| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering her
wings she made a flight of three circles around the
stump. Then she flew up to a tree and the Bear and the
Owl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump had appeared
a great green leaf upon which was a large portion of
scrambled eggs on toast, smoking hot.
"There!" said the Bear; "eat your breakfast, friend
Jaguar, and be content."
The Jaguar crept closer to the stump and sniffed the
fragrance of the scrambled eggs. They smelled so good
that he tasted them, and they tasted so good that he
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: rage, at not having it, as all the world knows, he nearly killed
Alva with his own hands, some two years after. If it be true that
Don Carlos felt a debt of gratitude to Vesalius, he may (after his
wont) have poured out to him some wild confidence about the
Netherlands, to have even heard which would be a crime in Philip's
eyes. And if this be but a fancy, still Vesalius was, as I just
said, a Netherlander, and one of a brain and a spirit to which
Philip's doings, and the air of the Spanish court, must have been
growing ever more and more intolerable. Hundreds of his country
folk, perhaps men and women whom he had known, were being racked,
burnt alive, buried alive, at the bidding of a jocular ruffian,
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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 A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: And am very tired of it,
I have just to shut my eyes
To go sailing through the skies--
To go sailing far away
To the pleasant Land of Play;
To the fairy land afar
Where the Little People are;
Where the clover-tops are trees,
And the rain-pools are the seas,
And the leaves, like little ships,
Sail about on tiny trips;
A Child's Garden of Verses |
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 Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: Kaiser engaged him at last at three dollars, he
being young and strong. However, many able
young men backed out, afraid of the great dis-
tance; besides, those only who had some money
could be taken. There were some who sold their
huts and their land because it cost a lot of money
to get to America; but then, once there, you had
three dollars a day, and if you were clever you
could find places where true gold could be picked
up on the ground. His father's house was getting
over full. Two of his brothers were married and
Amy Foster |
