| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: it spoke silently to Venters: "I am waiting to plunge down, to
shatter and crash, roar and boom, to bury your trail, and close
forever the outlet to Deception Pass!"
On the descent of the other side Venters had easy going, but was
somewhat concerned because Whitie appeared to have succumbed to
temptation, and while carrying the rabbit was also chewing on it.
And Ring evidently regarded this as an injury to himself,
especially as he had carried the heavier load. Presently he
snapped at one end of the rabbit and refused to let go. But his
action prevented Whitie from further misdoing, and then the two
dogs pattered down, carrying the rabbit between them.
Riders of the Purple Sage |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: expression he vainly endeavoured to soften, "my soldiers
will guard them, and guard them well, I promise you."
"I shall take better care of them myself," answered
D'Artagnan; "besides, all they require is a good room, with
sentinels, or their simple parole that they will not attempt
escape. I will go and see about that, and then we shall have
the honor of presenting ourselves to the general and
receiving his commands for his eminence."
"You think of starting at once, then?" inquired Mordaunt.
"Our mission is ended, and there is nothing more to detain
us now but the good pleasure of the great man to whom we
Twenty Years After |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: niche, he settled himself to watch both trail and valley. He
made note of the position of the sun and saw that if anything
developed or if he decided to descend any farther there was
small likelihood of his getting back to his camp before dark.
To try that after nightfall he imagined would be vain effort.
Then he bent his keen eyes downward. The cabin appeared to be a
crude structure. Though large in size, it had, of course, been
built by outlaws.
There was no garden, no cultivated field, no corral. Excepting
for the rude pile of stones and logs plastered together with
mud, the valley was as wild, probably, as on the day of
The Lone Star Ranger |
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 Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: custom-ridden, and lacking in perspective. Age has more charity
for these incomplete yet high-souled characters, whose worst real
vice is timidity, and who are ultimately punished by general ridicule
for their intellectual sins -- sins like Ptolemaism, Calvinism,
anti-Darwinism, anti-Nietzscheism, and every sort of Sabbatarianism
and sumptuary legislation. West, young despite his marvellous
scientific acquirements, had scant patience with good Dr. Halsey
and his erudite colleagues; and nursed an increasing resentment,
coupled with a desire to prove his theories to these obtuse worthies
in some striking and dramatic fashion. Like most youths, he indulged
in elaborate daydreams of revenge, triumph, and final magnanimous
Herbert West: Reanimator |
