| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: intrinsic features, pictures, heirlooms, treasures of all the arts,
that made the place almost famous; and the great rooms were so
numerous that guests could wander at their will, hang back from the
principal group and in cases where they took such matters with the
last seriousness give themselves up to mysterious appreciations and
measurements. There were persons to be observed, singly or in
couples, bending toward objects in out-of-the-way corners with
their hands on their knees and their heads nodding quite as with
the emphasis of an excited sense of smell. When they were two they
either mingled their sounds of ecstasy or melted into silences of
even deeper import, so that there were aspects of the occasion that
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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 The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: curling antenna, or "feeler," and its ears from the upper points bore
antennae that decorated the sides of its head like two miniature, curling
pig tails. It must be admitted that the round, black eyes were rather
bulging in appearance; but the expression upon the Woggle-Bug's face was by
no means unpleasant.
For dress the insect wore a dark-blue swallowtail coat with a yellow silk
lining and a flower in the button-hole; a vest of white duck that stretched
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tightly across the wide body; knickerbockers of fawn-colored plush, fastened
at the knees with gilt buckles; and, perched upon its small head, was
jauntily set a tall silk hat.
 The Marvelous Land of Oz |