| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: where they stood it seemed as if the mountains had been set in one
great hole in the ground, just close enough together so they would not
touch, and that each mountain was supported by a rocky column beneath
its base which extended far down in the black pit below. From the
land side it seemed impossible to get across the gulf or, succeeding
in that, to gain a foothold on any of the whirling mountains.
"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked Button-Bright.
"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy.
"What, jump from here to that whirling hill?" cried the Lion
indignantly. "I should say not! Even if I landed there and could
hold on, what good would it do? There's another spinning mountain
 The Lost Princess of 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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: he took a large one. He was happy! A man who has no hobby does not
know all the good to be got out of life. A hobby is the happy medium
between a passion and a monomania. At this moment I understood the
whole bearing of Sterne's charming passion, and had a perfect idea of
the delight with which my uncle Toby, encouraged by Trim, bestrode his
hobby-horse.
" 'Monsieur,' said Monsieur Regnault, 'I was head-clerk in Monsieur
Roguin's office, in Paris. A first-rate house, which you may have
heard mentioned? No! An unfortunate bankruptcy made it famous.--Not
having money enough to purchase a practice in Paris at the price to
which they were run up in 1816, I came here and bought my
 La Grande Breteche |