| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: father, King Aegeus, and my dear mother, Aethra, and all the
fathers and mothers in Athens, and all the sons and daughters
too, will love and honor thee as their benefactress. Come with
us, then; for King Minos will be very angry when he knows what
thou hast done."
Now, some low-minded people, who pretend to tell the story of
Theseus and Ariadne, have the face to say that this royal and
honorable maiden did really flee away, under cover of the
night, with the young stranger whose life she had preserved.
They say, too, that Prince Theseus (who would have died sooner
than wrong the meanest creature in the world) ungratefully
Tanglewood Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: v. 25. One.] Saint Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan
order, in which he effected some reformation, and one of the most
profound divines of his age. "He refused the archbishopric of
York, which was offered him by Clement IV, but afterwards was
prevailed on to accept the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal's
hat. He was born at Bagnoregio or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A.D.
1221, and died in 1274." Dict. Histor. par Chaudon et Delandine.
Ed. Lyon. 1804.
v. 28. The love.] By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura,
a Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic,
as Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of St.
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: Maslennikoff, and the inspector, and the convoy officer, if they
were not governor, inspector, officer, would have considered
twenty times before sending people in such heat in such a
mass--would have stopped twenty times on the way, and, seeing
that a man was growing weak, gasping for breath, would have led
him into the shade, would have given him water and let him rest,
and if an accident had still occurred they would have expressed
pity. But they not only did not do it, but hindered others from
doing it, because they considered not men and their duty towards
them but only the office they themselves filled, and held what
that office demanded of them to be above human relations. "That's
Resurrection |
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: "Do you mean her whom your father calls the 'Worn-out-old-Cow,' and
whose ear he shot off?"
"Yes, it must be she from the description," she answered with a little
shake of laughter, "though I never heard him give her that name."
"Or if you did, you have forgotten it," I said dryly. "Well, I think
not, thank you. Why trouble her, when you will do quite as well? If
there is milk in that gourd, perhaps you will give me a drink of it."
She flew to the bowl like a swallow, and next moment was kneeling at my
side and holding it to my lips with one hand, while with the other she
supported my head.
"I am honoured," she said. "I only came to the hut the moment before
Child of Storm |
