| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: A knock was heard at the door, and a small, slight man, with a kind,
smooth-shaven face, entered at the commissioner's call. "You sent
for me, sir?" he asked.
"Yes, Muller, there is a matter here in which I need your advice,
your assistance, perhaps. This is Detective Muller, Miss -" (the
commissioner picked up the card on his desk) "Miss Graumann. If
you will tell us now, more in detail, all that you can tell us about
this case, we may be able to help you."
"Oh, if you would," murmured Miss Graumann, with something more of
hope in her voice. The expression of sympathetic interest on the
face of the newcomer had already won her confidence for him. Her
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: affairs, like men, have their times of sickness, and by one of
these unaccountable variations, for hard upon ten years the
business was disappointing and the profits meagre. 'Inditing
drafts of German railways which will never get made': it is thus I
find Fleeming, not without a touch of bitterness, describe his
occupation. Even the patents hung fire at first. There was no
salary to rely on; children were coming and growing up; the
prospect was often anxious. In the days of his courtship, Fleeming
had written to Miss Austin a dissuasive picture of the trials of
poverty, assuring her these were no figments but truly bitter to
support; he told her this, he wrote, beforehand, so that when the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: under the stars.
Carlier and Kayerts slept badly. They both thought they had heard
shots fired during the night--but they could not agree as to the
direction. In the morning Makola was gone somewhere. He returned about
noon with one of yesterday's strangers, and eluded all Kayerts'
attempts to close with him: had become deaf apparently. Kayerts
wondered. Carlier, who had been fishing off the bank, came back and
remarked while he showed his catch, "The niggers seem to be in a deuce
of a stir; I wonder what's up. I saw about fifteen canoes cross the
river during the two hours I was there fishing." Kayerts, worried,
said, "Isn't this Makola very queer to-day?" Carlier advised, "Keep
Tales of Unrest |
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 Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: man of the ideal kind, ready for the solution as prepared according
to the most careful calculations and theories for human use. The
tension on our part became very great. We knew that there was
scarcely a chance for anything like complete success, and could
not avoid hideous fears at possible grotesque results of partial
animation. Especially were we apprehensive concerning the mind
and impulses of the creature, since in the space following death
some of the more delicate cerebral cells might well have suffered
deterioration. I, myself, still held some curious notions about
the traditional "soul" of man, and felt an awe at the secrets
that might be told by one returning from the dead. I wondered
Herbert West: Reanimator |
