| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: then, do we beat dogs when we are men. Stir a whisker, Lungri,
and I ram the Red Flower down thy gullet!" He beat Shere Khan
over the head with the branch, and the tiger whimpered and whined
in an agony of fear.
"Pah! Singed jungle cat--go now! But remember when next I
come to the Council Rock, as a man should come, it will be with
Shere Khan's hide on my head. For the rest, Akela goes free to
live as he pleases. Ye will not kill him, because that is not my
will. Nor do I think that ye will sit here any longer, lolling
out your tongues as though ye were somebodies, instead of dogs
whom I drive out--thus! Go!" The fire was burning furiously at
The Jungle Book |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: submit to some injury, holds his head erect, squares his shoulders,
and expands his chest. He often clenches his fists, and puts
one or both arms in the proper position for attack or defence,
with the muscles of his limbs rigid. He frowns,--that is,
he contracts and lowers his brows,--and, being determined,
closes his mouth. The actions and attitude of a helpless man are,
in every one of these respects, exactly the reverse. In Plate VI.
we may imagine one of the figures on the left side to have just said,
"What do you mean by insulting me?" and one of the figures
on the right side to answer, "I really could not help it."
The helpless man unconsciously contracts the muscles of his
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: in Sidus and Crommyon by Praxitas when he took these fortresses, and
again in Oenoe, when Peiraeum was taken quite lately by Agesilaus. One
and all of these now fell into the hands of Iphicrates. Lechaeum still
held out, garrisoned as it was by the Lacedaemonians and their allies;
while the Corinthian exiles, unable since[24] the disaster of the mora
any longer to pass freely by land from Sicyon, had the sea passage
still open to them, and using Lechaeum as their base,[25] kept up a
game of mutual annoyance with the party in the capital.
[24] Lit. "owing to."
[25] The illustrative incidents narrated in chapter iv. 17 may belong
to this period.
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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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: before society shall have grown corrupt enough to smile, instead
of shuddering at it. The witnesses of Hester Prynne's disgrace
had not yet passed beyond their simplicity. They were stern
enough to look upon her death, had that been the sentence,
without a murmur at its severity, but had none of the
heartlessness of another social state, which would find only a
theme for jest in an exhibition like the present. Even had there
been a disposition to turn the matter into ridicule, it must have
been repressed and overpowered by the solemn presence of men no
less dignified than the governor, and several of his counsellors,
a judge, a general, and the ministers of the town, all of whom
The Scarlet Letter |
