| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: set out with Albert Werper toward the hostile camp in
which she so lately had been a prisoner.
It was late in the afternoon of the second day before
they reached their destination, and as they paused upon
the edge of the clearing before the gates of the walled
village, Werper cautioned the girl to accede to
whatever he might suggest by his conversation with the
raiders.
"I shall tell them," he said, "that I apprehended you
after you escaped from the camp, that I took you to
Achmet Zek, and that as he was engaged in a stubborn
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: another was a thing to contemplate.[5] As to the spectators, they
could see that Dionysus was indeed most beautiful, and Ariadne like
some lovely blossom; nor were those mocking gestures, but real kisses
sealed on loving lips; and so,[6] with hearts aflame, they gazed
expectantly. They could hear the question asked by Dionysus, did she
love him? and her answer, as prettily she swore she did. And withal so
earnestly, not Dionysus only, but all present, had sworn an oath in
common: the boy and girl were verily and indeed a pair of happy
lovers. So much less did they resemble actors, trained to certain
gestures, than two beings bent on doing what for many a long day they
had set their hearts on.
The Symposium |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: bitterness of its loss?
Half an hour later the flowering trees of Maraisfontein were behind us,
while in front rolled the fire-swept veld, black as life had become for
me.
CHAPTER VII
ALLAN'S CALL
A fortnight later Marais, Pereira and their companions, a little band in
all of about twenty men, thirty women and children, and say fifty
half-breeds and Hottentot after-riders, trekked from their homes into
the wilderness. I rode to the crest of a table-topped hill and watched
the long line of wagons, one of them containing Marie, crawl away
Marie |
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 Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: I'faith, `twill be a tough job, and tax even the ingenuity of our
chief. I hope I may yet have orders to be of the party."
"Have you any special instructions for me?"
"Yes! rather more precise ones than usual. It appears that
the Republican Government have sent an accredited agent over to
England, a man named Chauvelin, who is said to be terribly bitter
against our league, and determined to discover the identity of our
leader, so that he may have him kidnapped, the next time he attempts
to set foot in France. This Chauvelin has brought a whole army of
spies with him, and until the chief has sampled the lot, he thinks we
should meet as seldom as possible on the business of the league, and
The Scarlet Pimpernel |
