| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: suppose I must say Sir to ye?'
'Oh, it is not necessary at present,' Stephen replied, though
mentally resolving to avoid the vicinity of that familiar friend
as soon as he had made pretensions to the hand of Elfride.
'Ah, well,' said Worm musingly, 'some would have looked for no
less than a Sir. There's a sight of difference in people.'
'And in pigs likewise,' observed John Smith, looking at the halved
carcass of his own.
Robert Lickpan, the pig-killer, here seemed called upon to enter
the lists of conversation.
'Yes, they've got their particular naters good-now,' he remarked
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bucolics by Virgil: May strive with magic spells to turn astray
My lover's saner senses, whereunto
There lacketh nothing save the power of song.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.
Songs can the very moon draw down from heaven
Circe with singing changed from human form
The comrades of Ulysses, and by song
Is the cold meadow-snake, asunder burst.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.
These triple threads of threefold colour first
I twine about thee, and three times withal
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: T`ung Tien, but not published separately. This fact explains its
omission from the SSU K`U CH`UAN SHU.
8. WU CH`I CHING, in 1 CHUAN. Attributed to the legendary
minister Feng Hou, with exegetical notes by Kung-sun Hung of the
Han dynasty (d. 121 B.C.), and said to have been eulogized by the
celebrated general Ma Lung (d. 300 A.D.). Yet the earliest
mention of it is in the SUNG CHIH. Although a forgery, the work
is well put together.
Considering the high popular estimation in which Chu-ko
Liang has always been held, it is not surprising to find more
than one work on war ascribed to his pen. Such are (1) the SHIH
The Art of War |
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 Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: Bessie Bell wondered how to tell which were Mamas, and which were
Ladies--just Ladies.
Very often after that day she watched those who passed the cabin
where she and Sister Helen Vincula lived, and wondered which were
Mamas--
And which were Ladies.
There was no rule of old or young by which Bessie Bell could tell.
Nor was it as one could tell Sisters from Just-Ladies by a way of
dress. For Sisters, like Sister Helen Vincula, wore a soft white
around the face, and soft long black veils, and a small cross on the
breast of the dress: so that even had any not known the difference
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