Page 244 - The Grotesque Children's Book

deaf man. Trad., Represents someone who can’t hear. Megl., Represents someone who will
not hear.

demon face. cf. bat wings.

desert, golden. Trad., Moses; exodus; thirst; a disheartening journey. Megl., The other side of
the arch; paradise.

ears with wings. Trad., Omniscience; gossip. Megl., Aurelio DeSolo.

feather legs. Trad., Deities who have dominion over the air; a possible next state of being for
humans striving to become angelic. Megl., Represent an idealization of an improved
human being: one with intellect and the ability to speak, but without the distraction of
animalistic reproductive organs; imagination, curiosity and creativity without the burden
of lust and the need to copulate. Priests oughtn’t have the monopoly on chastity; chastity
is for the birds.

fish throne. Trad., Christ’s throne. Megl., No, it turns out it’s just Santi sitting on a fish.

floating armor. Trad., Protection; safety, heroism. Megl., The ghosts of soldiers all around us,
leaving behind the spoils of war. Representing both the glory which the bravest among
us achieved, but also the horrors of the missing dead; quintessentially limbless bodies.
Look for spears, helmets, breastplates, shields; they’re everywhere. We’re honoring our
soldiers, but vilifying the need for them. More whimsically, we’ll often try to depict on
the armor itself a scene of the warrior wearing the selfsame armor which in turn has a
depiction of the warrior wearing the selfsame-selfsame armor, and so on. See books, in
the context of the octagonal room.

frames. Trad., Boundaries; order; focus; containment; civilization. Megl., An opportunity to
comment on the picture within the frame. If you see, for instance, a hero in the picture,
look for some sort of clown or honking goose in the design of the frame. However,
we’ve had to be more subtle here than in other portions of the ceiling, for over the years
our patrons have finally grown wise to our subversiveness in the frames. So you might
need to look for the symbolism of the symbol in order to get the joke. In other words, you
might not find an actual honking goose to clue you in to our mockery; you might find, for
example, a respectful, dignified bust of a pretty female saint on the frame with a mirror
and a snake, you might think, “How respectful! How dignified!” But if you know your
saints, you’ll recognize Saint Prudence, correctly identify her as a symbol for a goose,
because the goose symbolizes prudence (which is the ability to govern and discipline
oneself by the use of reason), and we’ll all have a laugh together. Many laughs.

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