseck |
