| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: grey-eyed darling. Get our horses ready, while I go within the
house of aegis-bearing Jove and put on my armour; we shall then
find out whether Priam's son Hector will be glad to meet us in
the highways of battle, or whether the Trojans will glut hounds
and vultures with the fat of their flesh as they be dead by the
ships of the Achaeans."
Thus did she speak and white-armed Juno, daughter of great
Saturn, obeyed her words; she set about harnessing her
gold-bedizened steeds, while Minerva daughter of aegis-bearing
Jove flung her richly vesture, made with her own hands, on to the
threshold of her father, and donned the shirt of Jove, arming
The Iliad |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: top of that great towering peak that seems to reach nearly to the
skies, the Munchkins are not aware of the fact.
But people DO live there, just the same. The top of Mount Munch is
shaped like a saucer, broad and deep, and in the saucer are fields
where grains and vegetables grow, and flocks are fed, and brooks flow
and trees bear all sorts of things. There are houses scattered here
and there, each having its family of Hyups, as the people call
themselves. The Hyups seldom go down the mountain, for the same
reason that the Munchkins never climb up: the sides are too steep.
In one of the houses lived a wise old Hyup named Bini Aru, who used
to be a clever Sorcerer. But Ozma of Oz, who rules everyone in the
The Magic of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends got money,
I suppose!" He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell tent. "If they
gave us real English officers now--"
"Ah!" said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge form,
had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his handsome
face; "it's because you're not a big enough swell, you know! He'll be a
colonel, or a general, before we've done with him. I call them all
generals or colonels up here; it's safest, you know; if they're not that
today they will be tomorrow!"
This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull
world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but the
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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 Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: the new, yet, I will! I'll see they bloody Spaniards swept off the
seas before I die, if my old eyes can reach so far as outside the
Sound. I shall, I knows it. I says my prayers for it every night;
don't I, Mary? You'll bate mun, sure as Judgment, you'll bate mun!
The Lord'll fight for ye. Nothing'll stand against ye. I've seed
it all along--ever since I was with young master to the Honduras.
They can't bide the push of us! You'll bate mun off the face of
the seas, and be masters of the round world, and all that therein
is. And then, I'll just turn my old face to the wall, and depart
in peace, according to his word.
"Deary me, now, while I've been telling with you, here've this
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