| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: mouths to the skin that should be a sort of teat to them. On the
other hand, the Lycosa, far from being exhausted and shrivelling,
keeps perfectly well and plump. She has the same pot-belly when
she finishes rearing her young as when she began. She has not lost
weight: far from it; on the contrary, she has put on flesh: she
has gained the wherewithal to beget a new family next summer, one
as numerous as to-day's.
Once more, with what do the little ones keep up their strength? We
do not like to suggest reserves supplied by the egg as rectifying
the beastie's expenditure of vital force, especially when we
consider that those reserves, themselves so close to nothing, must
 The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: Ass that
.Clumsy jesting is no joke.
The Lion and the Mouse
Once when a Lion was asleep a little Mouse began running up
and down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge
paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. "Pardon, O
King," cried the little Mouse: "forgive me this time, I shall
never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn
some of these days?" The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the
Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let
him go. Some time after the Lion was caught in a trap, and the
 Aesop's Fables |