| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: in the Silent Rooms. At least he had the strange,
bare outline now. He was in some way the owner of
half the world, and great political parties were fighting
to possess him. On the one hand was the White Council,
with its red police, set resolutely, it seemed, on the
usurpation of his property and perhaps his murder; on
the other, the revolution that had liberated him, with
this unseen "Ostrog" as its leader. And the whole
of this gigantic city was convulsed by their struggle.
Frantic development of his world! "I do not under-
stand," he cried. "I do not understand!"
When the Sleeper Wakes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: original correspondence, he has told me, is in the hands of the police. He has
begged me, also, as a warning to society against a most frightful and
diabolical danger which threatens its very existence, to make public the
terrible series of tragedies in which he has been innocently concerned. I
herewith append the text in full:
It was in August, 1899, just after my return from my summer vacation, that the
blow fell. We did not know it at the time; we had not yet learned to school
our minds to such awful possibilities. Mr. Hale opened the letter, read it,
and tossed it upon my desk with a laugh. When I had looked it over, I also
laughed, saying, "Some ghastly joke, Mr. Hale, and one in very poor taste."
Find here, my dear John, an exact duplicate of the letter in question.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: stuffing. That Tin Owl is none other than our dear Tin
Woodman -- Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies --
while this Green Monkey is a nice little boy we
recently became acquainted with, Woot the Wanderer."
"And I," said the Canary, flying close to Jinjur, "am
Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow, in the form of
a bird."
"Goodness me!" cried Jinjur, amazed; "that Giantess
must be a powerful Sorceress, and as wicked as she is
powerful."
"She's a yookoohoo," said Polychrome. "Fortunately,
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
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 Georgics by Virgil: Within the hoof-clefts a blood-bounding vein.
Of tribes Bisaltic such the wonted use,
And keen Gelonian, when to Rhodope
He flies, or Getic desert, and quaffs milk
With horse-blood curdled.
Seest one far afield
Oft to the shade's mild covert win, or pull
The grass tops listlessly, or hindmost lag,
Or, browsing, cast her down amid the plain,
At night retire belated and alone;
With quick knife check the mischief, ere it creep
Georgics |
