| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: along the hot antlers, and the touch soothed the fretted beast,
who bowed his head, and Purun Bhagat very softly rubbed and
ravelled off the velvet. Afterward, the barasingh brought his
doe and fawn--gentle things that mumbled on the holy man's
blanket--or would come alone at night, his eyes green in the
fire-flicker, to take his share of fresh walnuts. At last, the
musk-deer, the shyest and almost the smallest of the deerlets,
came, too, her big rabbity ears erect; even brindled, silent
mushick-nabha must needs find out what the light in the shrine
meant, and drop out her moose-like nose into Purun Bhagat's lap,
coming and going with the shadows of the fire. Purun Bhagat
The Second Jungle Book |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: my James; you always looked down upon him in your heart,
you know it!" She turned back to Jim. "And now when he is
rich," she began, and then swooped again on me. "For you are
rich, I dare you to deny it; I defy you to look me in the face and
try to deny that you are rich--rich with our money--my
husband's money----"
Heaven knows to what a height she might have risen, being, by
this time, bodily whirled away in her own hurricane of words.
Heart-sickness, a black depression, a treacherous sympathy
with my assailant, pity unutterable for poor Jim, already filled,
divided, and abashed my spirit. Flight seemed the only
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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 Blix by Frank Norris: the back of her head toward him, the ends of the veil held under
her fingers. "Not too tight. Condy, don't pull it so tight.
There, there, that will do. Have you everything that belongs to
you? I know you'll go away and leave something here. There's your
cigarette case, and your book, and of course the banjo."
As if warned by a mysterious instinct, the fat Chinaman made his
appearance in the outer room. Condy put his fingers into his vest
pocket, then dropped back upon his stool with a suppressed
exclamation of horror.
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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 The Art of War by Sun Tzu: [That is, as Mei Yao-ch`en says, "Is it possible to make the
front and rear of an army each swiftly responsive to attack on
the other, just as though they were part of a single living
body?"]
I should answer, Yes. For the men of Wu and the men of Yueh are
enemies;
[Cf. VI. ss. 21.]
yet if they are crossing a river in the same boat and are caught
by a storm, they will come to each other's assistance just as the
left hand helps the right.
[The meaning is: If two enemies will help each other in a
The Art of War |
