| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: explained, as e ama theo iontos poreia, and akolasia as e akolouthia tois
pragmasin. Thus the bad names are framed on the same principle as the
good, and other examples might be given, which would favour a theory of
rest rather than of motion. 'Yes; but the greater number of words express
motion.' Are we to count them, Cratylus; and is correctness of names to be
determined by the voice of a majority?
Here is another point: we were saying that the legislator gives names; and
therefore we must suppose that he knows the things which he names: but how
can he have learnt things from names before there were any names? 'I
believe, Socrates, that some power more than human first gave things their
names, and that these were necessarily true names.' Then how came the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: into what was once an icy sea, and is now the Vale of Blackwater.
And this I really believe Madam How has done simply by lifting
Hartford Bridge Flat a few more feet out of the sea, and leaving
the rest to her trusty tool, the water in the sky.
That is my guess: and I think it is a good guess, because I have
asked Madam How a hundred different questions about it in the last
ten years, and she always answered them in the same way, saying,
"Water, water, you stupid man." But I do not want you merely to
depend on what I say. If you want to understand Madam How, you
must ask her questions yourself, and make up your mind yourself
like a man, instead of taking things at hearsay or second-hand,
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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 The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Do you understand me?"
"Yes," he answered, with bowed head, his face mantling
with the flush of shame.
And it was the next day that the great calamity befell.
Chapter 22
The Treasure Vaults of Opar
It was quite dark before La, the high priestess, returned to
the Chamber of the Dead with food and drink for Tarzan.
She bore no light, feeling with her hands along the
crumbling walls until she gained the chamber. Through the
stone grating above, a tropic moon served dimly to illuminate
The Return of Tarzan |
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 Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: themselves, seeking shelter and safety; and besides, our travellers had
no need to be afraid of their coming up to disturb them, for as soon as-
they heard the words, 'Who comes there?' these could hear the women
say, as if frighted, 'Do not go near them. How do you know but they
may have the plague?' And when one of the men said, 'Let us but
speak to them', the women said, 'No, don't by any means. We have
escaped thus far by the goodness of God; do not let us run into danger
now, we beseech you.'
Our travellers found by this that they were a good, sober sort of
people, and flying for their lives, as they were; and, as they were
encouraged by it, so John said to the joiner, his comrade, 'Let us
A Journal of the Plague Year |
