| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: STRANGER: And it would be no sentence at all if there were no subject,
for, as we proved, a sentence which has no subject is impossible.
THEAETETUS: Quite true.
STRANGER: When other, then, is asserted of you as the same, and not-being
as being, such a combination of nouns and verbs is really and truly false
discourse.
THEAETETUS: Most true.
STRANGER: And therefore thought, opinion, and imagination are now proved
to exist in our minds both as true and false.
THEAETETUS: How so?
STRANGER: You will know better if you first gain a knowledge of what they
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: to the thought of such loyal and generous friendship?
And instantly, as if by some divine insight, he knew himself in
the remaking--tried, found wanting; but stronger, better,
surer--and he wheeled to Jane Withersteen, eager, joyous,
passionate, wild, exalted. He bent to her; he left tears and
kisses on her hands.
"Jane, I--I can't find words--now," he said. "I'm beyond words.
Only--I understand. And I'll take the blacks."
"Don't be losin' no more time," cut in Lassiter. "I ain't
certain, but I think I seen a speck up the sage-slope. Mebbe I
was mistaken. But, anyway, we must all be movin'. I've shortened
Riders of the Purple Sage |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: "Here you!" called the Frau's voice, "bring me my new jacket from behind
the door." And as she took it into the warm room one of the women said,
"She looks like an owl. Such children are seldom right in their heads."
"Why don't you keep that baby quiet?" said the Man, who had just drunk
enough beer to make him feel very brave and master of his house.
"If you don't keep that baby quiet you'll know why later on."
They burst out laughing as she stumbled back into the bedroom.
"I don't believe Holy Mary could keep him quiet," she murmured. "Did Jesus
cry like this when He was little? If I was not so tired perhaps I could do
it; but the baby just knows that I want to go to sleep. And there is going
to be another one."
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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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: "I have heard," rejoined the youth, "that a dragon lies beneath
the tree on which the prize hangs, and that whoever approaches
him runs the risk of being devoured at a mouthful."
"True," said the king, with a smile that did not look
particularly good-natured. "Very true, young man. But there are
other things as hard, or perhaps a little harder, to be done
before you can even have the privilege of being devoured by the
dragon. For example, you must first tame my two brazen-footed
and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the wonderful
blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each of their
stomachs; and they breathe such hot fire out of their mouths
Tanglewood Tales |
