Page 251 - The Grotesque Children's Book

creation, beginnings, alpha/omega; the polygonal shape which bridges the gap between
square and circle, and therefore represents a passage between Earth and Heaven. Nine/
represents completeness; finite wholeness (see nine). Megl., There are no meaning in
numbers; that's just silly. We use symmetry in the ceilings because it’s pretty.

tail spray. Trad., Demigods; half-human, half-birds; man’s desire to fly. Megl., You've
probably noticed that many of our characters and creatures don't have feet. Their legs or
torsos give way to a sort of tail spray. That's called a nimbus tail. It represents the
possibility of rebirth, or having a different outcome from the current tragedy which is our
lives. Besides, a swirl of lines is a whole lot easier to paint than legs and feet with all that
anatomy and its inherent veins and muscles.

tetramorph. Trad., A creature made up of four separate beings; e.g., a four-headed monster, or
a human with a bird’s body, vegetation legs and bird’s wings. Also, Christ. Megl., It was
actually my use of this word, I think, more than any others, in a private conversation with
Half-Wit Tozzo, which lead him to press me to write this glossary, so a part of me wishes
I had kept that word to myself. This glossary has been a lot of work, thinking up which
symbols to include. I couldn't decide between traditional art symbols, which you could
find defined in any good art reference book, or symbols specific to Santi and me, which
are often capricious and arbitrary, as a result of inside-jokes which will undoubtedly
leave the outside reader lost, confused and feeling a little inadequate. Not that it's my job
to counterbalance those feelings; it's actually nice for once not to be on the defensive. At
any rate, a tetramorph is, as you know because you've read the rest of the text, a
composite figure combining the symbols of the four evangelists traditionally standing
between God and the people, representing ministry of the gospel and also denoting
wisdom, courage, diligence, and discretion, and the affections by which they mount up
toward heaven. But actually, I just like creating monsters.

tin head. Trad., St. Barattolo; patron saint of metallurgy. Megl., When you wake up in the
morning with ringing in your head. Usually the cause is too much drink from the night
before, but sometimes it's because someone came along and replaced your head with a tin
hat. Now you have to go looking for your head, but can you, really? Because you don't
have any eyes; they're still stuck on your head.

torch. Trad., Light; summer; illumination in the darkness; insight. Megl., You'll see a lot of
torches and lamps throughout the ceilings. They're not just pretty decorations. Trace the
direction of the smoke and see whether it's trying to point out to you some significant
object or other. Aside from that, yes, traditionally the torch represents light, summer,
Vanitas, insubstantiality, dawn, twilight, and all that. But more interesting to us...trace
the smoke.

251