| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: to make of his extra weapon, the invariable reply is, "To kill
thee, tyrant, had I slain my son." Now, when a marvellous
occurrence is said to have happened everywhere, we may feel
sure that it never happened anywhere. Popular fancies
propagate themselves indefinitely, but historical events,
especially the striking and dramatic ones, are rarely
repeated. The facts here collected lead inevitably to the
conclusion that the Tell myth was known, in its general
features, to our Aryan ancestors, before ever they left their
primitive dwelling-place in Central Asia.
It may, indeed, be urged that some one of these wonderful
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: and shaking his head as he spoke, "twoscore years and more have I
shot shaft, and maybe not all times bad, but I shoot no more this day,
for no man can match with yon stranger, whosoe'er he may be."
Then he thrust his shaft into his quiver, rattling, and unstrung
his bow without another word.
Then the Sheriff came down from his dais and drew near, in all his
silks and velvets, to where the tattered stranger stood leaning upon
his stout bow, while the good folk crowded around to see the man
who shot so wondrously well. "Here, good fellow," quoth the Sheriff,
"take thou the prize, and well and fairly hast thou won it, I bow.
What may be thy name, and whence comest thou?"
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: of knights and pages and henchmen and, dismounting from his charger,
bared his head humbly before the friend of children.
"My father did not know your goodness and worth," he said, "and
therefore threatened to hang you from the castle walls. But I have
children of my own, who long for a visit from Santa Claus, and I have
come to beg that you will favor them hereafter as you do other children."
Claus was pleased with this speech, for Castle Braun was the only
place he had never visited, and he gladly promised to bring presents
to the Baron's children the next Christmas Eve.
The Baron went away contented, and Claus kept his promise faithfully.
Thus did this man, through very goodness, conquer the hearts of all;
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
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 Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: and traversable? In that hall the captive mind of an incredible
entity - a half-plastic denizen of the hollow interior of an unknown
trans-Plutonian planet eighteen million years in the future -
had kept a certain thing which it had modelled from clay.
I
shut my eyes and put my hand to my head in a vain, pitiful effort
to drive these insane dream-fragments from my consciousness. Then,
for the first time, I felt acutely the coolness, motion, and dampness
of the surrounding air. Shuddering, I realized that a vast chain
of aeon-dead black gulfs must indeed be yawning somewhere beyond
and below me.
Shadow out of Time |
