| 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: earliest risers in camp; so about nine o'clock, becoming
apprehensive lest she might be indisposed, I went to the door of
her room and knocked. I received no response, though I finally
pounded with all my strength; then I turned the knob and entered,
only to find that she was not there. Her bed had been occupied,
and her clothing lay where she had placed it the previous night
upon retiring; but Lys was gone. To say that I was distracted
with terror would be to put it mildly. Though I knew she could
not be in camp, I searched every square inch of the compound and
all the buildings, yet without avail.
It was Whitely who discovered the first clue--a huge human-like
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 The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: he was coming from over there, too." He in-
dicated a new direction. They both turned
toward the body as if to ask of it a question.
"Well," at length spoke the tattered man,
"there ain't no use in our stayin' here an' tryin' t'
ask him anything."
The youth nodded an assent wearily. They
both turned to gaze for a moment at the corpse.
The youth murmured something.
"Well, he was a jim-dandy, wa'n't 'e?" said
the tattered man as if in response.
The Red Badge of Courage |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: infantry, the Asiatics were forced in their turn to withdraw, with the
loss of one man slain. This cavalry engagement gave them pause.
Agesilaus on the day following it offered sacrifice. "Was he to
continue his advance?" But the victims proved hopeless.[12] There was
nothing for it after this manifestation but to turn and march towards
the sea. It was clear enough to his mind that without a proper cavalry
force it would be impossible to conduct a campaign in the flat
country. Cavalry, therefore, he must get, or be driven to mere
guerilla warfare. With this view he drew up a list of all the
wealthiest inhabitants belonging to the several cities of those parts.
Their duty would be to support a body of cavalry, with the proviso,
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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 An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: sentimental, full of the intense egotism fostered by their
struggle for personal liberty, and, outside their families, with
absolutely no social sentiment except love. Meanwhile, man,
having fought and won his fight for this personal liberty, only
to find himself a more abject slave than before, is turning with
loathing from his egotist's dream of independence to the
collective interests of society, with the welfare of which he now
perceives his own happiness to be inextricably bound up. But man
in this phase (would that all had reached it!) has not yet
leisure to write or read novels. In noveldom woman still sets the
moral standard, and to her the males, who are in full revolt
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