| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: of wind and dry weather."]
the material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness.
[Tu Mu suggests as material for making fire: "dry vegetable
matter, reeds, brushwood, straw, grease, oil, etc." Here we have
the material cause. Chang Yu says: "vessels for hoarding fire,
stuff for lighting fires."]
3. There is a proper season for making attacks with fire,
and special days for starting a conflagration.
4. The proper season is when the weather is very dry; the
special days are those when the moon is in the constellations of
the Sieve, the Wall, the Wing or the Cross-bar;
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: "Is the story about me?" asked the Water-rat. "If so, I will
listen to it, for I am extremely fond of fiction."
"It is applicable to you," answered the Linnet; and he flew down,
and alighting upon the bank, he told the story of The Devoted
Friend.
"Once upon a time," said the Linnet, "there was an honest little
fellow named Hans."
"Was he very distinguished?" asked the Water-rat.
"No," answered the Linnet, "I don't think he was distinguished at
all, except for his kind heart, and his funny round good-humoured
face. He lived in a tiny cottage all by himself, and every day he
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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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: there are worse things still: the exterior of the tent becomes a
charnel-house. Here, hung up or embedded, are the dry carcasses of
Opatra, Asidae and other Tenebrionidae {39} that favour underrock
shelters; segments of Iuli, {40} bleached by the sun; shells of
Pupae, {41} common among the stones; and, lastly, Snail-shells,
selected from among the smallest.
These relics are obviously, for the most part, table-leavings,
broken victuals. Unversed in the trapper's art, the Clotho courses
her game and lives upon the vagrants who wander from one stone to
another. Whoso ventures under the slab at night is strangled by
the hostess; and the dried-up carcass, instead of being flung to a
The Life of the Spider |
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 Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: possible?" I said.
"As possible," said Gibberne, and glanced at something that went
throbbing by the window, "as a motor-bus. As a matter of fact--"
He paused and smiled at me deeply, and tapped slowly on the edge
of his desk with the green phial. "I think I know the stuff. . . .
Already I've got something coming." The nervous smile upon his
face betrayed the gravity of his revelation. He rarely talked of
his actual experimental work unless things were very near the end.
"And it may be, it may be--I shouldn't be surprised--it may even
do the thing at a greater rate than twice."
"It will be rather a big thing," I hazarded.
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