| 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: dama-fruit, and the perfume that rose from these was so enticing and
sweet that they were sorely tempted to eat of them and become invisible.
But Dorothy satisfied her hunger with other things, and her companions
did likewise, resisting the temptation.
"Why do you not eat the damas?" asked the woman's voice.
"We don't want to get invis'ble," answered the girl.
"But if you remain visible the bears will see you and devour you,"
said a girlish young voice, that belonged to one of the children. "We
who live here much prefer to be invisible; for we can still hug and
kiss one another, and are quite safe from the bears."
"And we do not have to be so particular about our dress,"
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 The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: but she could see his white shirt-bosom. From the fourth step
she fired. As he fell, somebody in the billiard-room screamed
and ran. When the alarm was raised, she had had no time to get
up-stairs: she hid in the west wing until every one was down on
the lower floor. Then she slipped upstairs, and threw the
revolver out of an upper window, going down again in time to
admit the men from the Greenwood Club.
If Thomas had suspected, he had never told. When she found the
hand Arnold had injured was growing worse, she gave the
address of Lucien at Richfield to the old man, and almost a
hundred dollars. The money was for Lucien's board until she
The Circular Staircase |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: conveniences, of which I envy none so much as the facility with
which separated friends interchange their thoughts."
"The Europeans," answered Imlac, "are less unhappy than we, but
they are not happy. Human life is everywhere a state in which much
is to be endured and little to be enjoyed."
CHAPTER XII - THE STORY OF IMLAC (CONTINUED).
"I AM not willing," said the Prince, "to suppose that happiness is
so parsimoniously distributed to mortals, nor can I believe but
that, if I had the choice of life, I should be able to fill every
day with pleasure. I would injure no man, and should provoke no
resentments; I would relieve every distress, and should enjoy the
|
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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: Herbert, clinging to him, cried,--
"No, no! you shall not go!"
Harding advanced towards the stranger, who frowned when he saw him
approaching. The blood flowed from his shoulder under his torn shirt, but
he took no notice of it.
"My friend," said Cyrus Harding, "we have just contracted a debt of
gratitude to you. To save our boy you have risked your life!"
"My life!" murmured the stranger. "What is that worth? Less than
nothing!"
"You are wounded?"
"It is no matter."
The Mysterious Island |
