| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: He must chance a throw.
And just as Teeka sprang for the lower limb of a great tree,
and Sheeta rose behind her in a long, sinuous leap,
the coils of the ape-boy's grass rope shot swiftly
through the air, straightening into a long thin line
as the open noose hovered for an instant above the savage
head and the snarling jaws. Then it settled--clean
and true about the tawny neck it settled, and Tarzan,
with a quick twist of his rope-hand, drew the noose taut,
bracing himself for the shock when Sheeta should have
taken up the slack.
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: little trick of mine, from book to book, and everything else,
comparatively, plays over the surface of it. The order, the form,
the texture of my books will perhaps some day constitute for the
initiated a complete representation of it. So it's naturally the
thing for the critic to look for. It strikes me," my visitor
added, smiling, "even as the thing for the critic to find."
This seemed a responsibility indeed. "You call it a little trick?"
"That's only my little modesty. It's really an exquisite scheme."
"And you hold that you've carried the scheme out?"
"The way I've carried it out is the thing in life I think a bit
well of myself for."
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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 The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "What means this," cried De Montfort, "has the ras-
cal offered you harm or indignity?"
"You craven liar," cried Henry de Montfort, "but yes-
terday you swore upon your honor that you did not
hold my sister, and I, like a fool, believed." And with
his words the young man flung himself upon Norman of
Torn with drawn sword.
Quicker than the eye could see, the sword of the
visored knight flew from its scabbard, and, with a
single lightning-like move, sent the blade of young De
Montfort hurtling cross the courtyard; and then before
The Outlaw of Torn |
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 A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: there contributed to facilitate the attempt, I leaped from one rock
to another, till I reached the opposite bank, to the great amazement
of the natives themselves, who never had tried that way; my four
companions followed me with the same success: and it hath been
called since the passage of Father Jerome.
That province of the kingdom of Damot, which I was assigned to by my
superior, is called Ligonus, and is perhaps one of the most
beautiful and agreeable places in the world; the air is healthful
and temperate, and all the mountains, which are not very high,
shaded with cedars. They sow and reap here in every season, the
ground is always producing, and the fruits ripen throughout the
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