| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Muda Saffir knew perfectly well that Bududreen had but
diplomatically expressed a fear as to his own royal
trustworthiness, but it did not anger him, since the
charge was not a direct one; but what he did not know
was of the heavy chest and Bududreen's desire to win
the price of the girl and yet be able to save for
himself a chance at the far greater fortune which he
knew lay beneath that heavy oaken lid.
Both men had arisen now and were walking across the
beach toward a small, native canoe in which Muda Saffir
had come to the meeting place. They were out of
The Monster Men |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: attended the wedding in the cathedral, where the bishop, knowing the
religious fervor of the Sauviats, deigned to marry Veronique himself.
The bride was very generally voted plain.
She entered her new house, and went from one surprise to another. A
grand dinner was to precede the ball, to which Graslin had invited
nearly all Limoges. The dinner, given to the bishop, the prefect, the
judge of the court, the attorney-general, the mayor, the general, and
Graslin's former partners with their wives, was a triumph for the
bride, who, like all other persons who are simple and natural, showed
charms that were not expected in her. Neither of the bridal pair could
dance; Veronique continued therefore to do the honors to her guests,
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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 Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: love a cheerful, willing, free spirit, disposed to serve our
neighbour voluntarily, without taking any account of gratitude or
ingratitude, praise or blame, gain or loss. Its object is not to
lay men under obligations, nor does it distinguish between
friends and enemies, or look to gratitude or ingratitude, but
most freely and willingly spends itself and its goods, whether it
loses them through ingratitude, or gains goodwill. For thus did
its Father, distributing all things to all men abundantly and
freely, making His sun to rise upon the just and the unjust.
Thus, too, the child does and endures nothing except from the
free joy with which it delights through Christ in God, the Giver
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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 Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: I've had to fight my battles too. The other two came again. My
eye! I did just chuck 'em out!"
She referred, of course, to her employer's old admirers, the
tradesman and the Walachian, to whom Nana, sure of her future and
longing to shed her skin, as she phrased it, had decided to give the
go-by.
"There are a couple of leeches for you!" she muttered.
"If they come back threaten to go to the police."
Then she called Daguenet and Georges, who had remained behind in the
anteroom, where they were hanging up their overcoats. They had both
met at the stage door in the Passage des Panoramas, and she had
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