| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: felt in coming so unexpectedly upon a friend and
rescuer when hope had seemed so far away.
If the Belgian had entertained any doubts as to the
woman's knowledge of his part in the perfidious attack
upon her home and herself, it was quickly dissipated by
the genuine friendliness of her greeting. She told him
quickly of all that had befallen her since he had
departed from her home, and as she spoke of the death
of her husband her eyes were veiled by the tears which
she could not repress.
"I am shocked," said Werper, in well-simulated
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: fellow-prisoners. The image on the monolith, of course, was carefully
removed and carried back by Legrasse.
Examined at headquarters
after a trip of intense strain and weariness, the prisoners all
proved to be men of a very low, mixed-blooded, and mentally aberrant
type. Most were seamen, and a sprinkling of Negroes and mulattoes,
largely West Indians or Brava Portuguese from the Cape Verde Islands,
gave a colouring of voodooism to the heterogeneous cult. But before
many questions were asked, it became manifest that something far
deeper and older than Negro fetishism was involved. Degraded and
ignorant as they were, the creatures held with surprising consistency
Call of Cthulhu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: as he partook of the refreshment, with feelings how similar to,
yet how different from, those with which she had seen him draw
his first sustenance from her bosom!
When the tumult of joy was appeased, Elspat became anxious to
know her son's adventures since they parted, and could not help
greatly censuring his rashness for traversing the hills in the
Highland dress in the broad sunshine, when the penalty was so
heavy, and so many red soldiers were abroad in the country.
"Fear not for me, mother," said Hamish, in a tone designed to
relieve her anxiety, and yet somewhat embarrassed; "I may wear
the BREACAN [That which is variegated--that is, the tartan.] at
|
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 Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: in Cossack affairs, and carrying into execution, not for the first
time, a wisely matured enterprise.
"Examine yourselves, look well to yourselves; examine all your
equipments thoroughly," he said; "put your teams and your tar-boxes[3]
in order; test your weapons. Take not many clothes with you: a shirt
and a couple of pairs of trousers to each Cossack, and a pot of
oatmeal and millet apiece--let no one take any more. There will be
plenty of provisions, all that is needed, in the waggons. Let every
Cossack have two horses. And two hundred yoke of oxen must be taken,
for we shall require them at the fords and marshy places. Keep order,
gentles, above all things. I know that there are some among you whom
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
