| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: for many tedious years he had been a slave of the yellow men.
He told me that princes, jeds, and even jeddaks of the outer world,
were among the menials who served the yellow race; but when I
asked him if he had heard of the fate of Mors Kajak or Tardos
Mors he shook his head, saying that he never had heard of their
being prisoners here, though he was very familiar with the
reputations and fame they bore in the outer world.
Neither had he heard any rumor of the coming of the Father of
Therns and the black dator of the First Born, but he hastened to
The Warlord of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: criticism. Only that, and no more. But this defect is not
without gravity. If it be permissible to twist, invert, adapt
(and spoil) M. Anatole France's definition of a good critic, then
let us say that the good author is he who contemplates without
marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst
criticisms. Far be from me the intention to mislead an attentive
public into the belief that there is no criticism at sea. That
would be dishonest, and even impolite. Everything can be found
at sea, according to the spirit of your quest--strife, peace,
romance, naturalism of the most pronounced kind, ideals, boredom,
disgust, inspiration--and every conceivable opportunity,
Some Reminiscences |
| 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: according to Grote, "H. G." x. 362 foll.; al. B.C. 367.
Presently when the Arcadians and Argives arrived with succours, he
retreated and encamped on the knolls above Medea.[32] While he was
there, Cissidas, the officer in charge of the reinforcement from
Dionysius, made the announcement that the period for his stay abroad
had elapsed; and the words were no sooner out of his lips than off he
set on the road to Sparta. The march itself, however, was not effected
without delays, for he was met and cut off by a body of Messenians at
a narrow pass, and was forced in these straits to send to Archidamus
and beg for assistance, which the latter tendered. When they had got
as far as the bend[33] on the road to Eutresia, there were the
|
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 A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: to travel swiftly away from land, with a smooth, swaying motion.
The boys waved from the shore. Gleameil responded; but Maskull
turned his back squarely to land, and gazed ahead. Polecrab was
wading back to the shore.
For upward of an hour Maskull did not change his position by an inch.
No sound was heard but the splashing of the strange waves all around
them, and the streamlike gurgle of the current, which threaded its
way smoothly through the tossing, tumultuous sea. From their pathway
of safety, the beautiful dangers surrounding them were an
exhilarating experience. The air was fresh and clean, and the heat
from Branchspell, now low in the west, was at last endurable. The
|
