| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: Graumann."
"But why? oh, why?"
"It was a terrible revenge. But perhaps - perhaps it was just
retribution. Graumaun would not understand that Siders could have
been suspected of, and imprisoned for, a theft he had not committed.
He must know now that it is quite possible for a man to be in danger
of sentence of death even, for a crime of which he is innocent."
"Oh, my God! It is terrible." The girl's head fell across her
folded arms on the table. Deep shuddering sobs shook her frame.
Muller waited quietly until the first shock had passed. Finally
her sobs died away and she raised her head again. "What am I to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: with atomic engines, but they were not provided with atomic
bombs, which were manifestly unsuitable for field use, nor indeed
had they any very effective kind of bomb. And though they
manoeuvred against each other, and there was rifle shooting at
them and between them, there was little actual aerial fighting.
Either the airmen were indisposed to fight or the commanders on
both sides preferred to reserve these machines for scouting....
After a day or so of digging and scheming, Barnet found himself
in the forefront of a battle. He had made his section of rifle
pits chiefly along a line of deep dry ditch that gave a means of
inter-communication, he had had the earth scattered over the
The Last War: A World Set Free |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: against the wheels and bruising myself against the shafts, and chains.
Now you are about to learn, as I learned, that between you and all
these fair dreamed-of things lies the strife of men, and passions, and
necessities.
"Willy-nilly, you must take part in a terrible battle; book against
book, man against man, party against party; make war you must, and
that systematically, or you will be abandoned by your own party. And
they are mean contests; struggles which leave you disenchanted, and
wearied, and depraved, and all in pure waste; for it often happens
that you put forth all your strength to win laurels for a man whom you
despise, and maintain, in spite of yourself, that some second-rate
|
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 Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: up for all time the hole you made in the hedge; for, if we are different
from the rest of the world, it is better that we remain in seclusion."
"I think it is right you should do that," replied Prince Marvel. "Yet
I do not regret that I cut a hole in your hedge."
"It was the hedge that delayed us in coming more promptly to your
assistance," said Terribus; "for we had hard work to find the hole you
had made, and so lost much valuable time."
"All is well that ends well!" laughed the prince. "You certainly came
in good time to rescue us from our difficulties."
They turned into a path that led to Auriel, which Nerle had heard
spoken of as "the Kingdom of the Setting Sun."
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
