| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: girdled tight about their waists, they waited with chosen bow and
arrow.
Some cunning old warriors stayed not with the group. They
crouched low upon the open ground. But all eyes alike were fixed
upon the top of the high bluff. Breathless they watched for the
soaring of the red eagle.
From within the dwellings many eyes peeped through the small
holes in the front lapels of the teepee. With shaking knees and
hard-set teeth, the women peered out upon the Dakota men prowling
about with bows and arrows.
At length when the morning sun also peeped over the eastern
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: beginning of this history to bring out the true Firmiani in
contradistinction to the Firmiani of society. If some women forgave
her happiness, others did not forgive her propriety. Now nothing is so
dangerous in Paris as unfounded suspicions,--for the reason that it is
impossible to destroy them.
This sketch of a woman who was admirably natural gives only a faint
idea of her. It would need the pencil of an Ingres to render the pride
of that brow, with its wealth of hair, the dignity of that glance, and
the thoughts betrayed by the changing colors of her cheeks. In her
were all things; poets could have found an Agnes Sorel and a Joan of
Arc, also the woman unknown, the Soul within that form, the soul 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: but was the one woman in all the world whom he loved.
Though he knew that the lioness would make short work
of both of them, he pulled with a will to keep it from Jane
Porter. And then he recalled the battle between this man and
the great, black-maned lion which he had witnessed a short
time before, and he commenced to feel more assurance.
Tarzan was still issuing orders which Clayton could not understand.
He was trying to tell the stupid white man to plunge his
poisoned arrows into Sabor's back and sides, and to reach the
savage heart with the long, thin hunting knife that hung at
Tarzan's hip; but the man would not understand, and Tarzan
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 Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: who had remained within the town declared as they watched the
strife: "Ah, what a valiant knight! How he makes his enemies
yield, and how fierce is his attack! He was about him as a lion
among the fallow deer, when he is impelled by need and hunger.
Then, too, all our other knights are more brave and daring
because of him, for, were it not for him alone, not a lance would
have been splintered nor a sword drawn to strike. When such an
excellent man is found he ought to be loved and dearly prized.
See now how he proves himself, see how he maintains his place,
see how he stains with blood his lance and bare sword, see how he
presses the enemy and follows them up, how he comes boldly to
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