| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: air, which they breathed so gratefully after the confined atmosphere
of the tunnel. Several minutes were consumed in silent admiration
before they noticed two very singular and unusual facts about this
valley. One was that it was lighted from some unseen source; for no
sun or moon was in the arched blue sky, although every object was
flooded with a clear and perfect light. The second and even more
singular fact was the absence of any inhabitant of this splendid
place. From their elevated position they could overlook the entire
valley, but not a single moving object could they see. All appeared
mysteriously deserted.
The mountain on this side was not glass, but made of a stone similar
 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: father, sitting in their hovel, awaited, in silence and darkness, a
meal of the coarsest bread and shell-fish, if the sea permitted.
"Do you ever drink wine?" I asked.
"Three or four times a year," he replied.
"Well, you shall drink it to-day,--you and your father; and we will
send you some white bread."
"You are very kind, monsieur."
"We will give you your dinner if you will show us the way along the
shore to Batz, where we wish to see the tower which overlooks the bay
between Batz and Croisic."
"With pleasure," he said. "Go straight before you, along the path you
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