| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: looking toward his tree.
Three times the Arabs started across the clearing in the
direction from which they thought the arrows came, but
each time another arrow would come from behind to take
its toll from among their number. Then they would turn and
charge in a new direction. Finally they set out upon a
determined search of the forest, but the blacks melted
before them, so that they saw no sign of an enemy.
But above them lurked a grim figure in the dense foliage
of the mighty trees--it was Tarzan of the Apes, hovering over
them as if he had been the shadow of death. Presently a
The Return of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: and so he was moved to repeat certain nonsense that he
had been commanded never, never to utter again. Teddy's
fences were down.
This time there was no ambition to stand in the way,
and the wooing was as natural and successful as should
be between ardent shepherd and gentle shepherdess.
The prairies changed to a garden. The Rancho de las
Sombras became the Ranch of Light.
A few days later Octavia received a letter from Mr.
Bannister, in reply to one she had written to him asking
some questions about her business. A portion of the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: first two or three; but after that I only wanted to sleep, like the rest,
and I packed my books away.
"When you have three wagons to look after all night, you are sometimes so
tired you can hardly stand. At first when I walked along driving my wagons
in the night it was glorious; the stars had never looked so beautiful to
me; and on the dark nights when we rode through the bush there were will-
o'-the-wisps dancing on each side of the road. I found out that even the
damp and dark are beautiful. But I soon changed, and saw nothing but the
road and my oxen. I only wished for a smooth piece of road, so that I
might sit at the front and doze. At the places where we outspanned there
were sometimes rare plants and flowers, the festoons hanging from the bush-
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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 The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: who shiver in Greenland to those who sweat in the tropics, would paint
in the single phrase: /He was an unfortunate man/. From this phrase,
everybody will conceive him according to the special ideas of each
country. But who can best imagine his face--white and wrinkled, red at
the extremities, and his long beard. Who will see his lean and yellow
scarf, his greasy shirt-collar, his battered hat, his green frock
coat, his deplorable trousers, his dilapidated waistcoat, his
imitation gold pin, and battered shoes, the strings of which were
plastered in mud? Who will see all that but the Parisian? The
unfortunate man of Paris is the unfortunate man /in toto/, for he has
still enough mirth to know the extent of his misfortune. The mulatto
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
