| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: resume his proper shape. No result followed this attempt, so Dorothy
went into another room and repeated it, and so through all the rooms
of the palace. Yet the Tin Woodman did not appear to them, nor could
they imagine which among the thousands of ornaments was their
transformed friend.
Sadly they returned to the throne room, where the King, seeing that
they had met with failure, jeered at Dorothy, saying:
"You do not know how to use my belt, so it is of no use to you. Give
it back to me and I will let you go free--you and all the people who
came with you. As for the royal family of Ev, they are my slaves, and
shall remain here."
Ozma of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: loyalty; though they had no esteem for his palette, they loved the man
who held it.
"What a misfortune it is that Fougeres has the vice of painting!" said
his comrades.
But for all this, Grassou gave excellent counsel, like those
feuilletonists incapable of writing a book who know very well where a
book is wanting. There was this difference, however, between literary
critics and Fougeres; he was eminently sensitive to beauties; he felt
them, he acknowledged them, and his advice was instinct with a spirit
of justice that made the justness of his remarks acceptable. After the
revolution of July, Fougeres sent about ten pictures a year to the
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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 Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to the mucker whenever it was possible to do so; but the
result of this was to hasten Billy's nautical education, and
keep him in excellent physical trim.
All traces of alcohol had long since vanished from the
young man's system. His face showed the effects of his
enforced abstemiousness in a marked degree. The red, puffy,
blotchy complexion had given way to a clear, tanned skin;
bright eyes supplanted the bleary, bloodshot things that had
given the bestial expression to his face in the past. His
features, always regular and strong, had taken on a peculiarly
refined dignity from the salt air, the clean life, and
The Mucker |
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 Paz by Honore de Balzac: as of your perseverance I shall leave Paris."
"It is Thaddeus of Warsaw, and not that Circus Thaddeus who speaks
now," said Clementine. "Go, and come back cured."
"Cured! never," said Paz, his eyes lowered and fixed on Clementine's
pretty feet. "You do not know, countess, what charm, what unexpected
piquancy of mind she has." Then, feeling his courage fail him, he
added hastily, "There is not a woman in society, with her mincing
airs, that is worth the honest nature of that young animal."
"At any rate, I wish nothing of the animal about me," said the
countess, with a glance like that of an angry viper.
After that evening Comte Paz showed Clementine the exact state of her
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