| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: torch now revealed ahead of us the large open cavern where various
ways converged, and we were glad to be leaving those morbid palimpsest
sculptures - almost felt even when scarcely seen-behind. Another
thought which the advent of the cave inspired was the possibility
of losing our pursuer at this bewildering focus of large galleries.
There were several of the blind albino penguins in the open space,
and it seemed clear that their fear of the oncoming entity was
extreme to the point of unaccountability. If at that point we
dimmed our torch to the very lowest limit of traveling need, keeping
it strictly in front of us, the frightened squawking motions of
the huge birds in the mist might muffle our footfalls, screen
At the Mountains of Madness |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: shrewd, whimsical expression. He was the old man's grandson.
"Is that a boy or a girl kid, grandpa?" he inquired, when the
gardener returned.
"Hold your tongue!" replied the old man, irascibly. Suddenly he
seized the boy by his two thin little shoulders with knotted old
hands.
"Look at here, Tommy, whatever you know, you keep your mouth
shet, and whatever you don't know, you keep your mouth shet, if
you know what's good for you," he said, in a fierce whisper.
The boy whistled and shrugged his shoulders loose. "You know I
ain't goin' to tell tales, grandpa," he said, in a curiously
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