| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: with the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several
of his companions, who rose and came forward at his com-
mand. Soon the great doors commenced slowly to swing
creakingly open, and presently, as they separated, the girl
saw behind them the motive force which operated the massive
doors -- to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes.
At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their
places taken by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery.
These conducted her through the doorway which the blacks,
pulling upon heavy chains, closed behind them. And as the
girl watched them she noted with horror that the poor crea-
Tarzan the Untamed |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: was a very rich young man,--but he meant to
have twenty children himself, like his uncle
Xavier. "Oh, Emil," he cried, hugging his old
friend rapturously, "why ain't you been up to
see my boy? You come to-morrow, sure?
Emil, you wanna get a boy right off! It's the
greatest thing ever! No, no, no! Angel not sick
at all. Everything just fine. That boy he come
into this world laughin', and he been laughin'
ever since. You come an' see!" He pounded
Emil's ribs to emphasize each announcement.
O Pioneers! |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: this volume. Not that it suffices to study the Principles of Geology, or
to read special treatises by different observers on separate formations,
and to mark how each author attempts to give an inadequate idea of the
duration of each formation or even each stratum. A man must for years
examine for himself great piles of superimposed strata, and watch the sea
at work grinding down old rocks and making fresh sediment, before he can
hope to comprehend anything of the lapse of time, the monuments of which we
see around us.
It is good to wander along lines of sea-coast, when formed of moderately
hard rocks, and mark the process of degradation. The tides in most cases
reach the cliffs only for a short time twice a day, and the waves eat into
On the Origin of Species |
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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: awful. Saduko thanked me also in his magnificent manner. Yet I do not
think that he was altogether pleased, although my great gift relieved
him from the necessity of sharing up the spoil with his companions. The
truth was, or so I believe, that he understood that henceforth the
Amangwane would love me better than they loved him. This, indeed,
proved to be the case, for I am sure that there was no man among all
those wild fellows who would not have served me to the death, and to
this day my name is a power among them and their descendants. Also it
has grown into something of a proverb among all those Kafirs who know
the story. They talk of any great act of liberality in an idiom as "a
gift of Macumazana," and in the same way of one who makes any remarkable
Child of Storm |
