| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: second trip they were accompanied by ten or fifteen other
women and youths, who, it seemed, formed the retinues of
the two chieftains.
They were not their families, nor their wives, nor their
servants; the relationship was peculiar, and so unlike
anything known to us that it is most difficult to describe.
All property among the green Martians is owned in common by
the community, except the personal weapons, ornaments and
sleeping silks and furs of the individuals. These alone can
one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate more
of these than are required for his actual needs. The surplus
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Several Works by Edgar Allan Poe: Then the bird said "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore--
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never--nevermore.'"
But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: mind, suggested:
"Like a corpse."
Lady Agatha turned pale. She gazed at Cleggett with
terror-stricken eyes, her beautiful face became almost haggard in
an instant; he thought she was about to faint again, but she did
not. As he looked upon the change his words had wrought, filled
with wonder and compunction, Cleggett suddenly divined that her
occasional flashes of gayety had been, all along, merely the
forced vivacity of a brave and clever woman who was making a
gallant fight against total collapse.
"Mr. Cleggett," she said, in a voice that was scarcely louder
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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 The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: and opened the big car's door.
"Good-bye, dear," I said.
The next moment she had changed cars. To thrust her rug and
dressing-case after her was the work of a second. For a moment I
held her hand to my lips. Then I shut the door, slipped back
into my seat, and drove on and in to the kerb. As I pulled up,
Jill came running down the steps of the inn.
"Then you got home all right, Boy?
"Before I had time to answer, Berry appeared in the doorway.
"Aha," said he, "the brave's return! Skaul! You are late, but
never mind. Skaul again, my pathfinder. I thought of you when I
The Brother of Daphne |
