| 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: "Nor did I," added Jack.
They soon regained the road of yellow brick, which proved to be a
continuation of the road they had left on the other side, and then Tip once
more mounted the Pumpkinhead upon the back of the Saw-Horse.
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"If you ride fast," said he, "the wind will help to dry your clothing. I
will hold on to the horse's tail and run after you. In this way we all will
become dry in a very short time."
"Then the horse must step lively," said Jack.
"I'll do my best," returned the Saw-Horse, cheerfully.
Tip grasped the end of the branch that served as tail to the Saw-Horse, and
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 Astoria by Washington Irving: ravages of a malady, loathsome and agonizing in its details, and
which set the skill and experience of their conjurors and
medicine men at defiance. In a little while, two thirds of the
population were swept from the face of the earth, and the doom of
the rest seemed sealed. The stoicism of the warriors was at an
end; they became wild and desperate; some set fire to the village
as a last means of checking the pestilence; others, in a frenzy
of despair, put their wives and children to death, that they
might be spared the agonies of an inevitable disease, and that
they might all go to some better country.
When the general horror and dismay was at its height, 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 Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: 'It is young Hylas, that false runaway
Who with a Naiad now would make his bed
Forgetting Herakles,' but others, 'Nay,
It is Narcissus, his own paramour,
Those are the fond and crimson lips no woman can allure.'
And when they nearer came a third one cried,
'It is young Dionysos who has hid
His spear and fawnskin by the river side
Weary of hunting with the Bassarid,
And wise indeed were we away to fly:
They live not long who on the gods immortal come to spy.'
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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 In the Cage by Henry James: only asked of it to reach the point of his not going away because
of her own. He had at times to be away for weeks; he had to lead
lets life; he had to travel--there were places to which he was
constantly wiring for "rooms": all this she granted him, forgave
him; in fact, in the long run, literally blessed and thanked him
for. If he had to lead his life, that precisely fostered his
leading it so much by telegraph: therefore the benediction was to
come in when he could. That was all she asked--that he shouldn't
wholly deprive her.
Sometimes she almost felt that he couldn't have deprived her even
had he been minded, by reason of the web of revelation that was
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