| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: business; but this ranger work is new. I doubt if the Westerners will take
to forestry. There've been some shady deals all over the West because of
it. Buell, now, he's a timber shark. He bought so much timber from the
Government, and had the markers come in to mark the cut; then after they
were gone, he rushed up a mill and clapped on a thousand hands."
"And the rangers stand for it? Where'll their jobs be when the Government
finds out?"
"I was against it from the start. So was Jim, particularly. But the other
rangers persuaded us."
It began to dawn upon me that Dick Leslie might, after all, turn out to be
good soil in which to plant some seeds of forestry. I said no more then, as
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: their dead bodies had told their secrets in dreams to the first
men, who formed a cult which had never died. This was that cult,
and the prisoners said it had always existed and always would
exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world
until the time when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house
in the mighty city of R'lyeh under the waters, should rise and
bring the earth again beneath his sway. Some day he would call,
when the stars were ready, and the secret cult would always be
waiting to liberate him.
Meanwhile no more must be told. There
was a secret which even torture could not extract. Mankind was
Call of Cthulhu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: more among the Zulus, and afterwards he left the land. When he had
gone the burnt wood and the dead were cleared away, the injured were
doctored or killed according to their hurts, and those who had little
harm came before the king and praised him.
"New shields and headresses must be found for you, my children," said
Dingaan, for the shields were black and shrivelled, and of heads of
hair and plumes there were but few left among that regiment.
"Wow!" said Dingaan again, looking at the soldiers who still lived:
"shaving will be easy and cheap in that place of fire of which the
white man speaks."
Then he ordered bear to be brought to the men, for the heat had made
Nada the Lily |
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 Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: disturbed her by coming in.
The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise--she leaned slightly
forward with a conscientious expression--then she laughed, an absurd,
charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the
room.
"I'm p-paralyzed with happiness." She laughed again, as if she said
something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my
face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted
to see. That was a way she had. She hinted in a murmur that the surname
of the balancing girl was Baker. (I've heard it said that Daisy's
murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism
The Great Gatsby |
