| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: three years. But we caught him. He's a weight-carrier and he can run
some. You're fond of a horse--I can see that."
"Yes," returned Hare, "but I--I'll never ride again." He said it
brightly, smiling the while; still the look in his eyes belied the
cheerful resignation.
"I've not the gift of revelation, yet I seem to see you on a big gray
horse with a shining mane." Naab appeared to be gazing far away.
The cottonwood grove, at the western curve of the oasis, shaded the five
log huts where August's grown sons lived with their wives, and his own
cabin, which was of considerable dimensions. It had a covered porch on
one side, an open one on the other, a shingle roof, and was a roomy and
The Heritage of the Desert |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bucolics by Virgil: Grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to sing-
Next to Apollo he- or if to this
We may not all attain, my tuneful pipe
Here on this sacred pine shall silent hang."
THYRSIS
"Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray
Your budding poet, so that Codrus burst
With envy: if he praise beyond my due,
Then bind my brow with foxglove, lest his tongue
With evil omen blight the coming bard."
CORYDON
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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 Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: lost all my money. "Would you accept the power of reading hearts? Why
not leave things to human justice or divine justice? We may escape one
but we cannot escape the other. Do you think the privilege of a judge
of the court of assizes so much to be envied? You have almost done the
work of an executioner."
"After sharing and stimulating my curiosity, why are you now lecturing
me on morality?"
"You have made me reflect," she answered.
"So, then, peace to villains, war to the sorrowful, and let's deify
gold! However, we will drop the subject," I added, laughing. "Do you
see that young girl who is just entering the salon?"
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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 Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: is terrible.
Every monster wouldst thou caress. A whiff of warm breath, a little soft
tuft on its paw--: and immediately wert thou ready to love and lure it.
LOVE is the danger of the lonesomest one, love to anything, IF IT ONLY
LIVE! Laughable, verily, is my folly and my modesty in love!--
Thus spake Zarathustra, and laughed thereby a second time. Then, however,
he thought of his abandoned friends--and as if he had done them a wrong
with his thoughts, he upbraided himself because of his thoughts. And
forthwith it came to pass that the laugher wept--with anger and longing
wept Zarathustra bitterly.
XLVI. THE VISION AND THE ENIGMA.
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
