| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: have been more sweet to carry and there was something electric
about the touch of her, which went through and through me. Very
soon it was over, and we were out of the cave into the full glory
of the tropical sun. At first, that her eyes might become
accustomed to its light and her awakened body to its heat, I set
her down where shadow fell from the overhanging rock, in a canvas
deck chair that had been brought by Marama with the other things,
throwing the rug about her to protect her from such wind as there
was. She nestled gratefully into the soft seat and shut her eyes,
for the motion had tired her. I noted, however, that she drew in
the sweet air with long breaths.
When the World Shook |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: itself shows that the names employed in them are the names of
the great phenomena of nature. And when once a few striking
stories had thus arisen,--when once it had been told how Indra
smote the Panis, and how Sigurd rescued Brynhild, and how
Odysseus blinded the Kyklops,--then certain mythic or
dramatic types had been called into existence; and to these
types, preserved in the popular imagination, future stories
would inevitably conform. We need, therefore, have no
hesitation in admitting a common origin for the vanquished
Panis and the outwitted Troll or Devil; we may securely
compare the legends of St. George and Jack the Giant-killer
Myths and Myth-Makers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: not very wise. Neither have I had any practical experience in
conquering magicians. But let us consider this case.
What is Ugu, and what is a magician? Ugu is a renegade shoemaker,
and a magician is an ordinary man who, having learned how to do
magical tricks, considers himself above his fellows. In this case, the
Shoemaker has been naughty enough to steal a lot of magical tools and
things that did not belong to him, and he is more wicked to steal than
to be a magician. Yet with all the arts at his command, Ugu is still
a man, and surely there are ways in which a man may be conquered.
How, do you say, how? Allow me to state that I don't know.
In my judgment, we cannot decide how best to act until we
The Lost Princess of Oz |
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 Purse by Honore de Balzac: morocco seats, the gilt nails and reeded backs, showed as many
scars as an old sergeant of the Imperial Guard.
This room did duty as a museum of certain objects, such as are
never seen but in this kind of amphibious household; nameless
objects with the stamp at once of luxury and penury. Among other
curiosities Hippolyte noticed a splendidly finished telescope,
hanging over the small discolored glass that decorated the
chimney. To harmonize with this strange collection of furniture,
there was, between the chimney and the partition, a wretched
sideboard of painted wood, pretending to be mahogany, of all
woods the most impossible to imitate. But the slippery red
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