| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "No!" said Ozma, decidedly. "Never will I desert my people and leave
them to so cruel a fate. I will use the Magic Belt to send the rest
of you to Kansas, if you wish, but if my beloved country must be
destroyed and my people enslaved I will remain and share their fate."
"Quite right," asserted the Scarecrow, sighing. "I will remain with you."
"And so will I," declared the Tin Woodman and the Shaggy Man and Jack
Pumpkinhead, in turn. Tiktok, the machine man, also said he intended
to stand by Ozma. "For," said he, "I should be of no use at all
in Kan-sas."
"For my part," announced Dorothy, gravely, "if the Ruler of Oz must not
desert her people, a Princess of Oz has no right to run away, either.
The Emerald City of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: the tragi-comic scene--embellished, extended, historified,
embroidered, wreathed, colored, and adorned--which had just taken
place, and which, on the morrow, was destined to occupy all Alencon.
"That good Monsieur du Bousquier! how well he carried you!" said
Josette to her mistress. "He was really pale at the sight of you; he
loves you still."
That speech served as closure to this solemn and terrible evening.
Throughout the morning of the next day every circumstance of the late
comedy was known in the household of Alencon, and--let us say it to
the shame of that town,--they caused inextinguishable laughter. But on
that day Mademoiselle Cormon (much benefited by the bleeding) would
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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 Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: those associated with him still went on.
My father felt himself morally responsible toward all those
who suffered on his account, and every year new burdens were laid
on his conscience.
MASHA'S DEATH
As I reach the description of the last days of my father's life, I
must once more make it clear that what I write is based only on the
personal impressions I received in my periodical visits to
Yásnaya Polyána.
Unfortunately, I have no rich shorthand material to rely on,
such as Gúsef and Bulgákof had for their memoirs, and
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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 Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: the tone proceeded not from there, but farther off, from out the depths of the
forest.
The sun now set: the atmosphere glowed like fire. It was still in the woods,
so very still; and he fell on his knees, sung his evening hymn, and said: "I
cannot find what I seek; the sun is going down, and night is coming--the dark,
dark night. Yet perhaps I may be able once more to see the round red sun
before he entirely disappears. I will climb up yonder rock."
And he seized hold of the creeping-plants, and the roots of trees--climbed up
the moist stones where the water-snakes were writhing and the toads were
croaking--and he gained the summit before the sun had quite gone down. How
magnificent was the sight from this height! The sea--the great, the glorious
Fairy Tales |
