| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: so that he could not escape.
But Dorothy they did not harm at all. She stood, with Toto in
her arms, watching the sad fate of her comrades and thinking it
would soon be her turn. The leader of the Winged Monkeys flew up
to her, his long, hairy arms stretched out and his ugly face
grinning terribly; but he saw the mark of the Good Witch's kiss
upon her forehead and stopped short, motioning the others not to
touch her.
"We dare not harm this little girl," he said to them, "for she
is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the
Power of Evil. All we can do is to carry her to the castle of the
The Wizard of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: and she was rather more complex than the other children.
She was fanciful, had all sorts of unspoken preferences,
and was easily offended. At the slightest disappointment
or displeasure, her velvety brown eyes filled with tears,
and she would lift her chin and walk silently away.
If we ran after her and tried to appease her, it did no good.
She walked on unmollified. I used to think that no eyes
in the world could grow so large or hold so many tears as
Nina's. Mrs. Harling and Antonia invariably took her part.
We were never given a chance to explain. The charge was simply:
`You have made Nina cry. Now, Jimmy can go home, and Sally
My Antonia |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: reason that, unless there be in authority a leading spirit to control
the rest, the affair always develops into confusion. Why this should
be so one could hardly say, but at all events a success is scored only
by such gatherings as have for their object dining and festivity--to
wit, gatherings at clubs or in German-run restaurants. However, on the
present occasion, the meeting was NOT one of this kind; it was a
meeting convoked of necessity, and likely in view of the threatened
calamity to affect every tchinovnik in the place. Also, in addition to
the great divergency of views expressed thereat, there was visible in
all the speakers an invincible tendency to indecision which led them
at one moment to make assertions, and at the next to contradict the
Dead Souls |
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 Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: it a' on yoursell; never let the credit o' the house suffer."
"But the brood-hen," remonstrated Mysie--"ou, she's sitting some
gate aneath the dais in the hall, and I am feared to gae in in
the dark for the dogle; and if I didna see the bogle, I could as
ill see the hen, for it's pit-mirk, and there's no another light
in the house, save that very blessed lamp whilk the Master has in
his ain hand. And if I had the hen, she's to pu', and to draw,
and to dress; how can I do that, and them sitting by the only
fire we have?"
"Weel, weel, Mysie," said the butler, "bide ye there a wee, and
I'll try to get the lamp wiled away frae them."
The Bride of Lammermoor |
