The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: as if he could pounce down upon it and devour the whole tribe.
When the first arrow shot up into the sky the anxious watchers
thrust a hand quickly over their half-uttered "hinnu!" The second
and the third arrows flew upward but missed by a wide space the red
eagle soaring with lazy indifference over the little man with the
long bow. All his arrows he spent in vain. "Ah! my blanket
brushed my elbow and shifted the course of my arrow!" said the
stranger as the people gathered around him.
During this happening, a woman on horseback halted her pony at
the chieftain's teepee. It was no other than the young woman who
cut loose the tree-bound captive!
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: as though bent upon the duties of the minute.
What manner of people were these who could conjure
an army out of thin air? He glanced toward Thuvia.
She, too, evidently had witnessed the transformation.
With a little shudder she pressed more closely toward him.
"What do you make of it?" she whispered. "It is most uncanny."
"I cannot account for it," replied Carthoris, "unless we
have gone mad."
Carthoris turned quickly toward the Lotharian. The fellow
was smiling broadly.
"I thought that you just said that there were no soldiers
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |