| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Economist records Socrates and Critobulus in
a talk about profitable estate management, and a
lengthy recollection by Socrates of Ischomachus'
discussion of the same topic.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
there is doubt about some of these) is:
Work Number of books
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: for magic," replied Polychrome.
"What I'd like," said Dorothy, "is to find some way to cross the
desert to the Land of Oz and its Emerald City. I've crossed it
already, you know, more than once. First a cyclone carried my house
over, and some Silver Shoes brought me back again--in half a second.
Then Ozma took me over on her Magic Carpet, and the Nome King's Magic
Belt took me home that time. You see it was magic that did it every
time 'cept the first, and we can't 'spect a cyclone to happen along
and take us to the Emerald City now."
"No indeed," returned Polly, with a shudder, "I hate cyclones, anyway."
"That's why I wanted to find out if you could do any magic," said the
The Road to Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: a few more steps I was at his side. To my great surprise a
half-finished raft was already lying on the sand, made of a peculiar
kind of wood, and a great number of planks, straight and bent, and of
frames, were covering the ground, enough almost for a little fleet.
"Uncle, what wood is this?" I cried.
"It is fir, pine, or birch, and other northern coniferae, mineralised
by the action of the sea. It is called surturbrand, a variety of
brown coal or lignite, found chiefly in Iceland."
"But surely, then, like other fossil wood, it must be as hard as
stone, and cannot float?"
"Sometimes that may happen; some of these woods become true
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
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 Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: sagaciousness.
"'I don't understand it,' says I, humming a sad and foolish little
song to cover my humiliation.
"Andy walks up and down the room for a long time, biting the left end
of his mustache as he does when in the act of thinking.
"'Jeff,' says he, finally, 'I believe your story of this expurgated
rustic; but I am not convinced. It looks incredulous to me that he
could have inoculated himself against all the preordained systems of
bucolic bunco. Now, you never regarded me as a man of special
religious proclivities, did you, Jeff?' says Andy.
"'Well,' says I, 'No. But,' says I, not to wound his feelings, 'I have
|
