| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: opposite sources, but they are not in themselves opposite. For must not
pleasure be of all things most absolutely like pleasure,--that is, like
itself?
SOCRATES: Yes, my good friend, just as colour is like colour;--in so far
as colours are colours, there is no difference between them; and yet we all
know that black is not only unlike, but even absolutely opposed to white:
or again, as figure is like figure, for all figures are comprehended under
one class; and yet particular figures may be absolutely opposed to one
another, and there is an infinite diversity of them. And we might find
similar examples in many other things; therefore do not rely upon this
argument, which would go to prove the unity of the most extreme opposites.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: humiliated by a general incredulity. He is a born British subject,
yet he has never succeeded in persuading a single official of his
nationality. He flatters himself he is indifferent honest; yet he
is rarely taken for anything better than a spy, and there is no
absurd and disreputable means of livelihood but has been attributed
to him in some heat of official or popular distrust. . . .
For the life of me I cannot understand it. I too have been knolled
to church, and sat at good men's feasts; but I bear no mark of it.
I am as strange as a Jack Indian to their official spectacles. I
might come from any part of the globe, it seems, except from where
I do. My ancestors have laboured in vain, and the glorious
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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 Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: wizard who resided in a lonely cave in the mountains, and had traded
several important secrets of magic with him. Hav-
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ing in this way secured three new recipes, four magical powders and a
selection of herbs of wonderful power and potency, she hobbled home as fast
as she could, in order to test her new sorceries.
So intent was Mombi on the treasures she had gained that when she turned the
bend in the road and caught a glimpse of the man, she merely nodded and
said:
"Good evening, sir."
But, a moment after, noting that the person did not move or reply, she cast
The Marvelous Land 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 Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Woodman, who were at that time staying at the college of Professor H.
M. Wogglebug, T.E., and taking a course of his Patent Educational Pills.
On hearing of Ozma's loss, they started at once for the
Quadling Country to search for her. As soon as Glinda had left the
Emerald City, Tik-Tok and the Shaggy Man and Jack Pumpkinhead, who had
been present at the conference, began their journey into the Gillikin
Country, and an hour later Ojo and Unc Nunkie joined Dr. Pipt and
together they traveled toward the Munchkin Country. When all these
searchers were gone, Dorothy and the Wizard completed their own
preparations.
The Wizard hitched the Sawhorse to the Red Wagon, which would seat
The Lost Princess of Oz |
