| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: they requested.
"So she went with them to the temple Zendoji, and showed them Riki's
grave; and they took some of the grave-clay away with them, wrapped up in a
furoshiki [1].... They gave Riki's mother some money,-- ten yen."... (4)
"But what did they want with that clay?" I inquired.
"Well," the old man answered, "you know that it would not do to let the
child grow up with that name on his hand. And there is no other means of
removing characters that come in that way upon the body of a child: you
must rub the skin with clay taken from the grave of the body of the former
birth."...
HI-MAWARI
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: painfully situated, Utterson; my position is a very strange--a
very strange one. It is one of those affairs that cannot be
mended by talking."
"Jekyll," said Utterson, "you know me: I am a man to be
trusted. Make a clean breast of this in confidence; and I make no
doubt I can get you out of it."
"My good Utterson," said the doctor, "this is very good of
you, this is downright good of you, and I cannot find words to
thank you in. I believe you fully; I would trust you before any
man alive, ay, before myself, if I could make the choice; but
indeed it isn't what you fancy; it is not as bad as that; and just
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: left standing, as it were, on one leg, outside. His impa-
tience was not greatly taxed. Gazing curiously into
what seemed the hallway to Erebus, he was presently
reassured by a stream of light that bisected the darkness,
far down the passage. Then he heard her call, and
fluttered lampward, like the moth. She beckoned him
through a doorway into the room whence emanated the
light. The room was bare of nearly everything except
books, which had subjugated all its space. Here and
there little spots of territory had been reconquered. An
elderly, bald man, with a superlatively calm, remote eye,
|
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 Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: anything else in the world. Most men do."
"But gosh, Doane, I thought you fellows wanted to take all the good eats and
everything away from us."
"No. Not at all. What I'd like to see is the meetings of the Garment Workers
held at the Ritz, with a dance afterward. Isn't that reasonable?"
"Yuh, might be good idea, all right. Well--Shame I haven't seen more of you,
recent years. Oh, say, hope you haven't held it against me, my bucking you as
mayor, going on the stump for Prout. You see, I'm an organization Republican,
and I kind of felt--"
"There's no reason why you shouldn't fight me. I have no doubt you're good for
the Organization. I remember--in college you were an unusually liberal,
|
