| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: crawl," he heard the Russian wail. "It is too late. You have
tricked me, you dirty English dog."
"I have not tricked you, monsieur," replied Clayton.
"I have done my best to rise, but I shall try again,
and if you will try possibly each of us can crawl halfway,
and then you shall have your `winnings.'"
Again Clayton exerted his remaining strength to the utmost,
and he heard Thuran apparently doing the same. Nearly an hour
later the Englishman succeeded in raising himself to his
hands and knees, but at the first forward movement
he pitched upon his face.
The Return of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Just Folks by Edgar A. Guest: The old, old days of youth and love, the days they say were best
But I--I sing the new days, the days that lie before,
The days of hope and fancy, the days that I adore.
The new days, the new days, the selfsame days they are;
The selfsame sunshine heralds them, the selfsame evening star
Shines out to light them on their way unto the Bygone Land,
And with the selfsame arch of blue the world to-day is spanned.
The new days, the new days, when friends are just as true,
And maidens smile upon us all, the way they used to do,
Dreams we know are golden dreams, hope springs in every breast;
It cheers us in the dewy morn and soothes us when we rest.
Just Folks |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: sudden start that a loud chorus of whippoorwills among the shrubbery
had commenced a damnably rhythmical piping, as if in unison with
the last breaths of a dying man.
The building was full of a
frightful stench which Dr Armitage knew too well, and the three
men rushed across the hall to the small genealogical reading-room
whence the low whining came. For a second nobody dared to turn
on the light, then Armitage summoned up his courage and snapped
the switch. One of the three - it is not certain which - shrieked
aloud at what sprawled before them among disordered tables and
overturned chairs. Professor Rice declares that he wholly lost
The Dunwich Horror |
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 Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: "Mexico?" said Wilbur. "That's so--Lower California is Mexico.
I'd forgotten that!"
They went ashore and spent the afternoon in filling the water-cask
from the fresh-water stream and in gathering abalones, which Moran
declared were delicious eating, from the rocks left bare by the
tide. But nothing could have exceeded the loneliness of that
shore and backland, palpitating under the flogging of a tropical
sun. Low hills of sand, covered with brush, stretched back from
the shore. On the eastern horizon, leagues distant, blue masses
of mountain striated with mirages swam in the scorching air.
The sand was like fire to the touch. Far out in the bay the
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