| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Toto, haven't I always been good to you?"
Toto looked up at her with his bright black eyes
and wagged his tail.
"Bow-wow!" he said, and Betsy knew at once that
meant yes, as well as Dorothy and Ozma knew it,
for there was no mistaking the tone of Toto's
voice.
"That's a dog answer," said Dorothy. "How would
you like it, Toto, if I said nothing to you but
'bow-wow'?"
Toto's tail was wagging furiously now, but
Tik-Tok of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: the construction of a raft. A score of soldiers and officers, who were
armed, formed a guard, commanded by the major, to protect the workers
against the desperate attacks which might be expected from the crowd,
if their scheme was discovered. The instinct of freedom, strong in all
prisoners, inspiring them to miraculous acts, can only be compared
with that which now drove to action these unfortunate Frenchmen.
"The Russians! the Russians are coming!" cried the defenders to the
workers; and the work went on, the raft increased in length and
breadth and depth. Generals, soldiers, colonel, all put their
shoulders to the wheel; it was a true image of the building of Noah's
ark. The young countess, seated beside her husband, watched the
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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 Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: It was not my part to encourage sneering on board my ship.
It must be said, too, that I knew very little of my officers.
In consequence of certain events of no particular significance,
except to myself, I had been appointed to the command only a
fortnight before. Neither did I know much of the hands forward.
All these people had been together for eighteen months or so,
and my position was that of the only stranger on board.
I mention this because it has some bearing on what is to follow.
But what I felt most was my being a stranger to the ship;
and if all the truth must be told, I was somewhat of a stranger
to myself. The youngest man on board (barring the second mate),
The Secret Sharer |
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 New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: FOR RICHMOND'S GARDEN WALL
WHEN Thomas set this tablet here,
Time laughed at the vain chanticleer;
And ere the moss had dimmed the stone,
Time had defaced that garrison.
Now I in turn keep watch and ward
In my red house, in my walled yard
Of sunflowers, sitting here at ease
With friends and my bright canvases.
But hark, and you may hear quite plain
Time's chuckled laughter in the lane.
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