| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.
"Far away," continued the statue in a low musical voice, "far away
in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is
open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face
is thin and worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the
needle, for she is a seamstress. She is embroidering passion-
flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen's maids-of-
honour to wear at the next Court-ball. In a bed in the corner of
the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is
asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river
water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: a stumble in flight and a stumble in pursuit.
There is another precaution which I feel called upon to note. Some
generals,[12] in attacking a force which they imagine to be inferior
to their own, will advance with a ridiculously insufficient force,[13]
so that it is the merest accident if they do not experience the injury
they were minded to inflict. Conversely, in attacking any enemy whose
superiority is a well-known fact, they will bring the whole of their
force into action.
[12] Or, "one knows of generals," e.g. Iphicrates at Oneion, 369 B.C.
Cf. "Hell." VI. v. 51.
[13] Lit. "an absolutely weak force."
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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: erroneous to call them sounds at all, since so much of their ghastly,
infra-bass timbre spoke to dim seats of consciousness and terror
far subtler than the ear; yet one must do so, since their form
was indisputably though vaguely that of half-articulate words.
They were loud - loud as the rumblings and the thunder above which
they echoed - yet did they come from no visible being. And because
imagination might suggest a conjectural source in the world of
non-visible beings, the huddled crowd at the mountain's base huddled
still closer, and winced as if in expectation of a blow.
'Ygnailh...
ygnaiih... thflthkh'ngha.... Yog-Sothoth ...' rang the hideous
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 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: Quickly he drew on his coat, pulled his cap over his eyes and opened
the door. The wind dashed in and scattered the embers over the
hearth, at the same time blowing Blinkie's fur so furiously that she
crept under the table to escape. Then the door was closed and Claus
was outside, peering anxiously into the darkness.
The wind laughed and scolded and tried to push him over, but he stood
firm. The helpless flakes stumbled against his eyes and dimmed his
sight, but he rubbed them away and looked again. Snow was everywhere,
white and glittering. It covered the earth and filled the air.
The cry was not repeated.
Claus turned to go back into the house, but the wind caught him
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
