| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: tightly about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a
sleeveless tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered
with a heavy, curling beard.
He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at
first. But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly
made the Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim
immediately laid both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful
shove; whereupon it quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived
at the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: my life, that, treading in the footsteps of his conversation, I
may be well-pleasing to thee my God and Lord."
XXIX.
Now about the same time there was in that city a public assembly
in honour of the false gods, and the king must needs be present
at the feast, and grace it with lavish sacrifices. But the
temple-keepers, seeing that he was careless and lukewarm with
regard to their worship, feared that he might neglect to be
present in their temple, and that they might lose the royal
largess, and the rest of their revenues. So they arose, and
withdrew to a cavern situate in the depth of the desert, where
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: towers on the walls are roofed with brass. In every tower stands
an archer with a bow in his hand. At sunrise he strikes with an
arrow on a gong, and at sunset he blows through a horn of horn.
'When I sought to enter, the guards stopped me and asked of me who
I was. I made answer that I was a Dervish and on my way to the
city of Mecca, where there was a green veil on which the Koran was
embroidered in silver letters by the hands of the angels. They
were filled with wonder, and entreated me to pass in.
'Inside it is even as a bazaar. Surely thou shouldst have been
with me. Across the narrow streets the gay lanterns of paper
flutter like large butterflies. When the wind blows over the roofs
|
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 Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: and melted down, thrown away, renounced. I ought to say, 'I am
sorry; I will not do it any more,' and try to write something
fresh instead of all this incoherent, neither-fish-nor-flesh-
nor-fowlish stuff."
That was how my father felt toward his novel while he was
writing it. Afterward I often heard him say much harsher things
about it.
"What difficulty is there in writing about how an officer
fell in love with a married woman?" he used to say. "There's no
difficulty in it, and above all no good in it."
I am quite convinced that if my father could have done so,
|
