| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: might as successfully have cried aloud to Thuria to
cease her mad hurtling through the Barsoomian sky, for
Carthoris of Helium was a true son of the Warlord of Mars
and his incomparable Dejah Thoris.
Carthoris' long-sword had been already in his hand
as he leaped from the deck of the flier, so the instant
that he realized the menace of the three red warriors,
he wheeled to face them, meeting their onslaught as only
John Carter himself might have done.
So swift his sword, so mighty and agile his half-earthly
muscles, that one of his opponents was down, crimsoning
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: this affair which happened here - the preliminaries of it.
"You know as well as I do that these tiffin-rooms where we are
sitting now have been in existence for many years. Well, next day
about twelve o'clock, Davidson dropped in here to get something to
eat.
"And here comes the only moment in this story where accident - mere
accident - plays a part. If Davidson had gone home that day for
tiffin, there would be now, after twelve years or more, nothing
changed in his kindly, placid smile.
"But he came in here; and perhaps it was sitting at this very table
that he remarked to a friend of mine that his next trip was to be a
Within the Tides |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: and landscape gardener had not left him much capital.
Douglas, senior, had been recognised as an artist by the few who
understood his talents, but there is small demand for the builder
of picturesque houses in the little business towns of the Middle
West, and at last he passed away, leaving his son only the burden
of his financial failure and an ardent desire to succeed at the
profession in which his father had fared so badly. The hopeless,
defeated look on the departed man's face had always haunted the
boy, who was artist enough to feel his father's genius
intuitively, and human enough to resent the injustice of his
fate.
|
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 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Allan Stewart, Commendator of Crossraguel, to the Regent
and Privy Council, averring his having been carried, partly by
flattery, partly by force, to the black vault of Denure, a strong
fortalice, built on a rock overhanging the Irish channel, where
to execute leases and conveyances of the whole churches and
parsonages belonging to the Abbey of Crossraguel, which he
utterly refused as an unreasonable demand, and the more so
that he had already conveyed them to John Stewart of Cardonah,
by whose interest he had been made Commendator. The
complainant proceeds to state, that he was, after many menaces,
stript, bound, and his limbs exposed to fire in the manner already
Ivanhoe |
