| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: by the watery moonlight he noticed an odd high monolith in the
middle of that central court, and saw that something was tied
to it. And when after getting a telescope from the captain's cabin
he saw that that bound thing was a sailor in the silk robes of
Oriab, head downward and without any eyes, he was glad that a
rising breeze soon took the ship ahead to more healthy parts of
the sea.
The next day they spoke with a ship with violet sails
bound for Zar, in the land of forgotten dreams, with bulbs of
strange coloured lilies for cargo. And on the evening of the eleventh
day they came in sight of the isle of Oriab with Ngranek rising
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: expressly directed that they were to be used as gentlemen and not
as prisoners, that the door was to stand open, and that all their
wishes should be gratified. This extraordinary sentence fell upon
the accused like a thunderbolt. There is no need to suppose
perfidy, where a careless interpreter suffices to explain all; but
the six chiefs claim to have understood their coming to Apia as an
act of submission merely formal, that they came in fact under an
implied indemnity, and that the president stood pledged to see them
scatheless. Already, on their way from the court-house, they were
tumultuously surrounded by friends and clansmen, who pressed and
cried upon them to escape; Lieutenant Ulfsparre must order his men
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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 Enemies of Books by William Blades: and Cathedral libraries was at that time simply appalling.
I could mention many instances, one especially, where a window having
been left broken for a long time, the ivy had pushed through and crept
over a row of books, each of which was worth hundreds of pounds.
In rainy weather the water was conducted, as by a pipe, along the tops
of the books and soaked through the whole.
In another and smaller collection, the rain came straight
on to a book-case through a sky-light, saturating continually
the top shelf containing Caxtons and other early English books,
one of which, although rotten, was sold soon after by permission
of the Charity Commissioners for L200.
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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 Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: 'It wasn't like that,' she said. I had to defend myself. 'Judy,' I
said, 'if you weren't in honour bound to Anna, how could I know that
you would be in honour bound to the regiment? There was a train at
three.'
'I beg to assure you that you have overcalculated,' said Mrs.
Harbottle. Her eyes were hard and proud. 'And I am not sure'--a
deep red swept over her face, a man's blush--'in the light of this I
am not sure that I am not in honour bound to Anna.'
We had reached the veranda, and at her signal her coachman drove
quickly up. 'You have kept me here three hours when there was the
whole of Bob's kit to see to,' she said, as she flung herself in;
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