| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Now you shall prove that you have a right to be alive! Run -- run -- run!"
The Saw-Horse ran. Like a flash he followed the
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Griffin, his wooden legs moving so fast that they twinkled like the rays of
a star. Before our friends could recover from their surprise both the
Griffin and the Saw-Horse had dashed out of sight.
"Come! Let us follow!" cried the Scarecrow.
They ran to the place where the Gump was lying and quickly tumbled aboard.
"Fly!" commanded Tip, eagerly.
"Where to?" asked the Gump, in its calm voice.
"I don't know," returned Tip, who was very nervous at the delay; "but if you
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: Say, 'Look you now! if God should catch your hearing and your sight,
and should set a seal upon your hearts- who is god but God to bring
you it again?'
Say, 'Look you now! if God's torment should come you suddenly or
openly, would any perish save the people who do wrong?'
We do not send our messengers save as heralds of glad tidings and of
warning, and whoso believes and acts aright, there is no fear for
them, and they shall not be grieved, but those who say our signs are
lies, torment shall touch them, for that they have done so wrong.
Say, 'I do not say to you, mine are the treasuries of God, nor
that I know the unseen; I do not say to you, I am an angel-if I follow
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: stretched out on a lion's skin. The lamp, in an alabaster vase,
hanging in the centre of the boudoir, cast upon the canvas a soft
light which enabled us to grasp all the beauties of the picture.
"Does such a perfect creature exist?" she asked me, after examining
attentively, and not without a sweet smile of satisfaction, the
exquisite grace of the outlines, the attitude, the color, the hair, in
fact everything.
"He is too beautiful for a man," she added, after such a scrutiny as
she would have bestowed upon a rival.
Ah! how sharply I felt at that moment those pangs of jealousy in which
a poet had tried in vain to make me believe! the jealousy of
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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 Adam Bede by George Eliot: her face--it was beginning to rain. Here was a new trouble which
had not entered into her sad thoughts before, and quite weighed
down by this sudden addition to her burden, she sat down on the
step of a stile and began to sob hysterically. The beginning of
hardship is like the first taste of bitter food--it seems for a
moment unbearable; yet, if there is nothing else to satisfy our
hunger, we take another bite and find it possible to go on. When
Hetty recovered from her burst of weeping, she rallied her
fainting courage: it was raining, and she must try to get on to a
village where she might find rest and shelter. Presently, as she
walked on wearily, she heard the rumbling of heavy wheels behind
Adam Bede |
