| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: so moved. I print it practically as it left his hands.
There are other MSS. also, one of which, headed "Child of Storm,"
relates the moving history of a beautiful and, I fear I must add, wicked
Zulu girl named Mameena who did much evil in her day and went
unrepentant from the world.
Another, amongst other things, tells the secret story of the causes of
the defeat of Cetewayo and his armies by the English in 1879, which
happened not long before Quatermain met Sir Henry Curtis and Captain
Good.
These three narratives are, indeed, more or less connected with each
other. At least, a certain aged dwarf, called Zikali, a witch-doctor
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: "Ah, Mignonne!" cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically;
"we're bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!" and he
retraced his steps.
From that time the desert seemed inhabited. It contained a being to
whom the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by
him, though he could not explain to himself the reason for their
strange friendship. Great as was the soldier's desire to stay upon
guard, he slept.
On awakening he could not find Mignonne; he mounted the hill, and in
the distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these
animals, who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Lys spent a great deal of time talking to him and trying to draw
him out; but for a long while she was unsuccessful. It took us
three weeks to build all the houses, which we constructed close
by a cold spring some two miles from the harbor.
We changed our plans a trifle when it came to building the
palisade, for we found a rotted cliff near by where we could get
all the flat building-stone we needed, and so we constructed a
stone wall entirely around the buildings. It was in the form of
a square, with bastions and towers at each corner which would
permit an enfilading fire along any side of the fort, and was
about one hundred and thirty-five feet square on the outside,
The Land that Time Forgot |
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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: "I want to be able to count upon your help."
"I'll help you to hang Alfred with pleasure," she replied
gruffly. "Hanging's too good for him. Ought to be drawn and
quartered, like in good old times."
"We are at one then," said Poirot, "for I, too, want to hang the
criminal."
"Alfred Inglethorp?"
"Him, or another."
"No question of another. Poor Emily was never murdered until *HE
came along. I don't say she wasn't surrounded by sharks--she
was. But it was only her purse they were after. Her life was
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
