| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: people for the culprit. Ozma may not be hidden in the secret places
of the Winkie Country, it is true, but it is our duty to travel to
every spot, however dangerous, where our beloved Ruler is likely to be
imprisoned."
"You're right about that," said Button-Bright approvingly. "Dangers
don't hurt us. Only things that happen ever hurt anyone, and a danger
is a thing that might happen and might not happen, and sometimes don't
amount to shucks.
I vote we go ahead and take our chances."
They were all of the same opinion, so they packed up and said goodbye
to the friendly shepherd and proceeded on their way.
The Lost Princess of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: took the violin from the Frenchmen, and Minna Oleson sat at the
organ, and the music grew more and more characteristic--rude, half
mournful music, made up of the folksongs of the North, that the
villagers sing through the long night in hamlets by the sea, when
they are thinking of the sun, and the spring, and the fishermen so
long away. To Margaret some of it sounded like Grieg's Peer
Gynt music. She found something irresistibly infectious in
the mirth of these people who were so seldom merry, and she felt
almost one of them. Something seemed struggling for freedom in
them tonight, something of the joyous childhood of the nations
which exile had not killed. The girls were all boisterous with
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: so quick he would have escaped from their very midst without a scratch but for
one unforeseen circumstance. The clay floor was wet and slippery; his feet
were hardly in motion before they slipped from under him and he fell headlong.
With loud yells of triumph the band jumped upon him. There was a convulsive,
heaving motion of the struggling mass, one frightful cry of agony, and then
hoarse commands. Three of the braves ran to their packs, from which they took
cords of buckskin. So exceedingly powerful was the hunter that six Indians
were required to hold him while the others tied his hands and feet. Then, with
grunts and chuckles of satisfaction, they threw him into a corner of the
cabin.
Two of the braves had been hurt in the brief struggle, one having a badly
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: to have lain about her, day after day, and year after year.
The stunned feeling, which had been making it difficult for her
to think, gradually gave way to a feeling of the opposite nature;
she thought very quickly and very clearly, and, looking back over
all her experiences, tried to fit them into a kind of order.
There was undoubtedly much suffering, much struggling, but, on the whole,
surely there was a balance of happiness--surely order did prevail.
Nor were the deaths of young people really the saddest things in life--
they were saved so much; they kept so much. The dead--she called
to mind those who had died early, accidentally--were beautiful;
she often dreamt of the dead. And in time Terence himself would
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