| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: But, for a week or two, I find
It will not be convenient.'
So, week by week, poor Peter came
And turned in heaviness away;
For still the answer was the same,
'I cannot manage it to-day.'
And now the April showers were dry--
The five short weeks were nearly spent--
Yet still he got the old reply,
'It is not quite convenient!'
The Fourth arrived, and punctual Paul
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: persistence.
"Why did you try to run away?" said the Fortune, when his struggles
had ceased and his screams were stilled. "Why do you glare at me
so inhospitably?"
"I don't know what you are," replied the Writer of Fables, deeply
disturbed.
"I am wealth; I am respectability," the Fortune explained; "I am
elegant houses, a yacht, and a clean shirt every day. I am
leisure, I am travel, wine, a shiny hat, and an unshiny coat. I am
enough to eat."
"All right," said the Writer of Fables, in a whisper; "but for
Fantastic Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: those companions, and shaped in solid form, upon the earth we
tread upon, the horror which we can but hint at, which we can
only name under a figure. I would not tell Villiers of this,
nor of that resemblance, which struck me as with a blow upon my
heart, when I saw the portrait, which filled the cup of terror
at the end. What this can mean I dare not guess. I know that
what I saw perish was not Mary, and yet in the last agony Mary's
eyes looked into mine. Whether there can be any one who can
show the last link in this chain of awful mystery, I do not
know, but if there be any one who can do this, you, Raymond, are
the man. And if you know the secret, it rests with you to tell
The Great God Pan |
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 An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: the road, she turned her head suddenly, and caught sight of a human
figure looming through the fog. The dim vision was enough for her. For
one moment she reeled beneath an overpowering weight of dread, for she
could not doubt any longer that the man had followed her the whole way
from her own door; then the desire to escape from the spy gave her
strength. Unable to think clearly, she walked twice as fast as before,
as if it were possible to escape from a man who of course could move
much faster; and for some minutes she fled on, till, reaching a
pastry-cook's shop, she entered and sank rather than sat down upon a
chair by the counter.
A young woman busy with embroidery looked up from her work at the
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