| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: talents.'"
Bixiou. "Don't you think all that is a little too florid? I should
tone down the poetry. 'Imperial idol!' 'bent the knee!' damn it, my
dear fellow, writing vaudevilles has ruined your style; you can't come
down to pedestrial prose. I should say, 'He belonged to the small
number of those who.' Simplify, simplify! the man himself was a
simpleton."
Du Bruel. "That's vaudeville, if you like! You would make your fortune
at the theatre, Bixiou."
Bixiou. "What have you said about Quiberon?" [Reads over du Bruel's
shoulder.] "Oh, that won't do! Here, this is what you must say: 'He
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: out, at unfortunately rude and unwelcome hours, the ledger of
memory. And so when the tempter--be he who he may--says to him,
"Take this, and you will 'feel better.' Take this, and you shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil:" then, if the temptation was,
as the old story says, too much for man while healthy and
unfallen, what must it be for his unhealthy and fallen children?
In vain we say to man:
'Tis life, not death, for which you pant;
'Tis life, whereof your nerves are scant;
More life, and fuller, that you want.
And your tree of knowledge is not the tree of life: it is in
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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 Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: carry man up to the centre of the luminous sphere where his mind can
command the whole universe. You still need a /thema/, Capraja, but the
pure element is enough for me. You need that the current should flow
through the myriad canals of the machine to fall in dazzling cascades,
while I am content with the pure tranquil pool. My eye gazes across a
lake without a ripple. I can embrace the infinite."
"Speak no more, Cataneo," said Capraja, haughtily. "What! Do you fail
to see the fairy, who, in her swift rush through the sparkling
atmosphere, collects and binds with the golden thread of harmony, the
gems of melody she smilingly sheds on us? Have you ever felt the touch
of her wand, as she says to Curiosity, 'Awake!' The divinity rises up
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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 Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: give her to me, I shall ever cherish you as parents... And, in the
meantime, please to accept this poor acknowledgment of your kindest
hospitality."
So saying, he placed before his humble host a purse of gold ryo. But the
old man, after many prostrations, gently pushed back the gift, and said:--
"Kind master, the gold would be of no use to us; and you will probably
have need of it during your long, cold journey. Here we buy nothing; and we
could not spend so much money upon ourselves, even if we wished... As for
the girl, we have already bestowed her as a free gift;-- she belongs to
you: therefore it is not necessary to ask our leave to take her away.
Already she has told us that she hopes to accompany you, and to remain your
Kwaidan |
