| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and the sun," said Olson. "They may be after getting the compass
some night; but they's too many of us around in the daytime fer
'em to get the sun."
It was then that one of the men stuck his head up through the
hatchway and seeing me, asked permission to come on deck and get
a breath of fresh air. I recognized him as Benson, the man who,
Wilson had said, reported having seen Lys with von Schoenvorts two
nights before. I motioned him on deck and then called him to one
side, asking if he had seen anything out of the way or unusual
during his trick on watch the night before. The fellow scratched
his head a moment and said, "No," and then as though it was an
The Land that Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: willed it--a doctrine that learned men have since proved to be true,
by showing that formerly wheat grew very well without the aid of man.
I cannot leave this splendid model of a pastor without giving here one
of the acts of his life, which proves with what fervour he imitated
the saints in the division of their goods and mantles, which they gave
formerly to the poor and the passers-by. One day, returning from
Tours, where he had been paying his respects to the official, mounted
on his mule, he was nearing Azay. On the way, just out side Ballan, he
met a pretty girl on foot, and was grieved to see a woman travelling
like a dog; the more so as she was visibly fatigued, and could
scarcely raise one foot before the other. He whistled to her softly,
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: "Matthew would think it all right, Anne, if you took a notion to
get up and have dinner in the middle of the night. But you keep
your wits about you this time. And--I don't really know if I'm
doing right--it may make you more addlepated than ever--but you
can ask Diana to come over and spend the afternoon with you and
have tea here."
"Oh, Marilla!" Anne clasped her hands. "How perfectly lovely!
You ARE able to imagine things after all or else you'd never have
understood how I've longed for that very thing. It will seem so
nice and grown-uppish. No fear of my forgetting to put the tea
to draw when I have company. Oh, Marilla, can I use the rosebud
Anne of Green Gables |
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 Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the two caves a heavy long-sword was awaiting him upon either hand,
and before he had an opportunity to emit even a single growl his
severed head rolled at our feet.
Quickly we glanced into the eighth chamber--not an apt had moved.
Crawling over the carcass of the huge beast that blocked the
doorway Thuvan Dihn and I cautiously entered the forbidding
and dangerous den.
Like snails we wound our silent and careful way among the
huge, recumbent forms. The only sound above our breathing was
The Warlord of Mars |
