| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: up now, for Nott's Point was black, with a lurid light overhead,
and the roar of the grim southeast wind came ominously over the
water.
La Juanita clasped her hands and strained her eyes for her
namesake. The racers had rounded the second stake-boat, and the
course of the triangle headed them directly for the lurid cloud.
You should have seen Grandpere Colomes then. He danced up and
down the pier in a perfect frenzy. The thin pale lips of Madame
Alvarez moved in a silent prayer; La Juanita stood coldly silent.
And now you could see that the advance guard of the southeast
force had struck the little fleet. They dipped and scurried and
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: were closely and unmistakably aldn to the characters constantly
met with in my dreams - characters whose meaning I would sometimes
momentarily fancy I knew, or was just on the brink of recalling.
To complete my black confusion, my librarians assured me that,
in view of previous examinations and records of consultation of
the volumes in question, all of these notations must have been
made by myself in my secondary state. This despite the fact that
I was and still am ignorant of three of the languages involved.
Piecing together the scattered records, ancient and modern,
anthropological and medical, I found a fairly consistent mixture
of myth and hallucination whose scope and wildness left me utterly
Shadow out of Time |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: striking, he grasped the hooked nose with all the powerful grip of his
fingers. Girty uttered a frightful curse; he writhed with pain, but could not
free himself from the vise-like clutch. He drew his tomahawk and with a scream
aimed a vicious blow at Joe. He missed his aim, however, for Silvertip had
intervened and turned the course of the keen hatchet. But the weapon struck
Joe a glancing blow, inflicting a painful, though not dangerous wound.
The renegade's nose was skinned and bleeding profusely. He was frantic with
fury, and tried to get at Joe; but Silvertip remained in front of his captive
until some of the braves led Girty into the forest, where the tall chief had
already disappeared.
The nose-pulling incident added to the gayety of the Shawnees, who evidently
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: acquired the power, old as he is, of entering into a young body, by a
magic spell, the convict, who spoke Spanish, learned as much Latin as
an Andalusian priest need know.
As banker to three hulks, Collin was rich in the cash intrusted to his
known, and indeed enforced, honesty. Among such company a mistake is
paid for by a dagger thrust. To this capital he now added the money
given by the bishop to Don Carlos Herrera. Then, before leaving Spain,
he was able to possess himself of the treasure of an old bigot at
Barcelona, to whom he gave absolution, promising that he would make
restitution of the money constituting her fortune, which his penitent
had stolen by means of murder.
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