| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "It wouldn't matter," remarked the educated Woggle-Bug. "he can't get broke
so long as he is stuffed with money."
"Didn't I ask you" began Tip, in a reproachful voice.
"You did!" said the Woggle-Bug, promptly. "And I beg your pardon. I will
really try to restrain myself."
"You'd better," declared the boy. "That is, if you wish to travel in our
company."
"Ah! I couldn't bear to part with you now," murmured the Insect, feelingly;
so Tip let the subject drop.
The army moved steadily on, but night had fallen before they came to the
walls of the Emerald City. By the dim light of the new moon, however,
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: noticed a dark spot ahead of him which proved to be a large body of
fierce looking men, riding upon dromedaries and slender, spirited
horses and armed with long rifles and crookedly shaped simitars.
"Those fellows seem to be looking for trouble," remarked the boy, as
he glided over them, "and it wouldn't be exactly healthy for an enemy
to get in their way. But I haven't time to stop, so I'm not likely to
get mixed up in any rumpus with them.
However, the armed caravan was scarcely out of sight before Rob
discovered he was approaching a rich, wooded oasis of the desert, in
the midst of which was built the walled city of Yarkand. Not that he
had ever heard of the place, or knew its name; for few Europeans and
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain: inboard to save himself, and succeeded in the effort,
but that girl turned as white as the snows of Mont Blanc
for a moment.
The path was simply a groove cut into the face of
the precipice; there was a four-foot breadth of solid rock
under the traveler, and four-foot breadth of solid rock
just above his head, like the roof of a narrow porch;
he could look out from this gallery and see a sheer
summitless and bottomless wall of rock before him,
across a gorge or crack a biscuit's toss in width--
but he could not see the bottom of his own precipice
|
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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: Know this for certain--methods are always confounded with results; you
will never succeed in separating the soul from the senses, spirit from
matter. Gold is the spiritual basis of existing society.--The ten of
us are bound by the ties of common interest; we meet on certain days
of the week at the Cafe Themis near the Pont Neuf, and there, in
conclave, we reveal the mysteries of finance. No fortune can deceive
us; we are in possession of family secrets in all directions. We keep
a kind of Black Book, in which we note the most important bills
issued, drafts on public credit, or on banks, or given and taken in
the course of business. We are the Casuists of the Paris Bourse, a
kind of Inquisition weighing and analyzing the most insignificant
Gobseck |
