| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: slaughter, as thee from thy accursed propensities."
"Why, what would you have me to do? It's born with me--lies in
my very blude and bane. Why, man, the lads of Westburnflat, for
ten lang descents, have been reivers and lifters. They have all
drunk hard, lived high, taking deep revenge for light offence,
and never wanted gear for the winning."
"Right; and thou art as thorough-bred a wolf," said the Dwarf,
"as ever leapt a lamb-fold at night. On what hell's errand art
thou bound now?"
"Can your skill not guess?"
"Thus far I know," said the Dwarf, "that thy purpose is bad, thy
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: told more distinctly. The sick chambers of princes open not to
all who inquire, like a northern hostelry."
"My lord," said Kenneth, "the cross which I wear in common with
yourself, and the importance of what I have to tell, must, for
the present, cause me to pass over a bearing which else I were
unapt to endure. In plain language, then, I bring with me a
Moorish physician, who undertakes to work a cure on King
Richard."
"A Moorish physician!" said De Vaux; "and who will warrant that
he brings not poisons instead of remedies?"
"His own life, my lord--his head, which he offers as a
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: if he would not see his children left motherless.
[91] Thorpe, Northern Mythology, III. 173; Kennedy, Fictions
of the Irish Celts, p. 123.
This mermaid's cap has contributed its quota to the
superstitions of witchcraft. An Irish story tells how Red
James was aroused from sleep one night by noises in the
kitchen. Going down to the door, he saw a lot of old women
drinking punch around the fireplace, and laughing and joking
with his housekeeper. When the punchbowl was empty, they all
put on red caps, and singing
"By yarrow and rue, And my red cap too,
Myths and Myth-Makers |
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 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: have cost more than seven dollars. The allowance
of the slave children was given to their mothers, or
the old women having the care of them. The chil-
dren unable to work in the field had neither shoes,
stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them; their
clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts per year.
When these failed them, they went naked until the
next allowance-day. Children from seven to ten years
old, of both sexes, almost naked, might be seen
at all seasons of the year.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
