| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: rushed on him and snatched back the burning papers. A struggle ensued,
Camusot calling out: "Madame, but madame! This is contempt--madame!"
A man hurried into the room, and the Countess could not repress a
scream as she beheld the Comte de Serizy, followed by Monsieur de
Granville and the Comte de Bauvan. Leontine, however, determined to
save Lucien at any cost, would not let go of the terrible stamped
documents, which she clutched with the tenacity of a vise, though the
flame had already burnt her delicate skin like a moxa.
At last Camusot, whose fingers also were smarting from the fire,
seemed to be ashamed of the position; he let the papers go; there was
nothing left of them but the portions so tightly held by 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 South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: of battles. There are elements in our state and history which it
is a pleasure to forget, which it is perhaps the better wisdom not
to dwell on. Crime, pestilence, and death are in the day's work;
the imagination readily accepts them. It instinctively rejects, on
the contrary, whatever shall call up the image of our race upon its
lowest terms, as the partner of beasts, beastly itself, dwelling
pell-mell and hugger-mugger, hairy man with hairy woman, in the
caves of old. And yet to be just to barbarous islanders we must
not forget the slums and dens of our cities; I must not forget that
I have passed dinnerward through Soho, and seen that which cured me
of my dinner.
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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 Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: Men drive us to the Salt House like silly sheep and tame,
And still we sing Lukannon--before the sealers came.
Wheel down, wheel down to southward; oh, Gooverooska, go!
And tell the Deep-Sea Viceroys the story of our woe;
Ere, empty as the shark's egg the tempest flings ashore,
The Beaches of Lukannon shall know their sons no more!
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
"Nag, come up and dance with death!"
The Jungle Book |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: laid down her work, and turned to her husband.
"Come now," said she, in a sharp tone, "you need not harry me. Are you
going to accuse me next of some underhand tricks? Patrol your roads as
much as you please, but do not meddle here with anything but what
concerns your sleeping in peace, drinking your wine, and eating what I
set before you, or else, I warn you, I will have no more to do with
keeping you healthy and happy. Let any one find me a happier man in
all the town," she went on, with a scolding grimace. "He has silver in
his purse, a gable over the Seine, a stout halbert on one hand, an
honest wife on the other, a house as clean and smart as a new pin! And
he growls like a pilgrim smarting from Saint Anthony's fire!"
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