| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to their new home they piled the bodies of the dead, both yellow
and green, that the stench might warn away their enemies from
further pursuit.
"And ever since that long-gone day have the dead of this fabled
land been carried to the Carrion Caves, that in death and decay
they might serve their country and warn away invading enemies.
Here, too, is brought, so the fable runs, all the waste
stuff of the nation--everything that is subject to rot, and that
can add to the foul stench that assails our nostrils.
 The Warlord of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: gathered into heaps as though it covered something.
I cried to God, "Oh, I am so weary."
God said, "You have seen only one half of Hell."
I said, "I cannot see more, I am afraid of Hell. In my own narrow little
path I dare not walk because I think that one has dug a pitfall for me; and
if I put my hand to take a fruit I draw it back again because I think it
has been kissed already. If I look out across the plains, the mounds are
burial heaps; and when I pass among the stones I hear them crying aloud.
When I see men dancing I hear the time beaten in with sobs; and their wine
is living! Oh, I cannot bear Hell!"
God said, "Where will you go?"
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