| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: but to-night the port wine made him more communicative.
"Ah, you brute!" he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull of a
lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long row of
guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width. "Ah, you brute! you
have given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years, and will, I
suppose to my dying day."
"Tell us the yarn, Quatermain," said Good. "You have often promised to
tell me, and you never have."
"You had better not ask me to," he answered, "for it is a longish one."
"All right," I said, "the evening is young, and there is some more
port."
Long Odds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Open Letter on Translating by Dr. Martin Luther: waste?" or "Why this extravagance?" Even "it is a shame about the
ointment" - these are good German, in which one can understand
that Magdalene had wasted the salve she poured out and had done
wrong. That was what Judas meant as he thought he could have used
it better.
Now when the angel greets Mary, he says: "Greetings to you, Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with you." well up to this point, this
has simply been translated from the simple Latin, but tell me is
that good German? Since when does a German speak like that - being
"full of grace"? One would have to think about a keg "full of"
beer or a purse "full of" money. So I translated it: "You
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: swiftness with which it took place. Inside the first second we were over the
edge and falling.
"It was deliberate--deliberate suicide. And attempted murder. It was a trap. I
was the victim. He had me, and he threw himself over with me. Yet he did not
hate me. He loved me . . . as much as it is possible for a horse to love. I am
confounded. I cannot understand it any more than you can understand Dolly's
behavior yesterday."
"But horses go insane, Chris," Lute said. "You know that. It's merely
coincidence that two horses in two days should have spells under you."
"That's the only explanation," he answered, starting off with her. "But why am
I wanted urgently?"
|
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 Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: man all set about with lightning flashes above the double column
of skilful lies in red--the label of Tono-Bungay. "It's
afloat," he said, as I stood puzzling at this. "It's afloat.
I'm afloat!" And suddenly he burst out singing in that throaty
tenor of his--
"I'm afloat, I'm afloat on the fierce flowing tide,
The ocean's my home and my bark is my bride!
"Ripping song that is, George. Not so much a bark as a solution,
but still--it does! Here we are at it! By-the-by! Half a mo'!
I've thought of a thing." He whisked out, leaving me to examine
this nuclear spot at leisure while his voice became dictatorial
|
