In the fairy tale the painting represents the here and now. The book is actually divided into five sections, through which the key character, the muse, leads us.
In practical terms the South Pointing Chariot was a simple direction finder. It could have been made to point in any direction - north, south, east or west.
If you look closely you can see that they are all interconnected, symbolic of a never-ending circle in which it is simply impossible for the dog to catch the rabbit.
Leonardo da Vinci, for example, was an expert on differentials and made thousands of drawings of gears in his lifetime, largely for military purposes.
