| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: following on this came memoranda on the recorded behaviour of
martyrs, on the self-torture of Hindoo ascetics, of the defiance of
Red Indian prisoners.
"These things," Benham had written, "are much more horrible when one
considers them from the point of view of an easy-chair";--White gave
an assenting nod--"ARE THEY REALLY HORRIBLE AT ALL? Is it possible
that these charred and slashed and splintered persons, those Indians
hanging from hooks, those walkers in the fiery furnace, have had
glimpses through great windows that were worth the price they paid
for them? Haven't we allowed those checks and barriers that are so
important a restraint upon childish enterprise, to creep up into and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: giant and that you suffered defeat in an attempt to
rescue her because of your friendship for us.
Do you understand?"
Muda Saffir nodded. Here was a man after his own heart,
which loved intrigue and duplicity. Evidently he would
be a good ally in wreaking vengeance upon the white giant
who had caused all his discomfiture-- afterward there
was always the kris if the other should become inconvenient.
At the long-house at which Barunda and Ninaka had halted,
Muda Saffir learned all that had transpired,
his informants being the two Dyaks who had led Bulan
The Monster Men |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: act.
Juste, whom no one ever sought, and who never sought any one, was, at
five-and-twenty, a great politician, a man with a wonderful aptitude
for apprehending the correlation between remote history and the facts
of the present and of the future. In 1831, he told me exactly what
would and did happen--the murders, the conspiracies, the ascendency of
the Jews, the difficulty of doing anything in France, the scarcity of
talent in the higher circles, and the abundance of intellect in the
lowest ranks, where the finest courage is smothered under cigar ashes.
What was to become of him? His parents wished him to be a doctor. But
if he were a doctor, must he not wait twenty years for a practice? You
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: we said farewell, Enrique de Cerda and Jayme de Marchena.
Three leagues Seville side of Cordova I came at eve to
a good inn known to me of old. Riding into its court I
found two travelers entering just before me, one a well-
formed hidalgo still at prime, and the other a young man
evidently his son. The elder who had just dismounted
turned and I recognized Don Francisco de Las Casas. At
the same instant he saw me. ``Ha, Friend! Ha, Doctor!''
We took our supper together in a wide, low room, looking
out upon the road. Don Francisco and Juan Lepe talked
and the young man listened. Juan Lepe talked but his
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