| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: shadows or appearances and realities; e.g. there is real health of body or
soul, and the appearance of them; real arts and sciences, and the
simulations of them. Now the soul and body have two arts waiting upon
them, first the art of politics, which attends on the soul, having a
legislative part and a judicial part; and another art attending on the
body, which has no generic name, but may also be described as having two
divisions, one of which is medicine and the other gymnastic. Corresponding
with these four arts or sciences there are four shams or simulations of
them, mere experiences, as they may be termed, because they give no reason
of their own existence. The art of dressing up is the sham or simulation
of gymnastic, the art of cookery, of medicine; rhetoric is the simulation
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: pathetic. As his waning voice neared the end of the lines, a large woman,
crowned with an amazing wealth of blond hair, thrust rudely past Edna, trod
heavily on her toes, and shoved her contemptuously to the side. "Bloomin'
hamateur!" she hissed as she went past, and the next instant she was on the
stage, graciously bowing to the audience, while the small, dark man twirled
extravagantly about on his tiptoes.
"Hello, girls!"
This greeting, drawled with an inimitable vocal caress in every syllable,
close in her ear, caused Edna to give a startled little jump. A smooth-faced,
moon-faced young man was smiling at her good-naturedly. His "make-up" was
plainly that of the stock tramp of the stage, though the inevitable whiskers
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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 The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: beset him in a manner that might have made him uneasy. I went even
so far as to engage him in conversation. Didn't he know, hadn't he
come into it as a matter of course? - that question hummed in my
brain. Of course he knew; otherwise he wouldn't return my stare so
queerly. His wife had told him what I wanted and he was amiably
amused at my impotence. He didn't laugh - he wasn't a laugher:
his system was to present to my irritation, so that I should
crudely expose myself, a conversational blank as vast as his big
bare brow. It always happened that I turned away with a settled
conviction from these unpeopled expanses, which seemed to complete
each other geographically and to symbolise together Drayton Deane's
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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 Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: are wisest. They are the magi.
End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
The Gift of the Magi |
