| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: arms around the neck of the wooden horse, which good-
naturedly permitted this familiarity when it recognized
in the boy an old friend.
Button-Bright's shout had been heard inside the palace,
so now Dorothy and Betsy came running out to embrace
their beloved friend, the Scarecrow, and to welcome Trot
and Cap'n Bill to the Land of Oz.
"We've been watching you for a long time, in Ozma's
Magic Picture," said Dorothy, "and Ozma has sent us to
invite you to her own palace in the Em'rald City. I don't
know if you realize how lucky you are to get that
The Scarecrow of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: upon the back o' that; and Mr. Soulis lowped through the garden
hedge, and ran, wi' skelloch upon skelloch, for the clachan.
That same mornin', John Christie saw the Black Man pass the Muckle
Cairn as it was chappin' six; before eicht, he gaed by the change-
house at Knockdow; an' no lang after, Sandy M'Lellan saw him gaun
linkin' doun the braes frae Kilmackerlie. There's little doubt but
it was him that dwalled sae lang in Janet's body; but he was awa'
at last; and sinsyne the deil has never fashed us in Ba'weary.
But it was a sair dispensation for the minister; lang, lang he lay
ravin' in his bed; and frae that hour to this, he was the man ye
ken the day.
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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 Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: ones, with white silky curls that touched the ground. But Jannita sat
crying. If an angel should gather up in his cup all the tears that have
been shed, I think the bitterest would be those of children.
By and by she was so tired, and the sun was so hot, she laid her head
against the milk-bush, and dropped asleep.
She dreamed a beautiful dream. She thought that when she went back to the
farmhouse in the evening, the walls were covered with vines and roses, and
the kraals were not made of red stone, but of lilac trees full of blossom.
And the fat old Boer smiled at her; and the stick he held across the door,
for the goats to jump over, was a lily rod with seven blossoms at the end.
When she went to the house her mistress gave her a whole roaster-cake for
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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 Ion by Plato: SOCRATES: And can you interpret better what Homer says, or what Hesiod
says, about these matters in which they agree?
ION: I can interpret them equally well, Socrates, where they agree.
SOCRATES: But what about matters in which they do not agree?--for example,
about divination, of which both Homer and Hesiod have something to say,--
ION: Very true:
SOCRATES: Would you or a good prophet be a better interpreter of what
these two poets say about divination, not only when they agree, but when
they disagree?
ION: A prophet.
SOCRATES: And if you were a prophet, would you not be able to interpret
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