| 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: "Tell us, Scraps!" begged Dorothy.
"I don't want to wear my brains out with overwork," replied the
Patchwork Girl.
"Don't you love Ozma? And don't you want to find her?" asked Betsy
reproachfully.
"Yes indeed," said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat does at
the circus.
"Well, we can't find Ozma unless we get past these thistles," declared
Dorothy.
Scraps danced around them two or three times without reply. Then she
said, "Don't look at me, you stupid folks. Look at those blankets."
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 Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: shepherds: and, surely, it is not without some
reproach to his inventive power, that of ten
pastorals Virgil has written two upon the same plan.
One of the shepherds now gains an acknowledged
victory, but without any apparent superiority, and
the reader, when he sees the prize adjudged, is not
able to discover how it was deserved.
Of the eighth pastoral, so little is properly the
work of Virgil, that he has no claim to other praise
or blame than that of a translator.
Of the ninth, it is scarce possible to discover 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 Dreams by Olive Schreiner: which shall be built with our bodies, who will pass?"
He said, "The entire human race."
And the woman grasped her staff.
And I saw her turn down that dark path to the river.
And I awoke; and all about me was the yellow afternoon light: the sinking
sun lit up the fingers of the milk bushes; and my horse stood by me quietly
feeding. And I turned on my side, and I watched the ants run by thousands
in the red sand. I thought I would go on my way now--the afternoon was
cooler. Then a drowsiness crept over me again, and I laid back my head and
fell asleep.
And I dreamed a dream.
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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 Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: to reply, she loaded me with caresses; and when she found we were
alone, she reproached me warmly with the habit I was contracting
of staying out so late. My silence gave her an opportunity of
continuing; and she then said that for the last three weeks I had
never spent one entire day in her society; that she could not
endure such prolonged absence; that she should at least expect me
to give up a day to her from time to time, and that she
particularly wished me to be with, her on the following day from
morning till night.
"`You may be very certain I shall do that,' said I, in rather a
sharp tone. She did not appear to notice my annoyance; she
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