| 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 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.
What time is it, Blinkem?"
"One o'clock, your Majesty," replied the attendant to whom the
question was addressed.
"Serve luncheon at once!" commanded the King. "Luncheon for
two--that's for my visitor and me--and see that the human has some
sort of food she's accustomed to."
"Yes, your Majesty," answered the attendant, and went away.
"Tie my shoe, Bristle," said the King to the Keeper of the Wicket.
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 First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence?
Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all
the real ones you fly from--will you risk the commission of so
fearful a mistake?
All profess to be content in the Union if all Constitutional rights
can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written
in the Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Happily the human
mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this.
Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision
of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a
majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written Constitutional right,
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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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: composition we had made that would only smoke and stink, he set
fire to it, and threw it in among them. By that time the other
Scotsman and my man, taking charge of the two men already bound,
and tied together also by the arm, led them away to the idol, and
left them there, to see if their idol would relieve them, making
haste back to us.
When the fuze we had thrown in had filled the hut with so much
smoke that they were almost suffocated, we threw in a small leather
bag of another kind, which flamed like a candle, and, following it
in, we found there were but four people, who, as we supposed, had
been about some of their diabolical sacrifices. They appeared, in
Robinson Crusoe |
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 A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: myself behind the curtain. Gouffe came in. `You've a nice
little nest here,' he said. `Yes, a fancy of mine,' replied
Gabrielle, `Eyraud knows nothing about it.' `Oh, you're tired of
him,' asked Gouffe. `Yes,' she replied, `that's all over.'
Gabrielle drew Gouffe down on to the chair. She showed him
the cord of her dressing-gown and said that a wealthy admirer had
given it to her. `Very elegant,' said Gouffe, `but I didn't
come here to see that.'
"She then sat on his knee and, as if in play, slipped the cord
round his neck; then putting her hand behind him, she fixed the
end of the cord into the swivel, and said to him laughingly,
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
