| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting lamps:
the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet,
are its many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue;
the may-flower, and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy,
are its decorations, its curtains, and its tapestry: the lark,
and the thrush, and the linnet, and the nightingale, are its
unhired minstrels and musicians. Robin Hood is king of the forest
both by dignity of birth and by virtue of his standing army:
to say nothing of the free choice of his people, which he
has indeed, but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power.
He holds his dominion over the forest, and its horned multitude
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: forenoon, Michael paid her a visit, to inform her that Mrs.
Gordon had just arrived: and that, when he mentioned her case,
she had sent him down to request her immediate attendance and
that his mistress would have come herself, only she was so much
fatigued by her journey.
Katy could not leave then, for she had no one to stay with her
mother; but Mrs. Sneed could come in an hour. Michael hastened
home with the intelligence that Mrs. Redburn was better, and Katy
soon followed him.
CHAPTER XX.
MRS. GORDON FEELS FAINT, AND KATY ENTERS A NEW SPHERE.
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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 The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: young Englishman. What were his intentions toward her?
Did he really love her? How could one not love her? And she
loved him, of that Korak had had ample proof. Had she not
loved him she would not have accepted his kisses. His Meriem
loved another! For a long time he let that awful truth sink deep,
and from it he tried to reason out his future plan of action.
In his heart was a great desire to follow the man and slay him;
but ever there rose in his consciousness the thought: She loves him.
Could he slay the creature Meriem loved? Sadly he shook his head.
No, he could not. Then came a partial decision to follow Meriem
and speak with her. He half started, and then glanced down at his
The Son of Tarzan |
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 Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: whirling ball of feathers. It bounded here and there about the
chicken house, and at first Dorothy could not tell what it was, while
the screeching of the chickens nearly deafened her.
But suddenly the bunch of feathers stopped whirling, and then, to her
amazement, the girl saw Billina crouching upon the prostrate form of a
speckled rooster. For an instant they both remained motionless, and
then the yellow hen shook her wings to settle the feathers and walked
toward the door with a strut of proud defiance and a cluck of victory,
while the speckled rooster limped away to the group of other chickens,
trailing his crumpled plumage in the dust as he went.
"Why, Billina!" cried Dorothy, in a shocked voice; "have you
Ozma of Oz |
