| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Ozma will help you, I'm sure," said Dorothy. "How
does it feel, Scarecrow, to be a Bear?" she asked,
addressing her old friend.
"I don't like it," declared the Scarecrow Bear. "This
brutal form is quite beneath the dignity of a wholesome
straw man."
"And think of me," said the Owl, perching upon the
dashboard of the Red Wagon with much noisy clattering
of his tin feathers. "Don't I look horrid, Dorothy,
with eyes several sizes too big for my body, and so
weak that I ought to wear spectacles?"
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: neighbours, comes by, while Elmira is shaking
me and yelling out what did I mean and how did
it happen and had I saw it and where was Hank's
corpse?
And Mis' Rogers she says, "What's Danny been
doing now, Elmira?" me being always up to some-
thing.
Elmira she turned around and seen her, and she
gives a whoop and then hollers out: "Hank is
dead!" and throws her apern over her head and
sets right down in the path and boo-hoos like a
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: [14] Lit. "by bringing them into court, or by persuasion," i.e. by
legal if not by moral pressure. See Martin, op. cit. pp. 316, 321
foll.
[15] i.e. "would cause you to be suspected of acting from motives of
gain."
[16] Reading {esti de kai ous}, or if as vulg. {eti de kai}, "More
than that, it strikes me one may work on the feelings of young
fellows in such a way as to disarm." See Hartmann, "An. Xen. N."
325.
[17] Cf. Aesch. "P. V." 474; Herod. vi. 35; Dem. 1046. 14; Thuc. vi.
12; Isocr. {peri tou zeugous}, 353 C. {ippotrophein d'
|
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 Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: and now, Nyleptha, it is not mine, not mine, but thine and thine
only. There is no more for me to say; in thy hands is my life.'
And he leaned back against the pedestal of the statue, looking
very pale, and his eyes shining, but proud and handsome as a god.
Slowly, slowly she raised her head, and fixed her wonderful eyes,
all alight with the greatness of her passion, full upon his face,
as though to read his very soul. Then at last she spoke, low
indeed, but clearly as a silver bell.
'Of a truth, weak woman that I am, I do believe thee. Ill will
be the day for thee and for me also if it be my fate to learn
that I have believed a lie. And now hearken to me, oh man, who
Allan Quatermain |
