| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: of the shot, the unknown woman, who had hitherto stood motionless,
fled away with the rapidity of an arrow, uttering cries of fear like a
wounded animal, and running hither and thither about the meadow with
every sign of the greatest terror.
Monsieur d'Albon, hearing the rumbling of a carriage on the high-road
to Ile-Adam, waved his handkerchief and shouted to its occupants for
assistance. The carriage was immediately driven up to the old
monastery, and the marquis recognized his neighbors, Monsieur and
Madame de Granville, who at once gave up their carriage to the service
of the two gentlemen. Madame de Granville had with her, by chance, a
bottle of salts, which revived the colonel for a moment. When he
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: scholarship.
JIU-ROKU-ZAKURA
(1) Present-day Ehime Prefecture.
THE DREAM OF AKINOSUKE
(1) Present-day Nara Prefecture.
[1] This name "Tokoyo" is indefinite. According to circumstances it may
signify any unknown country,-- or that undiscovered country from whose
bourn no traveler returns,-- or that Fairyland of far-eastern fable, the
Realm of Horai. The term "Kokuo" means the ruler of a country,-- therefore
a king. The original phrase, Tokoyo no Kokuo, might be rendered here as
"the Ruler of Horai," or "the King of Fairyland."
Kwaidan |
