| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: deer that assists Claus the privilege of eating my casa plants, which
give strength, and my grawle plants, which give fleetness of foot, and
my marbon plants, which give long life."
And the Queen of the Nymphs said: "The deer which draw the sledge of
Claus will be permitted to bathe in the Forest pool of Nares, which
will give them sleek coats and wonderful beauty."
The Prince of the Knooks, hearing these promises, shifted uneasily on
his seat, for in his heart he hated to refuse a request of his fellow
immortals, although they were asking an unusual favor at his hands,
and the Knooks are unaccustomed to granting favors of any kind.
Finally he turned to his servants and said:
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: to that mother was that sleeping child's face, endeared by the memory
of a thousand dangers! How impossible was it to sleep, in the
exuberant posession of such blessedness! And yet, these two had
not one acre of ground,--not a roof that they could call their
own,--they had spent their all, to the last dollar. They had
nothing more than the birds of the air, or the flowers of the
field,--yet they could not sleep for joy. "O, ye who take freedom
from man, with what words shall ye answer it to God?"
CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Victory
"Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory."[1]
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: Black Bill, because he always works alone and because he dropped a
handkerchief in the express-car that had his name on it.'
"'All right,' says I. 'I approve of Black Bill's retreat to the
sheep-ranges. I guess they won't find him.'
"'There's one thousand dollars reward for his capture,' says Ogden.
"'I don't need that kind of money,' says I, looking Mr. Sheepman
straight in the eye. 'The twelve dollars a month you pay me is
enough. I need a rest, and I can save up until I get enough to pay my
fare to Texarkana, where my widowed mother lives. If Black Bill,' I
goes on, looking significantly at Ogden, was to have come down this
way--say, a month ago--and bought a little sheep-ranch and--'
Options |
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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: 'Well, then,' returned Somerset, 'fifty.'
The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement.
'You seem to be strangely elastic in your demands,' said he.
'What if I were to proceed on your own principle of division,
and offer twenty-five?'
'Done!' cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a sudden
embarrassment, 'You see,' he added apologetically, 'it is all
found money for me.'
'Really?' said the stranger, looking at him all the while
with growing wonder. 'Without extras, then?'
'I - I suppose so,' stammered the keeper of the lodging-
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