| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: felt it. He ran me hard. It seemed to me, at last, that there was nothing
for it but to write a play, unless I wanted to drudge for my living as a
clerk. I have a certain imagination, and luxurious tastes, and I meant to
make a vigorous fight for it before that fate overtook me. In addition to
my belief in my powers as a business man, I had always in those days had
an idea that I was equal to writing a very good play. It is not, I
believe, a very uncommon persuasion. I knew there is nothing a man can do
outside legitimate business transactions that has such opulent
possibilities, and very probably that biased my opinion. I had, indeed,
got into the habit of regarding this unwritten drama as a convenient
little reserve put by for a rainy day. That rainy day had come, and I set
The First Men In The Moon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: she barely escaped the fangs of carnivora, and once she
had almost stumbled into the path of one of the
searchers. Though she was almost despairing of ever
reaching safety she still was determined to fight on,
until death or success terminated her endeavors.
As the Arabs watched her from the safety of their
concealment, and Achmet Zek noted with satisfaction
that she was walking directly into his clutches,
another pair of eyes looked down upon the entire scene
from the foliage of an adjacent tree.
Puzzled, troubled eyes they were, for all their gray
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: no doubt that he had punished her very effectively, and it was only
after he had been travelling in China with Prothero for some time
and in the light of one or two chance phrases in her letters that he
began to have doubts whether he ought to have punished her at all.
And one night at Shanghai he had a dream in which she stood before
him, dishevelled and tearful, his Amanda, very intensely his Amanda,
and said that she was dirty and shameful and spoilt for ever,
because he had gone away from her. Afterwards the dream became
absurd: she showed him the black leopard's fur as though it was a
rug, and it was now moth-eaten and mangey, the leopard skin that had
been so bright and wonderful such a little time ago, and he awoke
|
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 Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Listen, then," said Bradley in a low voice to the Wieroo.
"You shall know the secret of cos-ata-lu as well as do
I; but none other may hear it. Lean close--I will whisper
it into your ear."
He moved forward and stepped upon the dais. The creature raised
its sword ready to strike at the first indication of treachery,
and Bradley stooped beneath the blade and put his ear close to
the gruesome face. As he did so, he rested his weight upon his
hands, one upon either side of the Wieroo's body, his right hand
upon the hilt of the spare sword lying at the left of Him Who
Speaks for Luata.
Out of Time's Abyss |
