| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And as when a squall comes sudden, the straining sail of a boat
Thunders aloud and bursts, so thundered the voice of the man.
- "The wind and the rain!" he shouted, the mustering word of the clan, (14)
And "up!" and "to arms men of Vaiau!" But silence replied,
Or only the voice of the gusts of the fire, and nothing beside.
Rahero stooped and groped. He handled his womankind,
But the fumes of the fire and the kava had quenched the life of their mind,
And they lay like pillars prone; and his hand encountered the boy,
And there sprang in the gloom of his soul a sudden lightning of joy.
"Him can I save!" he thought, "if I were speedy enough."
And he loosened the cloth from his loins, and swaddled the child in the stuff;
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: rich in decadently elaborate and apparently ritualistic sculptures
of late workmanship - when, shortly before 8:30 P.M., Danforth’s
keen young nostrils gave us the first hint of something unusual.
If we had had a dog with us, I suppose we would have been warned
before. At first we could not precisely say what was wrong with
the formerly crystal-pure air, but after a few seconds our memories
reacted only too definitely. Let me try to state the thing without
flinching. There was an odor - and that odor was vaguely, subtly,
and unmistakably akin to what had nauseated us upon opening the
insane grave of the horror poor Lake had dissected.
Of course
At the Mountains of Madness |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: not suffer for another. No, Barbara," as her sister strove to
quiet her, we must tell the truth."
"Suppose I tell it for Colonel McIntyre," Rochester advanced as the
door opened and Sylvester ushered in Benjamin Clymer. "You have
come in time, Clymer," his voice deepened, the voice of a man
accustomed to present a case and sway a court. "Wait, Sylvester,
sit at that table and take down these charges -"
"Charges?" questioned Kent, watching his partner narrowly; he
tossed a stenographic pad to Sylvester and made a place for him at
his desk. "Go on, Rochester; charges against whom?"
"Charges against the man who, occupying a position of trust, planned
The Red Seal |
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 The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: She could not say. But they had changed immeasurably.
Her soft slippers made no sound on the porch, and as she turned the corner
of the house, where shadows hovered thick, she heard Lee Stanton's voice:
"But, Flo, you loved me before Kilbourne came."
The content, the pathos, of his voice chained Carley to the spot. Some
situations, like fate, were beyond resisting.
"Shore I did," replied Flo, dreamily. This was the voice of a girl who was
being confronted by happy and sad thoughts on her birthday.
"Don't you--love me--still?" he asked, huskily.
"Why, of course, Lee! I don't change," she said.
"But then, why--" There for the moment his utterance or courage failed.
The Call of the Canyon |
