| 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: The Heliumite shouted to attract the girl's attention,
and presently he was rewarded by seeing her turn and
stand looking toward him. At her side the great banth
stood with up-pricked ears, watching the approaching man.
Not yet could Thuvia of Ptarth have recognized Carthoris,
though that it was he she must have been convinced,
for she waited there for him without sign of fear.
Presently he saw her point toward the northwest, beyond him.
Without slackening his pace, he turned his eyes in
the direction she indicated.
Racing silently over the thick vegetation, not half a
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: damp and moisture-exuding ring; and finally, the rest of the tent,
sidewalls and top, coated with a half-inch of dry, white, crystal-
encrusted frost.
"Oh! OH! OH!" A young fellow, lying asleep in the furs, bearded
and wan and weary, raised a moan of pain, and without waking
increased the pitch and intensity of his anguish. His body half-
lifted from the blankets, and quivered and shrank spasmodically,
as though drawing away from a bed of nettles.
"Roll'm over!" ordered Bettles. "He's crampin'."
And thereat, with pitiless good-will, he was pitched upon and
rolled and thumped and pounded by half-a-dozen willing comrades.
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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 Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: and all day long the line of pits suffered greatly from thirst.
For food they had chocolate and bread.
'At first,' he says, 'I was extraordinarily excited by my baptism
of fire. Then as the heat of the day came on I experienced an
enormous tedium and discomfort. The flies became extremely
troublesome, and my little grave of a rifle pit was invaded by
ants. I could not get up or move about, for some one in the trees
had got a mark on me. I kept thinking of the dead Prussian down
among the corn, and of the bitter outcries of my own man. Damned
foolery! It WAS damned foolery. But who was to blame? How had
we got to this? . . .
The Last War: A World Set Free |
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 On Horsemanship by Xenophon: so prancing is indeed a thing of beauty, a wonder and a marvel;
riveting the gaze of all who see him, young alike and graybeards. They
will never turn their backs, I venture to predict, or weary of their
gazing so long as he continues to display his splendid action.
[6] Or, "by aids and signs," as we say.
[7] Or, "exercising-ground."
[8] Or, "and the man who knows how to manage such a creature
gracefully himself at once appears magnificent."
If the possessor of so rare a creature should find himself by chance
in the position of a squadron leader or a general of cavalry, he must
not confine his zeal to the development of his personal splendour, but
On Horsemanship |
