| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Door in the Wall, et. al. by H. G. Wells: secret and peculiar passage of escape into another and altogether
more beautiful world. At any rate, you will say, it betrayed him
in the end. But did it betray him? There you touch the inmost
mystery of these dreamers, these men of vision and the imagination.
We see our world fair and common, the hoarding and the pit. By our
daylight standard he walked out of security into darkness, danger
and death. But did he see like that?
THE STAR
It was on the first day of the New Year that the announcement
was made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that the
motion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all the planets
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: Jerry was so thoughtful and kind -- what horse would not do his best
for such a master? Then he took out one of Polly's meat pies,
and standing near me, he began to eat it. The streets were very full,
and the cabs, with the candidates' colors on them, were dashing about
through the crowd as if life and limb were of no consequence;
we saw two people knocked down that day, and one was a woman.
The horses were having a bad time of it, poor things!
but the voters inside thought nothing of that; many of them were half-drunk,
hurrahing out of the cab windows if their own party came by.
It was the first election I had seen, and I don't want to be in another,
though I have heard things are better now.
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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 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: indeed. The Wizard knew that if Dorothy's pet was found guilty and
condemned to death the little girl would be made very unhappy; so,
although he grieved over the piglet's sad fate as much as any of them,
he resolved to save Eureka's life.
Sending for the Tin Woodman the Wizard took him into a corner
and whispered:
"My friend, it is your duty to defend the white kitten and try to save
her, but I fear you will fail because Eureka has long wished to eat a
piglet, to my certain knowledge, and my opinion is that she has been
unable to resist the temptation. Yet her disgrace and death would not
bring back the piglet, but only serve to make Dorothy unhappy. So I
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 Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: are wisest. They are the magi.
End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
The Gift of the Magi |
