| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above.
The houses varied in size from two to several rooms.
The largest that I entered was divided into two floors and
eight apartments.
All about the village, between it and the jungle,
lay beautifully cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised
such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as they required.
Women and children were working in these gardens as we crossed
toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted deferentially,
but to me they paid not the slightest attention.
Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area
At the Earth's Core |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: again. But when I told her what was the end of her cousin Guatemoc
she grieved bitterly, both for his sake and because the last hope
of the Aztec was gone, and she would not be comforted for many
days.
CHAPTER XXXIII
ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA IS AVENGED
For many years after the death of Guatemoc I lived with Otomie at
peace in the City of Pines. Our country was poor and rugged, and
though we defied the Spaniards and paid them no tribute, now that
Cortes had gone back to Spain, they had no heart to attempt our
conquest. Save some few tribes that lived in difficult places like
Montezuma's Daughter |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: great softy, you. . . Cloete has got so that he almost loved George
Dunbar. Well. Yes. That was so. I don't mean he respected him.
He was just fond of his partner.
"They go back, you may say fairly skipping, to the hotel, and find
the wife of the captain at the open window, with her eyes on the
ship as if she wanted to fly across the bay over there. . . Now
then, Mrs. Dunbar, cries Cloete, you can't go, but I am going. Any
messages? Don't be shy. I'll deliver every word faithfully. And
if you would like to give me a kiss for him, I'll deliver that too,
dash me if I don't.
"He makes Mrs. Harry laugh with his patter. . . Oh, dear Mr.
Within the Tides |
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 Critias by Plato: and Asia for the beauty of their persons and for the many virtues of their
souls, and of all men who lived in those days they were the most
illustrious. And next, if I have not forgotten what I heard when I was a
child, I will impart to you the character and origin of their adversaries.
For friends should not keep their stories to themselves, but have them in
common.
Yet, before proceeding further in the narrative, I ought to warn you, that
you must not be surprised if you should perhaps hear Hellenic names given
to foreigners. I will tell you the reason of this: Solon, who was
intending to use the tale for his poem, enquired into the meaning of the
names, and found that the early Egyptians in writing them down had
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