| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: or to subsist himself when he came there. We told him we believed
it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do something for him
that should let him see how sensible we were of the service he had
done us, and also how agreeable he was to us: and then I told him
what we had resolved to give him here, which he might lay out as we
would do our own; and that as for his charges, if he would go with
us we would set him safe on shore (life and casualties excepted),
either in Muscovy or England, as he would choose, at our own
charge, except only the carriage of his goods. He received the
proposal like a man transported, and told us he would go with us
over all the whole world; and so we all prepared for our journey.
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: all through the gate and into a little room built
in the wall. Here sat a jolly little man, richly
dressed in green and having around his neck a
heavy gold chain to which a number of great golden
keys were attached. This was the Guardian of the
Gate and at the moment they entered his room he
was playing a tune upon a mouth-organ.
"Listen!" he said, holding up his hand for
silence. "I've just composed a tune called 'The
Speckled Alligator.' It's in patch-time, which is
much superior to rag-time, and I've composed it in
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: "Said Plato unto Aristotle,
'Thank you, I prefer the bottle.'"
"In here, are you?" said their beaming host at the door. "Now, I think
you'd find my department of the premises cosier, so to speak." He
nudged Bertie. "Do you boys guess it's too early in the season for a
silver-fizz?"
We must not wholly forget Oscar in Cambridge. During the afternoon he
had not failed in his punctuality; two more neat witnesses to this lay
on the door-mat beneath the letter-slit of Billy's room, And at the
appointed hour after dinner a third joined them, making five. John
found these cards when he came home to go to bed, and picked them up and
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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: "Bully for you, ma'am," whooped Mac. "I've a notion those boys
are sufferin' for a woman to put the diamond-hitch on them
bandages."
"Bring that suit-case in," she commanded Denver, in the gentlest
voice he had ever heard, after she had made a hasty inspection of
the first wounded man.
From the suit-case she took a little leather medicine-case, the
kind that can be bought already prepared for use. It held among
other things a roll of medicated cotton, some antiseptic tablets,
and a little steel instrument for probing.
"Some warm water, please; and have some boiling on the range,"
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