| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: had in their hands. He made Mr. Jennings give up a bottle of
anchovies that he'd stuffed in his pocket, and the bishop had to
come over with a cheese.
And when it was all over, he held the door open and they went
back to the house. They fairly ducked past him in the doorway,
although he hadn't said a dozen words. It was a rout. The
backbone of the rebellion was broken. I knew that never again
would the military discipline of Hope Springs be threatened.
Thoburn might as well pack and go. It was Mr. Pierce's day.
Mr. von Inwald was almost the last. He stood by, sneering, with
an open bottle of olives in his hand, watching the others go out.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: farmer made for himself, out of the mud in his garden, a clay-model of the
Mugen-Kane; and he beat the clay-bell, and broke it,-- crying out the while
for great wealth.
"Then, out of the ground before him, rose up the figure of a white-robed
woman, with long loose-flowing hair, holding a covered jar. And the woman
said: "I have come to answer your fervent prayer as it deserves to be
answered. Take, therefore, this jar." So saying, she put the jar into his
hands, and disappeared.
Into his house the happy man rushed, to tell his wife the good news. He
set down in front of her the covered jar,-- which was heavy,-- and they
opened it together. And they found that it was filled, up to the very brim,
Kwaidan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: the Greek astronomers; the other, of even more practical benefit, was
the introduction of the present decimal arithmetic, instead of the
troublesome sexagesimal arithmetic of the Greeks. These ten digits,
however, seem, says Professor Whewell, by the confession of the Arabians
themselves, to be of Indian origin, and thus form no exception to the
sterility of the Arabian genius in scientific inventions. Nevertheless
we are bound, in all fairness, to set against his condemnation of the
Arabs Professor De Morgan's opinion of the Moslem, in his article on
Euclid: "Some writers speak slightingly of this progress, the results
of which they are too apt to compare with those of our own time. They
ought rather to place the Saracens by the side of their own Gothic
|
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 Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: And Venus in the forests then would link
The lovers' bodies; for the woman yielded
Either from mutual flame, or from the man's
Impetuous fury and insatiate lust,
Or from a bribe- as acorn-nuts, choice pears,
Or the wild berries of the arbute-tree.
And trusting wondrous strength of hands and legs,
They'd chase the forest-wanderers, the beasts;
And many they'd conquer, but some few they fled,
A-skulk into their hiding-places...
. . . . . .
Of The Nature of Things |
