| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: In the afternoon, Hair-Face and his wife fled out from
among the trees to the east, passed us, and were gone.
They fled silently and swiftly, with alarm in their
faces. In the direction from which they had come we
heard the cries and yells of the hunters, and the
screeching of some one of the Folk. The Fire People
had found their way across the swamp.
The Swift One, Lop-Ear, and I followed on the heels of
Hair-Face and his wife. When we came to the edge of
the great swamp, we stopped. We did not know its
paths. It was outside our territory, and it had been
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: "Either you or I must kill him."
He eyed her for a full minute. "Now we are passing from folly to
insanity."
"Not at all," replied Oceaxe. "It is the too - sad truth. And when
you have seen Crimtyphon, you will realise it."
"I'm aware I am on a strange planet," said Maskull slowly, "where all
sorts of unheard of things may happen, and where the very laws of
morality may be different. Still as far as I am concerned, murder is
murder, and I'll have no more to do with a woman who wants to make
use of me, to get rid of her husband."
"You think me wicked?" demanded Oceaxe steadily.
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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 Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: shabby, dirty, bearded, and uncouth of dialect, to consult the
copy at Miskatonic, which was the nearest to him geographically.
Almost eight feet tall, and carrying a cheap new valise from Osborne's
general store, this dark and goatish gargoyle appeared one day
in Arkham in quest of the dreaded volume kept under lock and key
at the college library - the hideous Necronomicon of the mad Arab
Abdul Alhazred in Olaus Wormius' Latin version, as printed in
Spain in the seventeenth century. He had never seen a city before,
but had no thought save to find his way to the university grounds;
where indeed, he passed heedlessly by the great white-fanged watchdog
that barked with unnatural fury and enmity, and tugged frantically
The Dunwich Horror |
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 Agesilaus by Xenophon: take the walls, he refused to make the assault, saying that Hellene
cities ought not to be reduced to slavery, but brought back to a
better mind,[10] and added, "For if we lop off our offending members,
haply we may deprive ourselves of the means to master the barbarians."
[8] B.C. 394. See "Hell." IV. ii. 9-23; Diod. xiv. 83; Grote, "H. G."
ix. 429.
[9] Lit. "all the barbarians."
[10] See "Econ." i. 23.
Again, if it is a sacred duty to hate the Persian, who of old set out
on a campaign to enslave Hellas; the Persian, who to-day makes
alliance with these (no matter to him which the party, provided it
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