| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: produced. But here was written:
OH, WERE I RICH!
"Oh, were I rich! Such was my wish, yea such
When hardly three feet high, I longed for much.
Oh, were I rich! an officer were I,
With sword, and uniform, and plume so high.
And the time came, and officer was I!
But yet I grew not rich. Alas, poor me!
Have pity, Thou, who all man's wants dost see.
"I sat one evening sunk in dreams of bliss,
A maid of seven years old gave me a kiss,
Fairy Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: Numerous requests came to our graduates to teach English in
official families, one being employed to teach the grandson of Li
Hung-chang, and another the sons of a relative of the royal
family.
But when his reforms led the Emperor to dispense with useless
offices, as in his twenty-first, twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth
edicts, for the purpose of retrenchment, and to dismiss
recalcitrant officials for disobedience to his commands, a howl
arose which was heard throughout the empire. The six members of
the Board of Rites dismissed in edict twenty-three, with certain
sympathizers to give them face, went to the Empress Dowager at
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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 Anabasis by Xenophon: in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia
to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and
take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing
return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and
March 399 B.C.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
there is doubt about some of these) is:
Anabasis |
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 Master Key by L. Frank Baum: the battlefield for the bodies of the three Turks who had robbed him,
but they were not among the fallen.
"Those fellows were too cowardly to take part in a fair fight,"
declared the boy; but he was much disappointed, nevertheless,
as he felt very helpless without the electric tube or the
traveling machine.
The Tatar chief now called Rob to his tent and presented him with a
beautiful ring set with a glowing pigeon's-blood ruby, in
acknowledgment of his services. This gift made the boy feel very
proud, and he said to the chief:
"You're all right, old man, even if you do look like a pirate. If you
The Master Key |
