| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: belief ill a ghost-world, which has given rise to such words
as these, and to such expressions as "a man beside himself or
transported."
[163] Something akin to the savage's belief in the animation
of pictures may be seen in young children. I have often been
asked by my three-year-old boy, whether the dog in a certain
picture would bite him if he were to go near it; and I can
remember that, in my own childhood, when reading a book about
insects, which had the formidable likeness of a spider stamped
on the centre of the cover, I was always uneasy lest my finger
should come in contact with the dreaded thing as I held the
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: colored foam was rising in the coffee-pot, and the bacon needed
turning. Also, he was thinking about the girl with laughing eyes
like summer seas, and he was humming softly.
His mates chuckled to each other and ceased talking. Though it
was past seven, daybreak was still three hours distant. The
aurora borealis had passed out of the sky, and the camp was an
oasis of light in the midst of deep darkness. And in this light
the forms of the three men were sharply defined. Emboldened by
the silence, Sigmund raised his voice and opened the last stanza
of the old song:-
"In a year, in a year, when the grapes are ripe--"
|
