| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: No girl now likes me,--I please not her.
The next am I,--the brown and the long,
Known well to women, known well to song.
Instead of spices, 'tis gold I bear,
And so I'm welcome everywhere.
The last am I,--the black and small,
And fain would be right merry withal.
I like to eat and to drink full measure,
I eat and drink, and give thanks with pleasure.
The three holy kings are friendly and mild,
They seek the Mother, and seek the Child;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: consequent founder of a great aristocracy and conquering race, who
first invented for himself and his children after him a--bow and
arrow.
The next--whether before or after the first in time, it suits me to
speak of him in second place--was the man who was the potential
ancestor of the whole Ritterschaft, Chivalry, and knightly caste of
Europe; the man who first, finding a foal upon the steppe, deserted
by its dam, brought it home, and reared it; and then bethought him
of the happy notion of making it draw--presumably by its tail--a
fashion which endured long in Ireland, and had to be forbidden by
law, I think as late as the sixteenth century. A great aristocrat
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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 The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: in! What is the feeling that gives you strength enough to persist?"
"I will be a mother to him!" she had replied.
There are certain horrible situations in which we come to no decision
till the moment when our friends discern our dishonor. We accept
compromises with ourself so long as we escape a censor who comes to
play prosecutor. Monsieur de Clagny, as clumsy as a tortured man, had
been torturing Dinah.
"To preserve my love I will be all that Madame de Pompadour was to
preserve her power," said she to herself when Monsieur de Clagny had
left her. And this phrase sufficiently proves that her love was
becoming a burden to her, and would presently be a toil rather than a
The Muse of the Department |
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 Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: cheer when the walls of houses encompass us. But
always, when other lights forsake us, our glorious
Electra is ready to flood us with bright rays. As
Queen of Light, I love all my maidens, for I know
them to be faithful and true."
"I love 'em too!" declared Betsy. "But
sometimes, when I'm real sleepy, I can get along
without any light at all."
"Are you sleepy now?" inquired Erma, for the
feast had ended.
"A little," admitted the girl.
Tik-Tok of Oz |
