| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: was where I worked my awe-struck way, unwilling to touch beam or
wall. The atmosphere was stifling as a night in the rains by
reason of the steam and the crowd. I climbed to the beginning of
things and, perched upon a narrow beam, overlooked very nearly
all the pigs ever bred in Wisconsin. They had just been shot out
of the mouth of the viaduct and huddled together in a large pen.
Thence they were flicked persuasively, a few at a time, into a
smaller chamber, and there a man fixed tackle on their hinder
legs, so that they rose in the air, suspended from the railway of
death.
Oh! it was then they shrieked and called on their mothers, and
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: pictures and living on the boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle. Fougeres, who
relied on his palette to go to the baker's, bravely ate bread and
nuts, or bread and milk, or bread and cherries, or bread and cheese,
according to the seasons. Elie Magus, to whom Pierre offered his first
picture, eyed it for some time and then gave him fifteen francs.
"With fifteen francs a year coming in, and a thousand francs for
expenses," said Fougeres, smiling, "a man will go fast and far."
Elie Magus made a gesture; he bit his thumbs, thinking that he might
have had that picture for five francs.
For several days Pierre walked down from the rue des Martyrs and
stationed himself at the corner of the boulevard opposite to Elie's
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: his hosts of foot and horse and stores of wealth, had set his heart on
a war with Persia. Joyfully he learned that he himself was summoned by
King Tachos, and that the command-in-chief of all the forces was
promised to him. By this one venture he would achieve three objects,
which were to requite the Egyptian for the benefits conferred on
Lacedaemon; to liberate the Hellenes in Asia once again; and to
inflict on the Persian a just recompense, not only for the old
offences, but for this which was of to-day; seeing that, while
boasting alliance with Sparta, he had dictatorially enjoined the
emancipation of Messene.[37] But when the man who had summoned him
refused to confer the proffered generalship, Agesilaus, like one on
|
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 Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: King, who had remained seated in his throne, watching
the punishment of his people with a bewildered look in
his purple eyes.
"Shall I puncture the King?" the boy asked his
companions.
King Bal must have overheard the question, for he
fumbled with the cord that fastened him to the throne
and managed to release it. Then he floated upward until
he reached the leafy dome, and parting the branches he
disappeared from sight. But the string that was tied to
his body was still connected with the arm of the
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
