| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: through the town had been long, and by the time the traveller
paused at our cottage to ask the way to the factories, his heart
had become greatly overtaxed. He had refused a stimulant, and
had suddenly dropped dead only a moment later. The body, as might
be expected, seemed to West a heaven-sent gift. In his brief conversation
the stranger had made it clear that he was unknown in Bolton,
and a search of his pockets subsequently revealed him to be one
Robert Leavitt of St. Louis, apparently without a family to make
instant inquiries about his disappearance. If this man could not
be restored to life, no one would know of our experiment. We buried
our materials in a dense strip of woods between the house and
Herbert West: Reanimator |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: circle above him. The grim and persistent harbinger of evil
aroused the man to renewed determination. He arose and
approached the edge of the canyon, and then, wheeling, with
his face turned upward toward the circling bird of prey, he
bellowed forth the challenge of the bull ape.
"I am Tarzan," he shouted, "Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan of
the Apes is not for Ska, eater of carrion. Go back to the lair
of Dango and feed off the leavings of the hyenas, for Tarzan
will leave no bones for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of
death."
But before he reached the bottom of the canyon he again
Tarzan the Untamed |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: which made the irresistible woman for the doomed man of that date.
Think no unfair evil of her, pray: she had no wicked plots,
nothing sordid or mercenary; in fact, she never thought of money except
as something necessary which other people would always provide.
She was not in the habit of devising falsehoods, and if her statements
were no direct clew to fact, why, they were not intended in that light--
they were among her elegant accomplishments, intended to please.
Nature had inspired many arts in finishing Mrs. Lemon's favorite pupil,
who by general consent (Fred's excepted) was a rare compound
of beauty, cleverness, and amiability.
Lydgate found it more and more agreeable to be with her, and there
Middlemarch |
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 The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: pursuit of savages and renegades, and who was purely a product of the times.
Civilization could not have brought forth a man like Wetzel. Great
revolutions, great crises, great moments come, and produce the men to deal
with them.
The border needed Wetzel. The settlers would have needed many more years in
which to make permanent homes had it not been for him. He was never a pioneer;
but always a hunter after Indians. When not on the track of the savage foe, he
was in the settlement, with his keen eye and ear ever alert for signs of the
enemy. To the superstitious Indians he was a shadow; a spirit of the border,
which breathed menace from the dark forests. To the settlers he was the right
arm of defense, a fitting leader for those few implacable and unerring
The Spirit of the Border |
