| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Even at the last, the Czarover tried to persuade them not to go
near Ugu the Shoemaker, but they were resolved on the venture,
and the next morning bade the friendly monarch a cordial goodbye
and, mounting upon their animals, left the Herkus and the City of
Herku and headed for the mountains that lay to the west.
CHAPTER 13
TRUTH POND
It seems a long time since we have heard anything of the Frogman and
Cayke the Cookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search of the
diamond-studded dishpan which had been mysteriously stolen the same
night that Ozma had disappeared from the Emerald City.
The Lost Princess of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: everywhere pierced with holes made by a beautifully mottled and
semi-diaphanous crab, with hairy legs, big staring eyes, and
milk-white claws;--while in the green sedges beyond there is a
perpetual rustling, as of some strong wind beating among reeds:
a marvellous creeping of "fiddlers," which the inexperienced
visitor might at first mistake for so many peculiar beetles, as
they run about sideways, each with his huge single claw folded
upon his body like a wing-case. Year by year that rustling strip
of green land grows narrower; the sand spreads and sinks,
shuddering and wrinkling like a living brown skin; and the last
standing corpses of the oaks, ever clinging with naked, dead feet
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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 Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: of his command he returned with one man in ten. And in the picture she had of
him, in the physical semblance she had made of him, was reflected his
spiritual nature, reflected by her worshipful artistry in form and feature and
expression--his bravery, his quick temper, his impulsive championship, his
madness of wrath in a righteous cause, his warm generosity and swift
forgiveness, and his chivalry that epitomized codes and ideals primitive as
the days of knighthood. And first, last, and always, dominating all, she saw
in the face of him the hot passion and quickness of deed that had earned for
him the name "Fighting Dick Curtis."
"Let me put it to the test," she heard Mrs. Grantly saying;. "Let Miss Story
try Planchette. There may be a further message."
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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 Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: That all the chiding of more prudent Truth
Seemed the thin voice of jealousy, - O hence
Thou huntress deadlier than Artemis!
Go seek some other quarry! for of thy too perilous bliss.
My lips have drunk enough, - no more, no more, -
Though Love himself should turn his gilded prow
Back to the troubled waters of this shore
Where I am wrecked and stranded, even now
The chariot wheels of passion sweep too near,
Hence! Hence! I pass unto a life more barren, more austere.
More barren - ay, those arms will never lean
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