| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: business, so to speak--that wasn't in the least alarmed.
I fancy all born commanders are built like that.
Did you ever see General Grant?"
Thorpe shook his head.
"What reminded me of him--there is an account in his
Memoirs of how he felt when he first was given a command,
at the beginning of the Civil War. He was looking about
for the enemy, who was known to be in the vicinity,
and the nearer he got to where this enemy probably was,
the more he got timid and unnerved, he says, until it seemed
as if cowardice were getting complete mastery of him.
The Market-Place |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: by one of the cannibals, smelling the cooking meat, comes to
the foot of the tree, and looking up discovers the boy and
girl in the sky-country! They invite him up there; to share in
their feast, and throw him an end of the thong by which to
climb up. When the cannibal is dangling midway between earth
and heaven, they let go the rope, and down he falls with a
terrible crash.[145]
[145] Callaway, op. cit. pp. 142-152; cf. a similar story in
which the lion is fooled by the jackal. Bleek, op. cit. p. 7.
I omit the sequel of the tale.
In this story the enchanted rock opened by a talismanic
Myths and Myth-Makers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: alive, notwithstanding the pretended prophecy of Monsieur
Biquerstaffe: But how far a Frenchman, a papist, and an enemy is
to be believed in his own case against an English Protestant, who
is true to his government, I shall leave to the candid and
impartial reader.
The other objection is the unhappy occasion of this discourse,
and relates to an article in my predictions, which foretold the
death of Mr. Partridge, to happen on March 29, 1708. This he is
pleased to contradict absolutely in the almanack he has published
for the present year, and in that ungentlemanly manner (pardon
the expression) as I have above related. In that work he very
|
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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: were but two. What had passed at my wagons when Masapo had knocked over
Nandie and her child, and Saduko had struck him, and what had I seen at
Saduko's feast when Masapo had kissed the infant? I told them in as few
words as I could, and after some slight cross-examination by Masapo,
made with a view to prove that the upsetting of Nandie was an accident
and that he was drunk at Saduko's feast, to both of which suggestions I
assented, I rose to go. Panda, however, stopped me and bade me describe
the aspect of the child when I was called in to give it medicine.
I did so as accurately as possible, and could see that my account made a
deep impression on the mind of the court. Then Panda asked me if I had
ever seen any similar case, to which I was obliged to reply:
Child of Storm |
