| 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: untold value in developing imagination in the young. I
believe it.
Among the letters I receive from children are many
containing suggestions of "what to write about in the
next Oz Book." Some of the ideas advanced are mighty
interesting, while others are too extravagant to be
seriously considered -- even in a fairy tale. Yet I
like them all, and I must admit that the main idea in
"The Lost Princess of Oz" was suggested to me by a
sweet little girl of eleven who called to see me and to
talk about the Land of Oz. Said she: "I s'pose if Ozma
 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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: success, sometimes in the suburbs of the city, sometimes on the
lake, and sometimes in the very streets. Time on time the
Spaniards were driven back with loss, time on time they advanced
again from their different camps. Once we captured sixty of them
and more than a thousand of their allies. All these were
sacrificed on the altar of Huitzel, and given over to be devoured
by the Aztecs according to the beastlike custom which in Anahuac
enjoined the eating of the bodies of those who were offered to the
gods, not because the Indians love such meat but for a secret
religions reason.
In vain did I pray Guatemoc to forego this horror.
 Montezuma's Daughter |