| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: tears. A sheriff's clerk was reading aloud a document. On a wretched
table was a meal, untouched. The light came in through the bars of a
window near the ceiling. It was a picture fit to make the bourgeois
shudder, and the bourgeois shuddered. Fougeres had simply been
inspired by the masterpiece of Gerard Douw; he had turned the group of
the "Dropsical Woman" toward the window, instead of presenting it full
front. The condemned man was substituted for the dying woman--same
pallor, same glance, same appeal to God. Instead of the Dutch doctor,
he had painted the cold, official figure of the sheriff's clerk
attired in black; but he had added an old woman to the young one of
Gerard Douw. The cruelly simple and good-humored face of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: she patted his cheek. This was the sort of moment at which she was
absolutely tempted to tell him that she liked to be near Park
Chambers. There was a fascination in the idea of seeing if, on a
mention of Captain Everard, he wouldn't do what she thought he
might; wouldn't weigh against the obvious objection the still more
obvious advantage. The advantage of course could only strike him
at the best as rather fantastic; but it was always to the good to
keep hold when you HAD hold, and such an attitude would also after
all involve a high tribute to her fidelity. Of one thing she
absolutely never doubted: Mr. Mudge believed in her with a belief-
-! She believed in herself too, for that matter: if there was a
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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 The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: could do it for an hour together."
"I don't believe so, either," said his wife, smiling.
Noble took up his book again and Caroline went into the
music room to practice. She was not ready to have the lodge torn
down. She had gone there for a quiet hour every day during the
two weeks since d'Esquerre had left them. It was the sheerest
sentiment she had ever permitted herself. She was ashamed of it,
but she was childishly unwilling to let it go.
Caroline went to bed soon after her husband, but she was not
able to sleep. The night was close and warm, presaging storm.
The wind had fallen, and the water slept, fixed and motionless as
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
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 Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: outside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could
man pass up that great sluggish river, alive.
We proceeded up the river for some forty miles before darkness
overtook us. I was afraid to submerge and lie on the bottom
overnight for fear that the mud might be deep enough to hold us,
and as we could not hold with the anchor, I ran in close to
shore, and in a brief interim of attack from the reptiles we made
fast to a large tree. We also dipped up some of the river water
and found it, though quite warm, a little sweeter than before.
We had food enough, and with the water we were all quite
refreshed; but we missed fresh meat. It had been weeks, now,
The Land that Time Forgot |
