| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: were in Billy's room investigating. Bridge had followed
them.
"It was the gringo," cried the excited Boniface. "This is his
room. He has cut a hole in my floor which I shall have to pay
to have repaired."
A captain came next, sleepy-eyed and profane. When he
heard what had happened and that the wealth which he had
been detailed to guard had been taken while he slept, he tore
his hair and promised that the sentry should be shot at dawn.
By the time they had returned to the street all the male
population of Cuivaca was there and most of the female.
The Mucker |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: inky depths beneath.
I knew there were two more cellar levels
in this titan edifice, and trembled with fresh panic as I recalled
the metal-clamped trap-door on the lowest one. There could be
no guards now - for what had lurked beneath had long since done
its hideous work and sunk into its long decline. By the time of
the posthuman beetle race it would be quite dead. And yet, as
I thought of the native legends, I trembled anew.
It cost me
a terrible effort to vault that yawning chasm, since the littered
floor prevented a running start - but madness drove me on. I chose
Shadow out of Time |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: surface of these circles is the reverse of the exterior, and
contrary to the form taken by terrestrial craters. It follows,
then, that the general curve of the bottom of these circles
gives a sphere of a smaller diameter than that of the moon."
"And why this peculiar disposition?" asked Nicholl.
"We do not know," replied Barbicane.
"What splendid radiation!" said Michel. "One could hardly see
a finer spectacle, I think."
"What would you say, then," replied Barbicane, "if chance should
bear us toward the southern hemisphere?"
"Well, I should say that it was still more beautiful," retorted
From the Earth to the Moon |
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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: from the length of his visit which my brother's company would otherwise
give me. I am, indeed, provoked at the artifice of this unprincipled woman;
what stronger proof of her dangerous abilities can be given than this
perversion of Reginald's judgment, which when he entered the house was so
decidedly against her! In his last letter he actually gave me some
particulars of her behaviour at Langford, such as he received from a
gentleman who knew her perfectly well, which, if true, must raise
abhorrence against her, and which Reginald himself was entirely disposed to
credit. His opinion of her, I am sure, was as low as of any woman in
England; and when he first came it was evident that he considered her as
one entitled neither to delicacy nor respect, and that he felt she would be
Lady Susan |
