| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: of prime significance was the fetish which this cult had cherished,
and around which they danced when the aurora leaped high over
the ice cliffs. It was, the professor stated, a very crude bas-relief
of stone, comprising a hideous picture and some cryptic writing.
And so far as he could tell, it was a rough parallel in all essential
features of the bestial thing now lying before the meeting.
This
data, received with suspense and astonishment by the assembled
members, proved doubly exciting to Inspector Legrasse; and he
began at once to ply his informant with questions. Having noted
and copied an oral ritual among the swamp cult-worshippers his
Call of Cthulhu |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: turn it into an occasion of licence. They think that everything
is now lawful for them, and do not choose to show themselves free
men and Christians in any other way than by their contempt and
reprehension of ceremonies, of traditions, of human laws; as if
they were Christians merely because they refuse to fast on stated
days, or eat flesh when others fast, or omit the customary
prayers; scoffing at the precepts of men, but utterly passing
over all the rest that belongs to the Christian religion. On the
other hand, they are most pertinaciously resisted by those who
strive after salvation solely by their observance of and
reverence for ceremonies, as if they would be saved merely
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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 War and the Future by H. G. Wells: ground beneath it. Behind it masses of soil and rock, lumps of
turf, splintered wood, bits of houses, occasional streaks of red,
will drop from its track, and it will leave a wake, six or seven
times as wide as a high road, from which all soil, all
cultivation, all semblance to cultivated or cultivatable land
will have disappeared. It will not even be a track of soil. It
will be a track of subsoil laid bare. It will be a flayed strip
of nature. In the course of its fighting the monster may have to
turnabout. It will then halt and spin slowly round, grinding out
an arena of desolation with a diameter equal to its length. If
it has to retreat and advance again these streaks and holes of
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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 Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: had flung themselves into the river; and, as Kaa said, the
Waingunga was hungry water.
Kaa held Mowgli fast till the boy had recovered his breath.
"We may not stay here," he said. "The Little People are roused
indeed. Come!"
Swimming low and diving as often as he could, Mowgli went down
the river, knife in hand.
"Slowly, slowly," said Kaa. "One tooth does not kill a hundred
unless it be a cobra's, and many of the dholes took water
swiftly when they saw the Little People rise."
"The more work for my knife, then. Phai! How the, Little People
The Second Jungle Book |
