Page 242 - The Grotesque Children's Book

It’s a vegetable. Don’t pay any more for it than you would an ordinary beans or peas.
Please, please, we’re begging you, don’t believe the shamans in your town; they’re just
after your money. See knucklebones.

banners, curved cloth. Trad., Heraldry, festivity; superiority; financial comfort. Megl.,
Banners in art are often used to hide specific messages or inside jokes; creating faux-
escutcheons with insidious family mottos, or sometimes maps to addresses of secret
societies. At the new Uffizi, banners will one day be recognized as markers, pointing out
significant symbols to Those in the Know; quite humiliating to those who are not in
possession of the code, which is precisely the point.

bat wings. Trad., Uncleanliness; hidden animal urges. Megl., Signifying a creature who can
see in the dark; that is, to seek out objects and meanings which other mammals can’t see.
Rather heavy-handed when we point it out, isn’t it? Unfortunately for the poor doomed
other mammals who think they can see everything there is to see, they can never hear the
utterings of the bat on the pretext they're produced on too high a level to be understood.
They're really very clear. Your loss, mammals.

birds. Trad., Flight; ascension; connection between earth and sky; angels; putti. Megl., Birds
and angels in our ceilings represent fresco painters. When you see a putto, it’s usually a
self-portrait. It has less to do with our natural flights of fancy, or our wings of desire,
than our feeling martyred because of the back-breaking work we do, and a blatant bid to
be admitted through the Pearly Gates where we can rest at last. Either that, or pay us
more. Hint: look for us in landscapes, often near omega-shapes...we're looking to fly
free.

black (nigredo). Trad., Dissolution. Megl., See colors of alchemy

books. Trad., Knowledge; scholarliness; history and storytelling. Megl., Very few of our
painted books are open, because we believe much of the world’s writings are either
deliberately kept hidden from the illiterate citizens, or ignored by the literate. Books
have been used to destroy civilizations and peoples with their terrifying propaganda; but
ignorance is even more lethal. The scattering of our ceilings with so many books is our
not-so-subtle way to induce you to read, and read, and read, and furthermore, read
dissenting opinions! Do not be afraid of words which attack your belief system, for if
they succeed in persuading you to differing opinions, then they have enlightened you, and
if they are unpersuasive, then they have strengthened your personal philosophies. But do
not, we beg you, merely read that of which you are already convinced; your myopia will
be the death of us all. On a sillier note, Santi and I used to pretend that if you were able to
open up any of our closed painted books, you would see a complete illustration of the

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