The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: for the memories they have left.
But with the Far Oriental the exorcising feeling was fear. He never
fell in love with his own mythological creations, and so he never
embalmed their memories. They were to him but explanations of
facts, and had no claims upon his fancy. His ideal world remained
as utterly impersonal as if it had never been born.
The same impersonality reappears in the matter of number.
Grammatically, number with them is unrecognized. There exist no
such things as plural forms. This singularity would be only too
welcome to the foreign student, were it not that in avoiding the
frying-pan the Tartars fell into the fire. For what they invented
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: impassable desert on one side and the mountains of
Oogaboo on another side. That is a part of the Land of
Oz of which I know very little."
"I guess no one else knows much about it either,
unless it's the Skeezers themselves," remarked Dorothy.
"But the Book says: 'The Skeezers of Oz have declared
war on the Flatheads of Oz, and there is likely to be
fighting and much trouble as the result.'"
"Is that all the Book says?" asked Ozma.
"Every word," said Dorothy, and Ozma and Glinda both
looked at the Record and seemed surprised and
Glinda of Oz |