| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: by a document in the public archives of Rhodes how inaccurate were
the accounts given of the battle of Lade by Zeno and Antisthenes.
Or he appeals to psychological probability, rejecting, for
instance, the scandalous stories told of Philip of Macedon, simply
from the king's general greatness of character, and arguing that a
boy so well educated and so respectably connected as Demochares
(xii. 14) could never have been guilty of that of which evil rumour
accused him.
But the chief object of his literary censure is Timaeus, who had
been unsparing of his strictures on others. The general point
which he makes against him, impugning his accuracy as a historian,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: him instantly.
"Come, now, ye blatherin' Dagos,"--this time to two Italian
shovelers filling the buckets,--" shall I throw one of ye
overboard to wake ye up, or will I take a hand meself? Another
shovel there--that bucket's not half full"--drawing one hand from
her side pocket and pointing with an authoritative gesture,
breaking as suddenly into a good-humored laugh over the
awkwardness of their movements.
Babcock, with all his curiosity aroused, watched her for a moment,
forgetting for the time his own anxieties. He liked a skilled
hand, and he liked push and grit. This woman seemed to possess
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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 Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: tell him that I am his neighbor. Tell him also what you have
just told me -- that Mazarin has placed me in the pavilion
of the orangery in order to make me a visit, and assure him
that I shall take advantage of this honor he proposes to
accord to me to obtain from him some amelioration of our
captivity."
"Which cannot last," interrupted Comminges; "the cardinal
said so; there is no prison here."
"But there are oubliettes!" replied Athos, smiling.
"Oh! that's a different thing; yes, I know there are
traditions of that sort," said Comminges. "It was in the
Twenty Years After |
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 Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: of stone, comprising a hideous picture and some cryptic writing.
And so far as he could tell, it was a rough parallel in all essential
features of the bestial thing now lying before the meeting.
This
data, received with suspense and astonishment by the assembled
members, proved doubly exciting to Inspector Legrasse; and he
began at once to ply his informant with questions. Having noted
and copied an oral ritual among the swamp cult-worshippers his
men had arrested, he besought the professor to remember as best
he might the syllables taken down amongst the diabolist Esquimaux.
There then followed an exhaustive comparison of details, and a
Call of Cthulhu |
