| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: seven pillars of solid gold, and in another the floor itself
was of the precious metal. And all the while that he explored,
his blacks huddled close together at his back, and
strange shapes hovered upon either hand and before them
and behind, yet never close enough that any might say that
they were not alone.
The strain, however, was telling upon the nerves of the Waziri.
They begged Tarzan to return to the sunlight. They said that
no good could come of such an expedition, for the ruins were
haunted by the spirits of the dead who had once inhabited them.
"They are watching us, O king," whispered Busuli. "They are
The Return of Tarzan |
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 Iliad by Homer: give support to the ships' sides as they lay on the shore. Ajax
caught up one of them and struck Hector above the rim of his
shield close to his neck; the blow made him spin round like a top
and reel in all directions. As an oak falls headlong when
uprooted by the lightning flash of father Jove, and there is a
terrible smell of brimstone--no man can help being dismayed if he
is standing near it, for a thunderbolt is a very awful thing--
even so did Hector fall to earth and bite the dust. His spear
fell from his hand, but his shield and helmet were made fast
about his body, and his bronze armour rang about him.
The sons of the Achaeans came running with a loud cry towards
The Iliad |
