| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: toothless gums, smiling and nodding thanks to his young master;
while the little maid at his knee, unrebuked, takes her share also.
"There, Admiral Leigh; both ends meet--gramfers and babies! You
and I shall be like to that one day, young Samson!"
"We shall have slain a good many Philistines first, I hope."
"Amen! so be it; but look to mun! so fine a sailor as ever drank
liquor; and now greedy after a hit of sweet trade! 'tis piteous
like; but I bring mun a hit whenever I come, and he looks for it.
He's one of my own flesh like, is old Martin. He sailed with my
father Captain Will, when they was both two little cracks aboard of
a trawler; and my father went up, and here I am--he didn't, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bucolics by Virgil: On green leaves pillowed: apples ripe have I,
Soft chestnuts, and of curdled milk enow.
And, see, the farm-roof chimneys smoke afar,
And from the hills the shadows lengthening fall!
ECLOGUE II
ALEXIS
The shepherd Corydon with love was fired
For fair Alexis, his own master's joy:
No room for hope had he, yet, none the less,
The thick-leaved shadowy-soaring beech-tree grove
Still would he haunt, and there alone, as thus,
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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 Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: hidden himself.
As Kiki ran up to the tree the Fox ducked its head, so that it was
out of sight in the dark hollow beneath the hole, and then Kiki put
his face into the hole and whispered: "I want that monkey on the
branch at the left to become a Giant man fifty feet tall, dressed in a
uniform and with a sharp sword--Pyrzqxgl!"
Then he ran back to Ruggedo, but the Wizard Fox had heard quite
plainly every word that he had said.
The monkey was instantly transformed into the Giant, and the Giant
was so big that as he stood on the ground his head was higher than the
trees of the forest. The monkeys raised a great chatter but did not
The Magic 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 Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: god's head could have risen more superbly above the brick-tanned
column of the neck than this close-cropped curly one. Gray eyes,
deep and unwavering and masterful, looked out of a face as brown
as Wyoming. He was got up with no thought of effect, but the
tigerish litheness, the picturesque competency of him, spake
louder than costuming.
"Aren't you really hurt worse than you pretend? I'm sure your
ankle ought to be attended to as soon as possible."
"Don't tell me you're a lady doctor, ma'am," he burlesqued his
alarm.
"Can you tell me where the nearest ranch house is?" she asked,
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