| 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: and perspective seemed upset.
The aperture was black with a
darkness almost material. That tenebrousness was indeed a positive
quality; for it obscured such parts of the inner walls as ought
to have been revealed, and actually burst forth like smoke from
its aeon-long imprisonment, visibly darkening the sun as it slunk
away into the shrunken and gibbous sky on flapping membraneous
wings. The odour rising from the newly opened depths was intolerable,
and at length the quick-eared Hawkins thought he heard a nasty,
slopping sound down there. Everyone listened, and everyone was
listening still when It lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly
Call of Cthulhu |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: and I laughed. I could not stop my unhappy laughing. They called
me from the door by the name of Tyr himself. A young man with
whom I had watched my first flocks, and chipped my first arrow,
and fought my first Beast, called me by that name in the Old
Tongue. He asked my leave to take my Maiden. His eyes were
lowered, his hands were on his forehead. He was full of the fear of
a God, but of me, a man, he had no fear when he asked. I did not
kill him. I said, "Call the maiden." She came also without fear -
this very one that had waited for me, that had talked with me, by
our Dew-ponds. Being a Priestess, she lifted her eyes to me. As I
look on a hill or a cloud, so she looked at me. She spoke in the Old
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: hunter stopped before a deserted log cabin which stood on the bank of a stream
fifty miles or more inland from the Ohio River. It was rapidly growing dark; a
fine, drizzling rain had set in, and a rising wind gave promise of a stormy
night.
Although the hunter seemed familiar with his surroundings, he moved
cautiously, and hesitated as if debating whether he should seek the protection
of this lonely hut, or remain all night under dripping trees. Feeling of his
hunting frock, he found that it was damp and slippery. This fact evidently
decided him in favor of the cabin, for he stooped his tall figure and went in.
It was pitch dark inside; but having been there before, the absence of a light
did not trouble him. He readily found the ladder leading to the loft, ascended
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: Would not bemoan this mournful Tragedy?
Locrine, the map of magnanimity,
Lies slaughtered in this foul accursed cave,
Estrild, the perfect pattern of renown,
Nature's sole wonder, in whose beauteous breasts
All heavenly grace and virtue was inshrined:
Both massacred are dead within this cave,
And with them dies fair Pallas and sweet love.
Here lies a sword, and Sabren hath a heart;
This blessed sword shall cut my cursed heart,
And bring my soul unto my parents' ghosts,
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