| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: Voices diverse make up sweet melodies;
So in this life of ours the seats diverse
Render sweet harmony among these spheres;
And in the compass of this present pearl
Shineth the sheen of Romeo, of whom
The grand and beauteous work was ill rewarded.
But the Provencals who against him wrought,
They have not laughed, and therefore ill goes he
Who makes his hurt of the good deeds of others.
Four daughters, and each one of them a queen,
Had Raymond Berenger, and this for him
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: wounds it made on the neck of her victim, she took care of her as a
thing of her own, and Celeste entered upon happier days. Comparing the
end with the beginning, she even felt a sort of love for her torturer.
To gain some power of self-defence, to become something less a cipher
in the household, supported, unknown to herself, by her own means, the
poor helot had but a single chance, and that chance never came to her.
Celeste had no child. This barrenness, which, from month to month,
brought floods of tears from her eyes, was long the cause of
Brigitte's scorn; she reproached the poor woman bitterly for being fit
for nothing, not even to bear children. The old maid, who had longed
to love her brother's child as if it were her own, was unable, for
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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 Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: it him. Had I known how could I have given them to him?"
"Well, and how did the ring come into your possession? asked the
president. "When did he give it you?"
"That was when we came back to his lodgings. I wanted to go away,
and he gave me a knock on the head and broke my comb. I got angry
and said I'd go away, and he took the ring off his finger and
gave it to me so that I should not go," she said.
Then the public prosecutor again slightly raised himself, and,
putting on an air of simplicity, asked permission to put a few
more questions, and, having received it, bending his head over
his embroidered collar, he said: "I should like to know how long
Resurrection |
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 Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: know I shall not tell you.
Then for the first time the beautiful lady seemed to notice the
fisherman. She beckoned him, and when he stood beside her two men
came carrying a chest. The chief treasurer opened it, and it was
full of bags of gold money. "How will you have it?" said the
beautiful lady.
"Have what?" said the fisherman.
"Have the pay for your labor?" said the beautiful lady.
"I will," said the fisherman, promptly, "take it in my hat."
"So be it," said the beautiful lady. She waved her hand, and the
chief treasurer took a bag from the chest, untied it, and emptied
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