| 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: where a series of hops soon brought him back to Trot's
shoulder again. The Orks were quite out of sight by this
time, so the Scarecrow made a speech to the people and
presented Gloria to them, whom they knew well already
and were fond of. But not all of them knew of her frozen
heart, and when the Scarecrow related the story of the
Wicked Witch's misdeeds, which had been encouraged and
paid for by Krewl and Googly-Goo, the people were very
indignant.
Meantime the fifty Orks had scattered all over Jinx
land, which is not a very big country, and their sharp
The Scarecrow of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: it, and then I heard excited voices. Everybody seemed to be up
but Aunt Selina, and they were all talking at once.
Anne Brown was in the corner of the group, waving her hands,
while Dallas was trying to hook the back of her gown with one
hand and hold a blanket around himself with the other. No one was
dressed except Anne, and she had been up for an hour, looking in
shoes and under the corners of rugs and around the bed clothing
for her jeweled collar. When she saw me she began all over again.
"I had it on when I went into my room," she declared, "and I put
it on the dressing table when I undressed. I meant to put it
under my pillow, but I forgot. And I didn't sleep well; I was
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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 Juana by Honore de Balzac: all liked him; but, in spite of the confidence he now inspired in
them, he never asked to see Juana, or to have the door of her
mysterious hiding-place opened to him. The young girl, hungry to see
her lover, implored him to do so; but he always refused her from an
instinct of prudence. Besides, he had used his best powers and
fascinations to lull the suspicions of the old couple, and had now
accustomed them to see him, a soldier, stay in bed till midday on
pretence that he was ill. Thus the lovers lived only in the night-
time, when the rest of the household were asleep. If Montefiore had
not been one of those libertines whom the habit of gallantry enables
to retain their self-possession under all circumstances, he might have
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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 Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: as that, you will hardly care, I think, whether she be roaring down
in full spate, like coffee covered with scald cream, while the fish
are swirling at your fly as an oar-blade swirls in a boat-race, or
flashing up the cataract like silver arrows, out of the fiercest of
the foam; or whether the fall be dwindled to a single thread, and
the shingle below be as white and dusty as a turnpike road, while
the salmon huddle together in one dark cloud in the clear amber
pool, sleeping away their time till the rain creeps back again off
the sea. You will not care much, if you have eyes and brains; for
you will lay down your rod contentedly, and drink in at your eyes
the beauty of that glorious place; and listen to the water-ouzel
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