| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: light wind blew from the shore, and covered the deck and the great
lateen sail with a fine red dust. Three Arabs mounted on wild
asses rode out and threw spears at them. The master of the galley
took a painted bow in his hand and shot one of them in the throat.
He fell heavily into the surf, and his companions galloped away. A
woman wrapped in a yellow veil followed slowly on a camel, looking
back now and then at the dead body.
As soon as they had cast anchor and hauled down the sail, the
negroes went into the hold and brought up a long rope-ladder,
heavily weighted with lead. The master of the galley threw it over
the side, making the ends fast to two iron stanchions. Then the
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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 Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: that which was transpiring upon their own deck.
Kar Komak stood behind the gun he had been operating,
staring with wide eyes at the onrushing hideous green warriors.
Carthoris, seeing him thus, felt a pang of regret that,
after all, this man that he had thought so valorous should prove,
in the hour of need, as spineless as Jav or Tario.
"Kar Komak--the man!" he shouted. "Grip yourself!
Remember the days of the glory of the seafarers of
Lothar. Fight! Fight, man! Fight as never man fought
before. All that remains to us is to die fighting."
Kar Komak turned toward the Heliumite, a grim smile upon his lips.
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
