| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: you that with your fortune he may close the doors of the debtor's
gaol that's open to receive him."
"This is unworthy in you," she exclaimed, her tone indignant - so
indignant that he experienced his first pang of jealousy.
"It would be were I his rival," he answered quietly. "But I am not.
I have saved you from becoming the prey of such as he by forcing
you to marry me."
"That I may become the prey of such as you, instead," was her retort.
He looked at her a moment, smiling sadly. Then, with pardonable
self-esteem when we think of what manner of man it was with whom
he now compared himself, "Surely," said he, "it is better to become
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: But it was late. No customers were there,--
Pitiless eyes would freeze her secret in her!
And then--what poison would she dare to ask for?
And if they asked her why, what would she say?
VII. TWO LOVERS: OVERTONES
Two lovers, here at the corner, by the steeple,
Two lovers blow together like music blowing:
And the crowd dissolves about them like a sea.
Recurring waves of sound break vaguely about them,
They drift from wall to wall, from tree to tree.
'Well, am I late?' Upward they look and laugh,
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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 Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: fellow's lips were thin and cruel, and across one cheek
was the faint, white line of a sword-cut from the
right temple to the corner of the mouth.
"Come," urged the Prince of Helium. "Speak!"
The man hesitated. It was evident that he regretted
the temerity that had made him the centre of interested
observation. But at last, seeing no alternative, he spoke.
"It might be tampered with," he said, "by an enemy."
Carthoris drew a small key from his leathern pocket-pouch.
"Look at this," he said, handing it to the man. "If you
know aught of locks, you will know that the mechanism which
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
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 Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: until he had driven it clear through his body. Then, by getting the
stake tangled among some thorny bushes, and wiggling his body, he
managed to draw it out altogether.
"There!" he exclaimed, "except for those two holes in me, I'm as
good as ever; but I must admit that that old wooden-legged fellow
saved both himself and the girl by making me a prisoner."
Now the Kalidahs, although the most disagreeable creatures in the
Land of Oz, were nevertheless magical inhabitants of a magical
Fairyland, and in their natures a certain amount of good was mingled
with the evil. This one was not very revengeful, and now that his late
foes were in danger of perishing, his anger against them faded away.
The Magic of Oz |
