| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Ann and her officers were reluctant to undertake
such a risky adventure, but Betsy at once grasped
the value of the suggestion and began jumping up
and down until she found herself bounding almost
as high as Polychrome had done. Then she suddenly
leaned forward and the next bound took her easily
across the brook, where she alighted by the side
of the Rainbow's Daughter.
"Come on, Hank!" called the girl, and the
donkey tried to obey. He managed to bound
pretty high but when he tried to bound across
Tik-Tok of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: "Monsieur," Emilie eagerly interposed, "is it not very wrong to
calumniate your own country? Devotion is to be found in every nation."
"Do you imagine, mademoiselle," retorted the Italian, with a sardonic
smile, "that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all
over the world?"
"Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop."
A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence
of her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her
budding happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien's
apparent indifference, and a woman's smile, had wrung from her one of
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