| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: too rashly; rather I would have you investigate, point by point, what
the god has said. I ask you, is there any one[28] else, you know of,
less enslaved than myself to the appetites[29] of the body? Can you
name another man of more independent spirit than myself, seeing that I
accept from no one either gifts or pay? Whom have you any right to
believe to be more just[30] than one so suited with what he has, that
the things of others excite no craving in him?[31] Whom would one
reasonably deem wise, rather than such a one as myself, who, from the
moment I began to understand things spoken,[32] have never omitted to
inquire into and learn every good thing in my power? And that I
laboured not in vain, what more conclusive evidence than the fact that
The Apology |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: length as if to rest.
Mescal, recalled to life, staggered backward. Between her and the
outstretched paw was the distance of one short stride.
Jack, bounding up, made sure the bear was dead before he looked at
Mescal. She was faint. Wolf whined about her. Piute came running from
the cedars. Her eyes were still fixed in a look of fear.
"I couldn't run--I couldn't move," she said, shuddering. A blush drove
the white from her cheeks as she raised her face to Jack." He'd soon
have reached me."
Piute added his encomium: "Damn--heap big bear-- Jack kill um--big
chief!"
The Heritage of the Desert |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: generally appreciated; our subscribers belong to every nation in
Europe, we have but twelve hundred in France. Our book will cost about
three hundred francs, and the Comte de Nouvion will derive from it
from six to seven thousand francs a year, for his comfort was the real
motive of the undertaking. For my part, I aimed only at the
possibility of affording my children some pleasures. The hundred
thousand francs I have made, quite in spite of myself, will pay for
their fencing lessons, horses, dress, and theatres, pay the masters
who teach them accomplishments, procure them canvases to spoil, the
books they may wish to buy, in short, all the little fancies which a
father finds so much pleasure in gratifying. If I had been compelled
|
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 Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: what had happened in dream or reality since the night of March
22. Pronounced well by his physician, he returned to his quarters
in three days; but to Professor Angell he was of no further assistance.
All traces of strange dreaming had vanished with his recovery,
and my uncle kept no record of his night-thoughts after a week
of pointless and irrelevant accounts of thoroughly usual visions.
Here the first part of the manuscript ended, but references
to certain of the scattered notes gave me much material for thought
- so much, in fact, that only the ingrained skepticism then forming
my philosophy can account for my continued distrust of the artist.
The notes in question were those descriptive of the dreams of
Call of Cthulhu |
