| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me,
I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul
as it leads.
Because
Oh, because you never tried
To bow my will or break my pride,
And nothing of the cave-man made
You want to keep me half afraid,
Nor ever with a conquering air
You thought to draw me unaware --
Take me, for I love you more
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: Chancery Lane every day, working away at actuarial calculations
for her, and helping her as well as a greenhorn could. In the
evenings we smoked and talked, and never dreamt of going out
except for exercise. And I never enjoyed myself more in my life.
I cleared all my expenses and got initiated into the business
without a fee in the bargain.
PRAED. But bless my heart and soul, Miss Warren, do you call
that discovering art?
VIVIE. Wait a bit. That wasnt the beginning. I went up to town
on an invitation from some artistic people in Fitzjohn's Avenue:
one of the girls was a Newnham chum. They took me to the
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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 Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: belonged to the tribe, but they made their home upon another, three
hours' sail to the southward. There they lived and had their
permanent houses, and it was a rich island, where were eggs and
chickens and pigs, and ships came trading with rum and tobacco. It
was there the schooner had gone after Keola deserted; there, too,
the mate had died, like the fool of a white man as he was. It
seems, when the ship came, it was the beginning of the sickly
season in that isle, when the fish of the lagoon are poisonous, and
all who eat of them swell up and die. The mate was told of it; he
saw the boats preparing, because in that season the people leave
that island and sail to the Isle of Voices; but he was a fool of a
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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 Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: he paid no attention to the changing hills and valleys and plodded
along as calmly as if walking upon the level ground.
The result of this wise persistence was that the General finally
reached firmer soil and, after penetrating a dense forest, came to the
Dominion of the Growleywogs.
No sooner had he crossed the border of this domain when two guards
seized him and carried him before the Grand Gallipoot of the
Growleywogs, who scowled upon him ferociously and asked him why he
dared intrude upon his territory.
"I'm the Lord High General of the Invincible Army of the Nomes, and my
name is Guph," was the reply. "All the world trembles when that name
The Emerald City of Oz |
