| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: found a hold upon me, I beheld a huge Airedale leaping
frantically about me. The grinning jaws, the half-closed eyes,
the back-laid ears spoke to me louder than might the words of
man that here was no savage enemy but a joyous friend, and then
I recognized him, and fell to one knee and put my arms about
his neck while he whined and cried with joy. It was Nobs, dear
old Nobs. Bowen Tyler's Nobs, who had loved me next to his master.
"Where is the master of this dog?" I asked, turning toward Al-tan.
The chieftain inclined his head toward the Galu standing at
his side. "He belongs to Du-seen the Galu," he replied.
"He belongs to Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., of Santa Monica," I
The People That Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot.
I remember that he used to claim that that invention
alone would make us fabulously wealthy--we were going
to make the whole thing public after the successful issue
of our first secret trial--but Perry never returned
from that trial trip, and I only after ten years.
I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous
occasion upon which we were to test the practicality
of that wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we
repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry had constructed
his "iron mole" as he was wont to call the thing.
At the Earth's Core |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: Again, I thought he should offer to the eye some bold type of
humanity, with bluff or hawk-like features, and the stamp of an eager
and pushing disposition. Now those around me were for the most part
quiet, orderly, obedient citizens, family men broken by adversity,
elderly youths who had failed to place themselves in life, and people
who had seen better days. Mildness was the prevailing character;
mild mirth and mild endurance. In a word, I was not taking part in
an impetuous and conquering sally, such as swept over Mexico or
Siberia, but found myself, like Marmion, 'in the lost battle, borne
down by the flying.'
Labouring mankind had in the last years, and throughout Great
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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 Reef by Edith Wharton: "Oh, my dear--if you think that, in such a complicated
matter, every day, every hour, doesn't more or less modify
one's surest sureness!"
"That's just what I'm driving at. I want to know what has
modified yours."
She made a slight gesture of impatience. "What does it
matter, now the thing's done? I don't know that I could give
any clear reason..."
He got to his feet and stood looking down on her with a
tormented brow. "But it's absolutely necessary that you
should."
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