| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: the horizon."
And Heyl had answered, in his quiet, reassuring way: "Some
day that feeling will get too strong for you. When that
time comes get on a train marked Denver. From there take
another to Estes Park. That's the Rocky Mountains, where
the horizon lives and has its being. Ask for Heyl's place.
They'll hand you from one to the other. I may be there, but
more likely I shan't. The key's in the mail box, tied to a
string. You'll find a fire laid with fat pine knots. My
books are there. The bedding's in the cedar chest. And the
mountains will make you clean and whole again; and the
Fanny Herself |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: (I do not mean its corrupt scenes and wicked ways, but such as
derived their interest from the great scale on which they were
acted, the strange novelty by which they were characterised); and I
had a keen delight in receiving the new ideas he offered, in
imagining the new pictures he portrayed, and following him in
thought through the new regions he disclosed, never startled or
troubled by one noxious allusion.
The ease of his manner freed me from painful restraint: the
friendly frankness, as correct as cordial, with which he treated me,
drew me to him. I felt at times as if he were my relation rather
than my master: yet he was imperious sometimes still; but I did not
Jane Eyre |
| 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: steal not only Ozma and her Magic Picture, but Glinda's Book of
Records and all her magic, and my black bag containing all my
tricks of wizardry, then that Evil Power may yet cause us considerable
injury. Ozma is a fairy, and so is Glinda, so no power can kill or
destroy them, but you girls are all mortals and so are Button-Bright
and I, so we must watch out for ourselves."
"Nothing can kill me," said Ojo the Munchkin boy.
"That is true," replied the Sorceress, "and I think it may be well to
divide the searchers into several parties, that they may cover all the
land of Oz more quickly. So I will send Ojo and Unc Nunkie and Dr.
Pipt into the Munchkin Country, which they are well acquainted with;
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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: I would be fair and stately, with a bright star to shine
And give a queenly air to this crimson robe of mine."
And proudly she cried, "These fire-flies shall be
My jewels, since the stars can never come to me."
Just then a tiny dew-drop that hung o'er the dell
On the breast of the bud like a soft star fell;
But impatiently she flung it away from her leaf,
And it fell on her mother like a tear of grief,
While she folded to her breast, with wilful pride,
A glittering fire-fly that hung by her side.
"Heed," said the mother rose, "daughter mine,
Flower Fables |
