| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: One prisoner fell into the hands of Tarzan, and him the
ape-man questioned in an effort to learn what had become of
Rokoff and his party. Promised his liberty in return for the
information, the black told all he knew concerning the movements
of the Russian.
It seemed that early in the morning their chief had attempted
to prevail upon the whites to return with him to the
village and with their guns destroy the ferocious pack that
had taken possession of it, but Rokoff appeared to entertain
even more fears of the giant white man and his strange
companions than even the blacks themselves.
The Beasts of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: the inhabitants with taxation, it chanced that my grandfather
and his friend, Dr. Patrick Neill, were received by an old
lady in a Ronaldsay hut. Her hut, which was similar to the
model described, stood on a Ness, or point of land jutting
into the sea. They were made welcome in the firelit cellar,
placed `in CASEY or straw-worked chairs, after the Norwegian
fashion, with arms, and a canopy overhead,' and given milk in
a wooden dish. These hospitalities attended to, the old lady
turned at once to Dr. Neill, whom she took for the Surveyor of
Taxes. `Sir,' said she, `gin ye'll tell the King that I canna
keep the Ness free o' the Bangers (sheep) without twa hun's,
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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 Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning-
like, backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of
his brawn and bone. The spear, released at the right instant,
drove straight for Dango, caught him in the neck where it
joined the shoulders and passed through the body.
When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan
shouldered both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch.
Below lay Numa beneath the shade of the lone tree and at the
ape-man's call he staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he
was, he still growled savagely, even essaying a roar at the sight
of his enemy. Tarzan let the two bodies slide over the rim
Tarzan the Untamed |
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 Apology by Plato: him, and intentionally, too--so you say, although neither I nor any other
human being is ever likely to be convinced by you. But either I do not
corrupt them, or I corrupt them unintentionally; and on either view of the
case you lie. If my offence is unintentional, the law has no cognizance of
unintentional offences: you ought to have taken me privately, and warned
and admonished me; for if I had been better advised, I should have left off
doing what I only did unintentionally--no doubt I should; but you would
have nothing to say to me and refused to teach me. And now you bring me up
in this court, which is a place not of instruction, but of punishment.
It will be very clear to you, Athenians, as I was saying, that Meletus has
no care at all, great or small, about the matter. But still I should like
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