| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: himself into a ball, and dropped to the platform, whence he bounded up
again to the limb. He repeated this bouncing act several times, to
the great delight of all the children present. After he had finished,
and bowed, and returned to his seat, Glinda waved her wand and the
tree disappeared; but its fruit still remained to be eaten.
The Good Witch of the North amused the people by transforming ten
stones into ten birds, the ten birds into ten lambs, and the ten lambs
into ten little girls, who gave a pretty dance and were then
transformed into ten stones again, just as they were in the beginning.
Johnny Dooit next came on the platform with his tool-chest, and in a
few minutes built a great flying machine; then put his chest in the
The Road to 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 A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: officer without any fortune in 1789. The Revolution came to his
assistance; he had the sense to drop his title, and became plain
Rusticoli. Among other deeds, M. Rusticoli married a wife during the
war in Italy, a Capponi, a goddaughter of the Countess of Albany
(hence La Palferine's final names). Rusticoli was one of the best
colonels in the army. The Emperor made him a commander of the Legion
of Honor and a count. His spine was slightly curved, and his son was
wont to say of him laughingly that he was /un comte refait
(contrefait)/.
"General Count Rusticoli, for he became a brigadier-general at
Ratisbon and a general of the division on the field of Wagram, died at
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