| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: yes."
"I will do everything that you wish!"
"But I forewarn you I must be free to do as I please, without
giving you the slightest details what I do. I have long wished
for a young lover, who should be young and not self-willed,
loving without distrust, loved without claiming the right to it.
I have never found one. Men, instead of being satisfied in
obtaining for a long time what they scarcely hoped to obtain
once, exact from their mistresses a full account of the present,
the past, and even the future. As they get accustomed to her,
they want to rule her, and the more one gives them the more
Camille |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants.
"Mind you," the Colonial said at last, "I don't say that in this case the
Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He's never been
quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night out on the
kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of dead sleep; we
couldn't wake him; yet it wasn't cold enough for him to have been frozen.
He's never been the same man since; queer, you know; giving his rations
away to the coloured boys, and letting the other fellows have his dot of
brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of apart to himself, you know.
The other fellows think he's got a touch of fever on, caught wandering
about in the long grass that day. But I don't think it's that; I think
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: engineer, and the government paid me one hundred and fifty francs
a month; the commonest book-keeper in Paris earns that by the time
he is eighteen, giving little more than four hours a day to his
work.
By a most unusual piece of luck, perhaps because of the
distinction my devoted studies won for me, I was made, in 1828,
when I was twenty-five years old, engineer-in-ordinary. I was
sent, as you know, to a sub-prefecture, with a salary of twenty-
five hundred francs. The question of money is nothing. Certainly
my fate has been more brilliant than the son of a carpenter might
expect; but where will you find a grocer's boy, who, if thrown
|
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 Betty Zane by Zane Grey: stood still and only turned her face a little to one side while George kissed
her. The young men now made a rush for her. With blushing cheeks Betty, unable
to stand her ground any longer, ran to her brother, the Colonel. He pushed her
away with a laugh. She turned to Major McColloch, who held out his arms to
her. With an exclamation she wrenched herself free from a young man, who had
caught her hand, and flew to the Major. But alas for Betty! The Major was not
proof against the temptation and he kissed her himself.
"Traitor!" cried Betty, breaking away from him.
Poor Betty was in despair. She had just made up her mind to submit when she
caught sight of Wetzel's familiar figure. She ran to him and the hunter put
one of his long arms around her.
Betty Zane |
