| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: all together,' like a herd of wild animals, 'when they moved at all.'
Among them, as in every society, a particular person would be more
sensitive and intelligent than the rest. Suddenly, on some occasion of
interest (at the approach of a wild beast, shall we say?), he first, they
following him, utter a cry which resounds through the forest. The cry is
almost or quite involuntary, and may be an imitation of the roar of the
animal. Thus far we have not speech, but only the inarticulate expression
of feeling or emotion in no respect differing from the cries of animals;
for they too call to one another and are answered. But now suppose that
some one at a distance not only hears the sound, but apprehends the
meaning: or we may imagine that the cry is repeated to a member of the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: on she took the cloak from his shoulders, hung it on her own, picked
up the diamonds, and wished herself home again.
When he awoke and found that his lady had tricked him, and left him
alone on the wild rock, he said, 'Alas! what roguery there is in the
world!' and there he sat in great grief and fear, not knowing what to
do. Now this rock belonged to fierce giants who lived upon it; and as
he saw three of them striding about, he thought to himself, 'I can
only save myself by feigning to be asleep'; so he laid himself down as
if he were in a sound sleep. When the giants came up to him, the first
pushed him with his foot, and said, 'What worm is this that lies here
curled up?' 'Tread upon him and kill him,' said the second. 'It's not
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: A savage frame of mind is thus shown, but only in the case of those
animals which fight with their teeth; and the care which they
take to prevent their ears being seized by their antagonists,
accounts for this position. Consequently, through habit
and association, whenever they feel slightly savage, or pretend
in their play to be savage, their ears are drawn back.
That this is the true explanation may be inferred from the relation
which exists in very many animals between their manner of fighting
and the retraction of their ears.
[32] Mr. des Voeux, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 3.
All the Carnivora fight with their canine teeth, and all, as far
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
