| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: occasion (he had put on his bottle-blue coat with brass buttons, a
frilled shirt, a white waistcoat and yellow gloves), awaited his
amphitryon a full hour, stamping his feet on the boulevard, after
hearing from the master of the cafe that "these gentlemen" breakfasted
habitually between eleven and twelve o'clock.
"Between eleven and half-past," he said when he related his adventures
to his cronies in the provinces, "two Parisians dressed in simple
frock-coats, looking like NOTHING AT ALL, called out when they saw me
on the boulevard, 'There's our Gazonal!'"
The speaker was Bixiou, with whom Leon de Lora had armed himself to
"bring out" his provincial cousin, in other words, to make him pose.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: people, who bore him on their shoulders, wrapped in plaids and
blankets, to the spot where the combat was to take place, and
seated him on a fragment of rock, which is still called the
Laird's Jock's stone. There he remained with eyes fixed on the
lists or barrier, within which the champions were about to meet.
His daughter, having done all she could for his accommodation,
stood motionless beside him, divided between anxiety for his
health, and for the event of the combat to her beloved brother.
Ere yet the fight began, the old men gazed on their chief, now
seen for the first time after several years, and sadly compared
his altered features and wasted frame with the paragon of
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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 Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: east, and was busily engaged in turning over rotted limbs and
logs in search of succulent bugs and fungi, when the faintest
shadow of a strange noise brought her to startled attention.
For fifty yards before her the trail was straight, and down
this leafy tunnel she saw the stealthy advancing figure of a
strange and fearful creature.
It was Kulonga.
Kala did not wait to see more, but, turning, moved rapidly back
along the trail. She did not run; but, after the manner of her
kind when not aroused, sought rather to avoid than to escape.
Close after her came Kulonga. Here was meat. He could
Tarzan of the Apes |
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 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: believed that she still loved him, assumed the coquetting graces in
which a man is so ready to lull himself in the presence of the woman
he loves. He said with a fatuous air:
"And will you be annoyed with me if I seem to attach great importance
to your telling me that name?"
"Will you be annoyed with me," answered Madame de Vaudremont, "if a
remnant of affection prevents my telling you; and if I forbid you to
make the smallest advances to that young lady? It would be at the risk
of your life perhaps."
"To lose your good graces, madame, would be worse than to lose my
life."
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