| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: her situation might be rendered infinitely less bearable than
were she to believe him a total stranger. Then, too, as a simple
panthan* he might win a greater degree of her confidence by his
loyalty and faithfulness and a place in her esteem that seemed to
have been closed to the resplendent Jed of Gathol.
* Soldier of Fortune; free-lance warrior.
They had reached the tower now, and as they entered it from the
subterranean corridor a backward glance revealed the van of their
pursuers--hideous kaldanes mounted upon swift and powerful
rykors. As rapidly as might be the three ascended the stairways
leading to the ground level, but after them, even more rapidly,
The Chessmen of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: SCENE II. Saint Alban's.
[Alarums to the battle. Enter WARWICK.]
WARWICK.
Clifford of Cumberland, 't is Warwick calls;
And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,
Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarum
And dead men's cries do fill the empty air,
Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!
Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland,
Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.--
[Enter YORK.]
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: departing to whence it came, as your sacred writings say, and
what then of those who dwelt and dwell thereon? No, Man of
today, give me Time in which I rule and keep your dreams of an
Eternity that is not, and in which you must still crawl and
serve, even if it were. Yet, if I might, I confess it, I would
live on for ever, but as Master not as Slave."
On another night he began to tempt me, very subtly. "I see a
spark of greatness in you, Humphrey," he said, "and it comes into
my heart that you, too, might learn to rule. With Yva, the last
of my blood, it is otherwise. She is the child of my age and of a
race outworn; too gentle, too much all womanly. The soul that
When the World Shook |
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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: pale blue pinnacles, dazzling and confusing the sight of the
traveler, while his ears grew dull and his head giddy with the
constant gush and roar of the concealed waters. These painful
circumstances increased upon him as he advanced; the ice crashed and
yawned into fresh chasms at his feet, tottering spires nodded around
him and fell thundering across his path; and though he had
repeatedly faced these dangers on the most terrific glaciers and in
the wildest weather, it was with a new and oppressive feeling of
panic terror that he leaped the last chasm and flung himself,
exhausted and shuddering, on the firm turf of the mountain.
He had been compelled to abandon his basket of food, which
|
