| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: seldom gave anybody cause for complaint. His relation to the life of our
street was scarcely more than that of a dog or a chicken; and when he
finally disappeared, I did not miss him. Months and months passed by before
anything happened to remind me of Riki.
"What has become of Riki?" I then asked the old woodcutter who supplies
our neighborhood with fuel. I remembered that Riki had often helped him to
carry his bundles.
"Riki-Baka?" answered the old man. "Ah, Riki is dead -- poor fellow!...
Yes, he died nearly a year ago, very suddenly; the doctors said that he had
some disease of the brain. And there is a strange story now about that poor
Riki
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: forgotten.
"Well, Mr. Peter!" cried Tabitha, on the garret stairs. "Have you
torn the house down enough to heat the teakettle?"
"Not yet, old Tabby," answered Peter; "but that's soon done--as
you shall see."
With the word in his mouth, he uplifted the axe, and laid about
him so vigorously that the dust flew, the boards crashed, and, in
a twinkling, the old woman had an apron full of broken rubbish.
"We shall get our winter's wood cheap," quoth Tabitha.
The good work being thus commenced, Peter beat down all before
him, smiting and hewing at the joists and timbers, unclinching
Twice Told Tales |
