| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: Moved by a gratitude and satisfaction beyond words, Carter made
plans with the ghoulish leaders for his audacious voyage. The
army would fly high, they decided, over hideous Leng with its
nameless monastery and wicked stone villages; stopping only at
the vast grey peaks to confer with the Shantak-frightening night-gaunts
whose burrows honeycombed their summits. They would then, according
to what advice they might receive from those denizens, choose
their final course; approaching unknown Kadath either through
the desert of carven mountains north of Inquanok, or through the
more northerly reaches of repulsive Leng itself. Doglike and soulless
as they are, the ghouls and night-gaunts had no dread of what
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: indispensable."
"But how can I, if I do not get the chance?"
"Make your chance."
"But how?" she had insisted, at the same time privately deeming him a most
unreasonable man.
"How? That is your business, not mine," he said conclusively, rising in token
that the interview was at an end. "I must inform you, my dear young lady, that
there have been at least eighteen other aspiring young ladies here this week,
and that I have not the time to tell each and every one of them how. The
function I perform on this paper is hardly that of instructor in a school of
journalism."
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: those of the month ahead. In the days of Saint-Genest, the canonized
comedian who fulfilled his duties in a pious manner and wore a hair
shirt, we must suppose that an actor's life did not demand this
incessant activity. Sometimes Florine, seized with a bourgeois desire
to get out into the country and gather flowers, pretends to the
manager that she is ill.
But even these mechanical operations are nothing in comparison with
the intrigues to be carried on, the pains of wounded vanity to be
endured,--preferences shown by authors, parts taken away or given to
others, exactions of the male actors, spite of rivals, naggings of the
stage manager, struggles with journalists; all of which require
|
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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: upon, when a smart ringing at the guest's bell, as if he had pulled
it vigorously, overthrew all their speculations, and involved them
in great uncertainty and doubt. At length Mr Willet agreed to go
upstairs himself, escorted by Hugh and Barnaby, as the strongest
and stoutest fellows on the premises, who were to make their
appearance under pretence of clearing away the glasses.
Under this protection, the brave and broad-faced John boldly
entered the room, half a foot in advance, and received an order for
a boot-jack without trembling. But when it was brought, and he
leant his sturdy shoulder to the guest, Mr Willet was observed to
look very hard into his boots as he pulled them off, and, by
Barnaby Rudge |
