| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: night, "this Shoemaker who stole my growl and who stole Ozma has also
stolen Button-Bright."
"How do you know that the Shoemaker stole your growl?" demanded the
Woozy.
"He has stolen about everything else of value in Oz, hasn't he?"
replied the dog.
"He has stolen everything he wants, perhaps," agreed the Lion, "but
what could anyone want with your growl?"
"Well," said the dog, wagging his tail slowly, "my recollection is
that it was a wonderful growl, soft and low and--and--"
"And ragged at the edges," said the Sawhorse.
The Lost Princess of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: fearsome thing with all the savage ferocity of a she-tiger
at bay. When she saw who it was, she breathed a sigh
of partial relief, though she still clung tightly to Tibo.
"I have come," said Bukawai without preliminary,
"for the three fat goats, the new sleeping mat,
and the bit of copper wire as long as a tall man's arm."
"I have no goats for you," snapped Momaya, "nor a sleeping mat,
nor any wire. Your medicine was never made. The white
jungle god gave me back my Tibo. You had nothing to do with it."
"But I did," mumbled Bukawai through his fleshless jaws.
"It was I who commanded the white jungle god to give back
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: The little fishes' answer was
"We cannot do it, Sir, because--"'
`I'm afraid I don't quite understand,' said Alice.
`It gets easier further on,' Humpty Dumpty replied.
`I sent to them again to say
"It will be better to obey."
The fishes answered with a grin,
"Why, what a temper you are in!"
I told them once, I told them twice:
They would not listen to advice.
I took a kettle large and new,
Through the Looking-Glass |
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 Summer by Edith Wharton: and the long waiting for retarded trains. Pale mothers
were struggling with fretful babies, or trying to keep
their older offspring from the fascination of the
track; girls and their "fellows" were giggling and
shoving, and passing about candy in sticky bags, and
older men, collarless and perspiring, were shifting
heavy children from one arm to the other, and keeping a
haggard eye on the scattered members of their families.
At last the train rumbled in, and engulfed the waiting
multitude. Harney swept Charity up on to the first car
and they captured a bench for two, and sat in happy
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