| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: Inga was sorry for the poor child, but he knew how
important it was that he regain possession of the Magic
Pearls. So he said, pleadingly:
"Please let me have them, Zella. See! I will exchange
for them the shoes I now have on, which are newer and
prettier than the others."
The girl hesitated. She wanted to please the boy
Prince, yet she hated to exchange the shoes which her
father had brought her as a present.
"If you will give me the shoes," continued the boy,
anxiously, "I will promise to make you and your father
Rinkitink In Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: named Kifa Mokievitch, and a man of kindly disposition; a man who went
through life in a dressing-gown, and paid no heed to his household,
for the reason that his whole being was centred upon the province of
speculation, and that, in particular, he was preoccupied with a
philosophical problem usually stated by him thus: "A beast," he would
say, "is born naked. Now, why should that be? Why should not a beast
be born as a bird is born--that is to say, through the process of
being hatched from an egg? Nature is beyond the understanding, however
much one may probe her." This was the substance of Kifa Mokievitch's
reflections. But herein is not the chief point. The other of the pair
was a fellow named Mofi Kifovitch, and son to the first named. He was
Dead Souls |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Sir," said the voice, "you must rub these leaves upon the soles of
all your feet, and then you will be able to walk upon the water
without sinking below the surface. It is a secret the bears do not
know, and we people of Voe usually walk upon the water when we travel,
and so escape our enemies."
"Thank you!" cried the Wizard, joyfully, and at once rubbed a leaf
upon the soles of Dorothy's shoes and then upon his own. The girl
took a leaf and rubbed it upon the kitten's paws, and the rest of the
plant was handed to Zeb, who, after applying it to his own feet,
carefully rubbed it upon all four of Jim's hoofs and then upon the
tires of the buggy-wheels. He had nearly finished this last task when
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
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 Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: Which of us all but remembers with delight, notwithstanding the
bitterness of learning, the eccentric pleasures of that cloistered
life? The sweetmeats purchased by stealth in the course of our walks,
permission obtained to play cards and devise theatrical performances
during the holidays, such tricks and freedom as were necessitated by
our seclusion; then, again, our military band, a relic of the cadets;
our academy, our chaplain, our Father professors, and all our games
permitted or prohibited, as the case might be; the cavalry charges on
stilts, the long slides made in winter, the clatter of our clogs; and,
above all, the trading transactions with "the shop" set up in the
courtyard itself.
Louis Lambert |
