| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: arrival; when a silly lad, in mere lightness of heart, fired a shot
in the air. My native friend, Mrs. Mary Hamilton, ran out of her
house and gave the culprit a good shaking: an episode in the midst
of battle as incongruous as the grazing cow. But his sillier
comrades followed his example; a harmless volley warned the boats
what they might expect; and they drew back and passed outside the
reef for the passage of the Fuisa. Here they came under the fire
of the right wing of the Mataafas on the river-bank. The beach,
raked east and west, appeared to them no place to land on. And
they hung off in the deep water of the lagoon inside the barrier
reef, feebly fusillading the pilot house.
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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 The Art of War by Sun Tzu: Empire." Ts`ao Kung's explanation is, that the Yellow Emperor
was the first to institute the feudal system of vassals princes,
each of whom (to the number of four) originally bore the title of
Emperor. Li Ch`uan tells us that the art of war originated under
Huang Ti, who received it from his Minister Feng Hou.]
11. All armies prefer high ground to low.
["High Ground," says Mei Yao-ch`en, "is not only more
agreement and salubrious, but more convenient from a military
point of view; low ground is not only damp and unhealthy, but
also disadvantageous for fighting."]
and sunny places to dark.
The Art of War |
