| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "It is not worthy the dignity of a denial," she responded
haughtily.
"And I were you, woman," said a deep voice at her side, "I
should, nevertheless, deny it."
Tara of Helium turned to see the eyes of U-Thor, the great jed of
Manatos, upon her. Brave eyes they were, but neither cold nor
cruel. O-Tar rapped impatiently upon the arm of his throne.
"U-Thor forgets," he cried, "that O-Tar is the jeddak."
"U-Thor remembers," replied the jed of Manatos, "that the laws of
Manator permit any who may be accused to have advice and counsel
before their judge."
The Chessmen of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: emptied before our famous and daring attempt to escape.
Soon Harry began:
"I'll tell you what they are, Paul; they're frogs. Nothing
but frogs. Did you see 'em? The little black devils! And Lord,
how they smell!"
"That," I answered, "is the effect of--"
"To the deuce with your mineralogy or anthromorphism or
whatever you call it. I don't care what makes 'em smell. I only
know they do--as Kipling says of the oonts--'most awful vile.' And
there the beggars sit, and here we sit!"
"If we could only see--" I began.
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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 Timaeus by Plato: cannot imagine an intellectual world which has no qualities--'a thing in
itself'--a point which has no parts or magnitude, which is nowhere, and
nothing. This cannot be the archetype according to which God made the
world, and is in reality, whether in Plato or in Kant, a mere negative
residuum of human thought.
There is another aspect of the same difficulty which appears to have no
satisfactory solution. In what relation does the archetype stand to the
Creator himself? For the idea or pattern of the world is not the thought
of God, but a separate, self-existent nature, of which creation is the
copy. We can only reply, (1) that to the mind of Plato subject and object
were not yet distinguished; (2) that he supposes the process of creation to
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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 Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: No sooner had Joseph's lantern shown him the way than
Barney was ascending the ladder toward the floor above.
At the next landing he waited for the old man.
Joseph put out the light and placed the lantern where
they could easily find it upon their return. Then he cautiously
slipped the catch that held the panel in place and slowly
opened the door until a narrow line of lesser darkness
showed from without.
For a moment they stood in silence listening for any sound
from the chamber beyond, but as nothing occurred to indi-
cate that the apartment was occupied the old man opened
The Mad King |
