| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: Finally Miss Howard consented to return to her chair. A few
minutes later Alfred Inglethorp entered the room.
The company once assembled, Poirot rose from his seat with the
air of a popular lecturer, and bowed politely to his audience.
"Messieurs, mesdames, as you all know, I was called in by
Monsieur John Cavendish to investigate this case. I at once
examined the bedroom of the deceased which, by the advice of the
doctors, had been kept locked, and was consequently exactly as it
had been when the tragedy occurred. I found: first, a fragment
of green material; second, a stain on the carpet near the window,
still damp; thirdly, an empty box of bromide powders.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: of his quest or ask too closely of that cold desert stretching
north of their twilight land. They talked little with the other
folk in those ancient sea taverns; but would gather in groups
in remote comers and sing among themselves the haunting airs of
unknown places, or chant long tales to one another in accents
alien to the rest of dreamland. And so rare and moving were those
airs and tales that one might guess their wonders from the faces
of those who listened, even though the words came to common ears
only as strange cadence and obscure melody.
For a week the strange
seamen lingered in the taverns and traded in the bazaars of Celephais,
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
