| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: Well, I suppose you know how we farmers make a habit
of going over to town every week to hear Mass and the
sermon and then to market to buy our onions and to-
matoes and in general everything they want us to buy at
the ranch. Then you pick up some friends and go to Prim-
itivo Lopez' saloon for a bit of a drink before dinner;
well, you sit there drinking and you've got to be sociable,
so you drink more than you should and the liquor goes
to your head and you laugh and you're damned happy
and if you feel like it, you sing and shout and kick up a
bit of a row. That's quite all right, anyhow, for we're not
The Underdogs |
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 Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: In the meanwhile strong men seized Iktomi and dragged him by
his long hair to the hilltop. There upon a mock-pillared grave
they bound him hand and feet. Grown-ups and children sneered and
hooted at Iktomi's disgrace. For a half-day he lay there, the
laughing-stock of the people. Upon the arrival of the real
avenger, Iktomi was released and chased away beyond the outer
limits of the camp ground.
On the following morning at daybreak, peeped the people out of
half-open door-flaps.
There again in the midst of the large camp ground was a man in
beaded buckskins. In his hand was a strong bow and red-tipped
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