| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: ought to have told that she was right, that I really was a bad
man.
When I turned away from the pump, I saw in the doorway the
station-master, of whom I had twice made complaints to his
superiors, turning up the collar of his coat, shrinking from the
wind and the snow. He came up to me, and putting two fingers to
the peak of his cap, told me with an expression of helpless
confusion, strained respectfulness, and hatred on his face, that
the train was twenty minutes late, and asked me would I not like
to wait in the warm?
"Thank you," I answered, "but I am probably not going. Send word
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier days
which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her
family."
"I feel like painting," answered Edna. "Perhaps I shan't
always feel like it."
"Then in God's name paint! but don't let the family go to the
devil. There's Madame Ratignolle; because she keeps up her music,
she doesn't let everything else go to chaos. And she's more of a
musician than you are a painter."
"She isn't a musician, and I'm not a painter. It isn't on
account of painting that I let things go."
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Dear me!" cried the Wizard; "they must have run away. But I didn't
see them go; did you?"
"No!" replied the boy and the girl, together.
"Here,--piggy, piggy, piggy!" called their master, anxiously.
Several squeals and grunts were instantly heard at his feet, but the
Wizard could not discover a single piglet.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"Why, right beside you," spoke a tiny voice. "Can't you see us?"
"No," answered the little man, in a puzzled tone.
"We can see you," said another of the piglets.
The Wizard stooped down and put out his hand, and at once felt the
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
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 The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: him and regained her happiness."
"Are you sorry you stole it?" asked the Princess.
"No, your Highness; I'm glad," he answered; "for it has pleased me to
be loved, and if Dorothy had not cared for me I could not have
accompanied her to this beautiful Land of Oz, or met its kind-hearted
Ruler. Now that I'm here, I hope to remain, and to become one of your
Majesty's most faithful subjects."
"But in Oz we are loved for ourselves alone, and for our kindness to
one another, and for our good deeds," she said.
"I'll give up the Love Magnet," said the shaggy man, eagerly; "Dorothy
shall have it."
The Road to Oz |
