| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: said the old man, shaking his head so triumphantly and so
severely that the clerk, deciding that the victory was on his
side, burst into a loud laugh.
"Yes, you men think so," replied the lady, without surrendering,
and turning toward us. "You have given yourself liberty. As for
woman, you wish to keep her in the seraglio. To you, everything
is permissible. Is it not so?"
"Oh, man,--that's another affair."
"Then, according to you, to man everything is permissible?"
"No one gives him this permission; only, if the man behaves badly
outside, the family is not increased thereby; but the woman, the
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw: THE DARK LADY. Will: save me. Oh, save me.
ELIZABETH. Save you! A likely savior, on my royal word! I had
thought this fellow at least an esquire; for I had hoped that even the
vilest of my ladies would not have dishonored my Court by wantoning
with a baseborn servant.
SHAKESPEAR. _[indignantly scrambling to his feet]_ Base-born! I, a
Shakespear of Stratford! I, whose mother was an Arden! baseborn! You
forget yourself, madam.
ELIZABETH. _[furious]_ S'blood! do I so? I will teach you--
THE DARK LADY. _[rising from her knees and throwing herself between
them]_ Will: in God's name anger her no further. It is death.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: captured. And, as we can't escape through the ground, there is only one
other thing to be done. We must escape through the air!"
He paused to note the effect of these words; but all his hearers seemed
puzzled and unconvinced.
"The Wonderful Wizard escaped in a balloon," he continued. "We don't know
how to make a balloon, of course; but any sort of thing that can
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fly through the air can carry us easily. So I suggest that my friend the Tin
Woodman, who is a skillful mechanic, shall build some sort of a machine,
with good strong wings, to carry us; and our friend Tip can then bring the
Thing to life with his magical powder."
The Marvelous Land 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 Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: The third letter came to my hand while we were deep in some such talk:
and it will be seen how pat it fell to the occasion. James professed
to be in some concern upon his daughter's health, which I believe was
never better; abounded in kind expressions to myself; and finally
proposed that I should visit them at Dunkirk.
"You will now be enjoying the society of my old comrade Mr. Stewart,"
he wrote. "Why not accompany him so far in his return to France? I
have something very particular for Mr. Stewart's ear; and, at any rate,
I would be pleased to meet in with an old fellow-soldier and one so
mettle as himself. As for you, my dear sir, my daughter and I would be
proud to receive our benefactor, whom we regard as a brother and a son.
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