| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: time, and now they came in full force, the lions and the men,
possibly a half dozen of each, the men casting their spears
and the lions waiting just behind, evidently for the signal to
charge.
"Is this the end?" asked the girl.
"No," cried the ape-man, "for we still live!"
The words had scarcely passed his lips when the remaining
warriors, rushing in, cast their spears simultaneously from
both sides. In attempting to shield the girl, Tarzan received
one of the shafts in the shoulder, and so heavily had the
weapon been hurled that it bore him backward to the ground.
Tarzan the Untamed |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: Wherein I have offended you, I know not; I have, indeed, carried
you away, but with a friendly violence; I have, indeed, exposed you
to the inclemency of night, but the hurry that lies upon me hath
for its end the preservation of another, who is no less frail and
no less unfriended than yourself. At least, madam, punish not
yourself; and eat, if not for hunger, then for strength."
"I will eat nothing at the hands that slew my kinsman," she
replied.
"Dear madam," Dick cried, "I swear to you upon the rood I touched
him not."
"Swear to me that he still lives," she returned.
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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 Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: contest my say-so, seeing how you -'
'Why don't it lie in my mouth, seeing I was the first which
knowed Frankie for all he was?' The burly sack-clad man puffed
down at cool little Puck.
'Yes, and the first which set out to poison him - Frankie - on
the high seas -'
Simon's angry face changed to a sheepish grin. He waggled his
immense hands, but Puck stood off and laughed mercilessly.
'But let me tell you, Mus' Robin,'he pleaded.
'I've heard the tale. Tell the children here. Look, Dan! Look,
Una!' - Puck's straight brown finger levelled like an arrow.
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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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: where the Lake of Alleghe slept unseen. It was a sea of mountains,
tossed around us into a myriad of motionless waves, and with a
rainbow of colours spread among their hollows and across their
crests. The cliffs of rose and orange and silver gray, the valleys
of deepest green, the distant shadows of purple and melting blue,
and the dazzling white of the scattered snow-fields seemed to shift
and vary like the hues on the inside of a shell. And over all,
from peak to peak, the light, feathery clouds went drifting lazily
and slowly, as if they could not leave a scene so fair.
There is barely room on the top of Nuvolau for the stone shelter-
hut which a grateful Saxon baron has built there as a sort of
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