| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: or otherwise amused ourselves till about three o'clock, when
we again started, and rowed till within an hour of sundown, when
we called a halt for the night. On landing in the evening, Good
would at once set to work, with the help of the Askari, to build
a little 'scherm', or small enclosure, fenced with thorn bushes,
and to light a fire. I, with Sir Henry and Umslopogaas, would
go out to shoot something for the pot. Generally this was an
easy task, for all sorts of game abounded on the banks of the
Tana. One night Sir Henry shot a young cow-giraffe, of which
the marrow-bones were excellent; on another I got a couple of
waterbuck right and left; and once, to his own intense satisfaction,
Allan Quatermain |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "That means," he said, "that there's a Woozy
inside that fence, and the Woozy must be a
dangerous animal or they wouldn't tell people
to beware of it."
"Let's keep out, then," replied Scraps. "That
path is outside the fence, and Mr. Woozy may have
all his little forest to himself, for all we care."
"But one of our errands is to find a Woozy,"
Ojo explained. "The Magician wants me to get
three hairs from the end of a Woozy's tail."
"Let's go on and find some other Woozy,"
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
| 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: The poor Emperor felt so bewildered that for a time he could
only stare at his old Head in silence. Then he said:
"I must admit that I wasn't at all bad looking before
I became tin. You're almost handsome -- for meat. If
your hair was combed, you'd be quite attractive."
"How do you expect me to comb my hair without help?"
demanded the Head, indignantly. "I used to keep it
smooth and neat, when I had arms, but after I was
removed from the rest of me, my hair got mussed,
and old Ku-Klip never has combed it for me."
"I'll speak to him about it," said the Tin Woodman.
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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: eleven. He then set to work again on the copy he had begun the night
before, which was lying on the table.
On going downstairs we asked the price of that room, and were told
fifteen francs a month.
In the course of a few days, we were fully informed as to the mode of
life of Z. Marcas. He did copying, at so much a sheet no doubt, for a
law-writer who lived in the courtyard of the Sainte-Chapelle. He
worked half the night; after sleeping from six till ten, he began
again and wrote till three. Then he went out to take the copy home
before dinner, which he ate at Mizerai's in the Rue Michel-le-Comte,
at a cost of nine sous, and came in to bed at six o'clock. It became
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