| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: the Pacific. He came, sat at my bedside, and drank himself into
condition.
"My boy," said he, "my lily-white and reformed Romeo, medicine will do
you no good. But I will give you quinine, which, being bitter, will
arouse in you hatred and anger-two stimulants that will add ten per
cent. to your chances. You are as strong as a caribou calf, and you
will get well if the fever doesn't get in a knockout blow when you're
off your guard."
For two weeks I lay on my back feeling like a Hindoo widow on a
burning ghat. Old Atasca, an untrained Indian nurse, sat near the
door like a petrified statue of What's-the-Use, attending to her
Options |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: dreamed of this land, and now I will not go away again. I will stay here
and shine." And I began to take off my garments, that I might shine as
others in that land; but when I looked down I saw my body gave no light. I
said to God, "How is it?"
God said, "Is there no dark blood in your heart; is it bitter against
none?"
And I said, "Yes--"; and I thought--"Now is the time when I will tell God,
that which I have been, meaning to tell him all along, how badly my fellow-
men have treated me. How they have misunderstood me. How I have intended
to be magnanimous and generous to them, and they--." And I began to tell
God; but when I looked down all the flowers were withering under my breath,
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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 The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: Who else? Why, Vassily Vassilyitch, a landowner and amateur
illustrator and vignettist, with a great feeling for the old
Russian style, the old ballad and epic. On paper, on china, and
on smoked plates, he produced literally marvels. In the midst of
this free artistic company, spoiled by fortune, though refined
and modest, who recalled the existence of doctors only in times
of illness, and to whom the name of Dymov sounded in no way
different from Sidorov or Tarasov -- in the midst of this company
Dymov seemed strange, not wanted, and small, though he was tall
and broad-shouldered. He looked as though he had on somebody
else's coat, and his beard was like a shopman's. Though if he had
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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 Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: at my uncle's expense. The dream-narratives and cuttings collected
by the professor were, of course, strong corroboration; but the
rationalism of my mind and the extravagance of the whole subject
led me to adopt what I thought the most sensible conclusions.
So, after thoroughly studying the manuscript again and correlating
the theosophical and anthropological notes with the cult narrative
of Legrasse, I made a trip to Providence to see the sculptor and
give him the rebuke I thought proper for so boldly imposing upon
a learned and aged man.
Wilcox still lived alone in the Fleur-de-Lys
Building in Thomas Street, a hideous Victorian imitation of seventeenth
Call of Cthulhu |
