| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: the restlessness of a caged brute, or sitting motionless for
hours, watching Trina at her work, feeling a dull glow of
shame at the idea that she was supporting him. This feeling
had worn off quickly, however. Trina's work was only hard
when she chose to make it so, and as a rule she supported
their misfortunes with a silent fortitude.
Then, wearied at his inaction and feeling the need of
movement and exercise, McTeague would light his pipe and
take a turn upon the great avenue one block above Polk
Street. A gang of laborers were digging the foundations for
a large brownstone house, and McTeague found interest and
 McTeague |
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 Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: hen. "Look around, and see if you cannot find it again."
Dorothy looked, and the hen helped her, and by and by the girl
discovered the clock-key, which had fallen into a crack of the rock.
At once she wound up Tiktok's voice, taking care to give the key as
many turns as it would go around. She found this quite a task, as you
may imagine if you have ever tried to wind a clock, but the machine
man's first words were to assure Dorothy that he would now run for at
least twenty-four hours.
"You did not wind me much, at first," he calmly said, "and I told
you that long sto-ry a-bout King Ev-ol-do; so it is no won-der that
I ran down."
 Ozma of Oz |