| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Never mind, old chap," said the Tin Woodman, soothingly; "it don't hurt to
be a girl, I'm told; and we will all remain your faithful friends just the
same. And, to be honest with you, I've always considered girls nicer than
boys."
"They're just as nice, anyway," added the Scarecrow, patting Tip
affectionately upon the head.
"And they are equally good students," proclaimed the Woggle-Bug. "I should
like to become your tutor, when you are transformed into a girl again."
"But -- see here!" said Jack Pumpkinhead, with a gasp: "if you become a
girl, you can't be my dear father any more!"
"No," answered Tip, laughing in spite of his anxiety. "and I shall not be
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: right to ask than a chance to do something useful, and to get good pay
for doing it?
So Jurgis thought, and so he spoke, in his bold, free way; very much
to his surprise, he found that it had a tendency to get him into trouble.
For most of the men here took a fearfully different view of the thing.
He was quite dismayed when he first began to find it out--that most of
the men hated their work. It seemed strange, it was even terrible, when
you came to find out the universality of the sentiment; but it was
certainly the fact--they hated their work. They hated the bosses and
they hated the owners; they hated the whole place, the whole neighborhood--
even the whole city, with an all-inclusive hatred, bitter and fierce.
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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 Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: and looked back and shivered.
At last her steps grew wearier and wearier. She was very sleepy now, she
could scarcely lift her feet. She stepped out of the river-bed. She only
saw that the rocks about her were wild, as though many little kopjes had
been broken up and strewn upon the ground, lay down at the foot of an aloe,
and fell asleep.
...
But, in the morning, she saw what a glorious place it was. The rocks were
piled on one another, and tossed this way and that. Prickly pears grew
among them, and there were no less than six kippersol trees scattered here
and there among the broken kopjes. In the rocks there were hundreds of
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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 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: for dining with the same family, when the sound of a carriage
drew them to a window, and they saw a gentleman and a lady
in a curricle driving up the street. Elizabeth immediately
recognizing the livery, guessed what it meant, and imparted no
small degree of her surprise to her relations by acquainting them
with the honour which she expected. Her uncle and aunt were
all amazement; and the embarrassment of her manner as she
spoke, joined to the circumstance itself, and many of the
circumstances of the preceding day, opened to them a new idea
on the business. Nothing had ever suggested it before, but they
felt that there was no other way of accounting for such attentions
Pride and Prejudice |
