| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: am going to hang you in a few minutes."
"Thanks! Thank you very much!" answered the king, ceasing to weep.
"I have always expected to be hanged some day, and I am glad no one
but you two boys will witness me when my feet begin kicking about."
"I shall not kick," declared another of the thieves, who had also
regained his senses. "I shall sing while I am being hanged."
"But you can not, my good Gunder," protested the king; "for the rope
will cut off your breath, and no man can sing without breath."
"Then I shall whistle," said Gunder, composedly.
The king cast at him a look of reproach, and turning to Prince Marvel
he said:
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: as he had received an overture from a noble family, on behalf of
"a hopeful, well-bred young gentleman," who expressed himself
anxious to wed with Mistress Anne.
The same young lady had not long returned, when she informed her
husband she was about to become a mother; whereon the duke,
seeking the king, fell upon his knees before him, laid bare his
secret, and besought him to sanction his union, "that he might
publicly marry in such a manner as his majesty thought necessary
for the consequence thereof;" adding that, if consent were
refused, he would "immediately take leave of the kingdom and
spend his life in foreign parts." King Charles was astonished
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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 Blix by Frank Norris: light that came in through the window--a light that was a mingling
of the afterglow, the new-risen moon, and the faint haze that the
city threw off into the sky from its street lamps and electrics.
From where they sat they could look down, almost as from a tower,
into the city's streets. Here a corner came into view; further on
a great puff of green foliage--palms and pines side by side--over-
looked a wall. Here a street was visible for almost its entire
length, like a stream of asphalt flowing down the pitch of the
hill, dammed on either side by rows upon rows of houses; while
further on the vague confusion of roofs and facades opened out
around a patch of green lawn, the garden of some larger residence.
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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 Agesilaus by Xenophon: the great-great-grandson of Heracles, took and set up in the days of
the return. Let him endeavour to view the furniture inside; there he
will perceive how the king feasted on high holy days; and he will hear
how the king's own daughter was wont to drive to Amyclae in a public
basket-carriage.[7] Thus it was that by the adjustment of expenditure
to income he was never driven to the commission of any unjust deed for
money's sake. And yet if it be a fine thing to hold a fortress
impregnable to attck, I count it a greater glory that a man should
hold the fortress of his soul inviolable against the assaults of
riches, pleasures, fears.
[5] Or, "of all such external needs."
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