The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: death from her heart, and had put her affairs in absolute order.
He informed us that, with the exception of a certain entailed
property of Lucy's father which now, in default of direct issue,
went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate,
real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood.
When he had told us so much he went on,
"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition,
and pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her
daughter either penniless or not so free as she should be to act
regarding a matrimonial alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter
so far that we almost came into collision, for she asked us
Dracula |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: easily guess the agitation which the Countess was going through. The
lady might fan herself gracefully, smile on the young men who bowed to
her, and bring into play all the arts by which a woman hides her
emotion,--the Dowager, one of the most clear-sighted and mischief-
loving duchesses bequeathed by the eighteenth century to the
nineteenth, could read her heart and mind through it all.
The old lady seemed to detect the slightest movement that revealed the
impressions of the soul. The imperceptible frown that furrowed that
calm, pure forehead, the faintest quiver of the cheeks, the curve of
the eyebrows, the least curl of the lips, whose living coral could
conceal nothing from her,--all these were to the Duchess like the
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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 Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: thus enclosing him within those walls, adding, "If thou wilt
plainly tell me this, of all thou shalt stand first in my favour,
and I will make with thee a covenant of everlasting friendship."
The tutor, himself a prudent man, knowing how bright and mature
was the boy's wit and that he would not betray him, to his peril,
discovered to him the whole matter the persecution of the
Christians and especially of the anchorets decreed by the king,
and how they were driven forth and banished from the country
round about; also the prophecies of the astrologers at his birth.
"'Twas in order," said he, "that thou mightest never hear of
their teaching, and choose it before our religion, that the king
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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 Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: All through the long night the ape-man goaded on the
exhausted and now terrified Hun. The awful silence of his
captor wrought upon the German's nerves. If he would only
speak! Again and again Schneider tried to force or coax a
word from him; but always the result was the same -- con-
tinued silence and a vicious and painful prod from the spear
point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He was so ex-
hausted that he staggered at every step, and often he fell only
to be prodded to his feet again by that terrifying and re-
morseless spear.
It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a decision
Tarzan the Untamed |