| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: If he don't do any good among strangers, he never will." This was
a long speech for Olaf, and as he finished it he climbed into his
buggy.
Nils shrugged his shoulders. "Same old tricks," he
thought. "Hits from behind you every time. What a whale of a
man!" He turned and went round to the kitchen, where his mother
was scolding little Eric for letting the gasoline get low.
IV
Joe Vavrika's saloon was not in the county seat, where Olaf
and Mrs. Ericson did their trading, but in a cheerfuller place, a
little Bohemian settlement which lay at the other end of the
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: before starting homeward. We had told them that we should prefer to walk
back. The day was beautiful, and one could see a little blue piece of the
river, sparkling."
"'Here is where they are all buried,' said Ethel, and we paused before
brown old headstones with Beverly upon them. 'Died 1750; died 1767,'
continued Ethel, reading the names and inscriptions. 'I think one doesn't
mind the idea of lying in such a place as this.'"
"Some of the young people in the pew now came along the path. 'The
grandchildren,' said Ethel. 'She is probably too old to come to church.
Or she is in Europe.'"
"The young people had brought a basket with flowers from their place, and
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: People itself, such being the law and custom at Athens. He is
compelled to behave as a suppliant[49] in the courts of justice, and
when some juryman comes into court, to grasp his hand. For this
reason, therefore, the allies find themselves more and more in the
position of slaves to the people of Athens.
[40] Grote, "H. G." vi. 61.
[41] See Isocr. "Panath." 245 D.
[42] See Arist. "Clouds," 1196; Demosth. "c. Timoc." 730.
[43] For the "Prytaneia," see Aristot. "Pol." ii. 12, 4. "Ephialtes
and Pericles curtailed the privileges of the Areopagus, Pericles
converted the Courts of Law into salaried bodies, and so each
|
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 Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: appears in the Rig-Veda as dawn-goddess. In the post-Homeric
mythology, the two were again separated, and Charis, becoming
divided in personality, appears as the Charites, or Graces,
who were supposed to be constant attendants of Aphrodite. But
in the Homeric poems the two are still identical, and either
Charis or Aphrodite may be called the wife of the fire-god,
without inconsistency.
Thus to sum up, I believe that Mr. Gladstone is quite right in
maintaining that both the Iliad and Odyssey are, from
beginning to end, with the exception of a few insignificant
interpolations, the work of a single author, whom we have no
Myths and Myth-Makers |
