| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: outside of the jar.
"I will not apologise for the dinner," said the Stork:
"One bad turn deserves another."
The Fox and the Mask
A Fox had by some means got into the store-room of a theatre.
Suddenly he observed a face glaring down on him and began to be
very frightened; but looking more closely he found it was only a
Mask such as actors use to put over their face. "Ah," said the
Fox, "you look very fine; it is a pity you have not got any
brains."
Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
Aesop's Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: son who seemed most unaccountably up to nothing.
"You must make good friends," she said. "Isn't young Lord Breeze at
your college? His mother the other day told me he was. And Sir
Freddy Quenton's boy. And there are both the young Baptons at
Cambridge."
He knew one of the Baptons.
"Poff," she said suddenly, "has it ever occurred to you what you are
going to do afterwards. Do you know you are going to be quite well
off?"
Benham looked up with a faint embarrassment. "My father said
something. He was rather vague. It wasn't his affair--that kind of
|
| 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: Mason Bees entitled Fragments on Insect Psychology.--Translator's
Note.
{21} A species of Wasp.--Translator's Note.
{22} In Chap. VIII. of the present volume.--Translator's Note.
{23} Jules Michelet (1798-1874), author of L'Oiseau and L'Insecte,
in addition to the historical works for which he is chiefly known.
As a lad, he helped his father, a printer by trade, in setting
type.--Translator's Note.
{24} Chapter III. of the present volume.--Translator's Note.
{25} A species of Dung-beetle. Cf. The Life and Love of the
Insect, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de
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 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: death, assuming the most horrid shapes. Now it was
starvation, causing us to eat our own flesh;--now we
were contending with the waves, and were drowned;
--now we were overtaken, and torn to pieces by the
fangs of the terrible bloodhound. We were stung
by scorpions, chased by wild beasts, bitten by snakes,
and finally, after having nearly reached the desired
spot,--after swimming rivers, encountering wild
beasts, sleeping in the woods, suffering hunger and
nakedness,--we were overtaken by our pursuers, and,
in our resistance, we were shot dead upon the spot!
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
