| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: him, enjoying his triumph, and on that account put up with the annoyance
which the conscientious one caused him. "Be still!" said he with modest
voice, "good songs want to re-echo well; after good songs one should be
long silent.
Thus do all those present, the higher men. Thou, however, hast perhaps
understood but little of my song? In thee there is little of the magic
spirit.
"Thou praisest me," replied the conscientious one, "in that thou separatest
me from thyself; very well! But, ye others, what do I see? Ye still sit
there, all of you, with lusting eyes--:
Ye free spirits, whither hath your freedom gone! Ye almost seem to me to
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: the great lady who, etc.,--whom he intended to rejoin at Baden in the
following June. Charles expected to meet scores of people at his
uncle's house, to hunt in his uncle's forests,--to live, in short, the
usual chateau life; he did not know that his uncle was in Saumur, and
had only inquired about him incidentally when asking the way to
Froidfond. Hearing that he was in town, he supposed that he should
find him in a suitable mansion.
In order that he might make a becoming first appearance before his
uncle either at Saumur or at Froidfond, he had put on his most elegant
travelling attire, simple yet exquisite,--"adorable," to use the word
which in those days summed up the special perfections of a man or a
Eugenie Grandet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded
by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to serve
four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year
old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune,
through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck
plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and
fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an
entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the
fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned
with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the
fourth day, especially in winter.
A Modest Proposal |
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 Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: The seamen prayed and chanted till the noise was out of earshot,
and Carter dreamed terrible dreams within dreams in the small
hours.
Two mornings after that there loomed far ahead and to
the east a line of great grey peaks whose tops were lost in the
changeless clouds of that twilight world. And at the sight of
them the sailors sang glad songs, and some knelt down on the deck
to pray, so that Carter knew they were come to the land of Inquanok
and would soon be moored to the basalt quays of the great town
bearing that land's name. Toward noon a dark coastline appeared,
and before three o'clock there stood out against the north the
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
