| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: and furnished with satin-covered gold furniture. There was a throne
in this room, set on a dais and having a big, cushioned seat, and on
this seat reclined the Rabbit King. He was lying on his back, with his
paws in the air, and whining very like a puppy-dog.
"Your Majesty! your Majesty! Get up. Here's a visitor," called out
the attendant.
The King rolled over and looked at Dorothy with one watery pink eye.
Then he sat up and wiped his eyes carefully with a silk handkerchief
and put on his jeweled crown, which had fallen off.
"Excuse my grief, fair stranger," he said, in a sad voice.
"You behold in me the most miserable monarch in all the world.
The Emerald City of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: laughter was part of the heroism which women display in the great
crises of life.
In spite of the singular fancy which possessed the author of "Quentin
Durward" to place the royal castle of Plessis-lez-Tours upon a height,
we must content ourselves by leaving it where it really was, namely on
low land, protected on either side by the Cher and the Loire; also by
the canal Sainte-Anne, so named by Louis XI. in honor of his beloved
daughter, Madame de Beaujeu. By uniting the two rivers between the
city of Tours and Plessis this canal not only served as a formidable
protection to the castle, but it offered a most precious road to
commerce. On the side towards Brehemont, a vast and fertile plain, 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 Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: several mallets and wooden wedges, also planks and other articles, the
use of which was not plain, nor their look comforting to the poor boy
concerned in these preparations, whose blood now curdled in his veins
from a vague but most terrible apprehension. Two personages entered
the hall at the moment when Monsieur de Montresor reappeared.
"Hey, nothing ready!" cried the provost-marshal, to whom the new-
comers bowed with great respect. "Don't you know," he said, addressing
the stout man and his two assistants, "that Monseigneur the cardinal
thinks you already at work? Doctor," added the provost, turning to one
of the new-comers, "this is the man"; and he pointed to Christophe.
The doctor went straight to the prisoner, unbound his hands, and
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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 Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: jokingly. "I'll rub it." To his surprise, when he did rub it, a
genie appeared.
"Okay, Bud," said the genie, in a remarkably bored tone. "You have
one wish--anything you want. What is it?"
"Money," the man said instantly, his eyes widening. "Yes! Endless
money. Riches! Wealth! Ha! Ha! Huge, massive, obscene wealth!"
"I thought so," said the genie in the same bored tone.
"No, wait," the man said, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "Power. Yeah,
that's it. Complete and total power over everyone and everything
in the world. With power I could get all the money I wanted."
"So you want power, huh?" asked the genie.
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