| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "It's a good poker number," her husband suggested.
The matter settled itself, however. I was hopeless, save as a
dummy; Miss West said it was too hot for cards, and went out on a
balcony that overlooked the Mall. With obvious relief Mrs. Dallas
had the card-table brought, and I was face to face with the minute
I had dreaded and hoped for for a week.
Now it had come, it was more difficult than I had anticipated. I
do not know if there was a moon, but there was the urban
substitute for it - the arc light. It threw the shadow of the
balcony railing in long black bars against her white gown, and as
it swung sometimes her face was in the light. I drew a chair close
The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Why were all the peoples of the jungle not trees? Why were
the trees not something else? Why was Tarzan different
from Taug, and Taug different from Bara, the deer,
and Bara different from Sheeta, the panther, and why
was not Sheeta like Buto, the rhinoceros? Where and how,
anyway, did they all come from--the trees, the flowers,
the insects, the countless creatures of the jungle?
Quite unexpectedly an idea popped into Tarzan's head.
In following out the many ramifications of the dictionary
definition of GOD he had come upon the word CREATE--
"to cause to come into existence; to form out of nothing."
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called
to one of the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that
Hooja stood quite close to the doorway of the prospector,
so that it was he who, without my knowledge, went to
bring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing the
fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there were
others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that,
since all my people were loyal to me and would have made
short work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme,
even had he had time to acquaint another with it.
It was all done so quickly that I may only believe that it
At the Earth's Core |
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 Rescue by Joseph Conrad: Travers' elbow.
"If she is a princess, then this man is a knight," he murmured
with conviction. "A knight as I live! A descendant of the
immortal hidalgo errant upon the sea. It would be good for us to
have him for a friend. Seriously I think that you ought--"
The two stepped aside and spoke low and hurriedly.
"Yes, you ought--"
"How can I?" she interrupted, catching the meaning like a ball.
"By saying something."
"Is it really necessary?" she asked, doubtfully.
"It would do no harm," said d'Alcacer with sudden carelessness;
The Rescue |
