| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: be my son," said he, and he held the raven close in his arms and
caressed it.
He had a golden cage made for the bird, and every day he would
walk with it in the garden, talking to it as a father talks to
his son.
One day when they were thus in the garden together a strange lady
came towards them down the pathway. Over her had and face was
drawn a thick veil, so that the two could not tell who she was.
When she came close to them she raised the veil, and the raven-prince saw that her face was the
living likeness of the queen's;
and yet there was something in it that was different. It was the
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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 The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: under all my experience, lies a first love intact,--just as I myself,
in spite of all my losses and fatigues, feel young and beautiful. We
may love and not be happy; we may be happy and never love; but to love
and be happy, to unite those two immense human experiences, is a
miracle. That miracle has not taken place for me."
"Nor for me," said Madame d'Espard.
"I own I am pursued in this retreat by dreadful regret: I have amused
myself all through life, but I have never loved."
"What an incredible secret!" cried the marquise.
"Ah! my dear," replied the princess, "such secrets we can tell to
ourselves, you and I, but nobody in Paris would believe us."
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