RANGE: There is scarcely a human activity into which this prig-let does not stick her (blue) nose, sniffling for smut. She can be found, an expression of self-righteousness on her puss, snooping through your mail, your past, your motives, your laundry, your files, your habits, and your keyhole. Suspicious of any pleasure, however slight, the Pill Grim haunts the offices of district attorneys up for re-election, antivice vigilante covens, and gatherings of any group whose Majority assumes the title of Moral (the better to suppress both sugar and spice). HABITS: Infused with the Goblinoid equivalent of the Protestant work ethic, the Pill Grim keeps busy sharpening the blue pencils and scissors of censors, bleeping talk shows, and ripping open plain brown wrappers so that the postman, at least, knows what kind of pervert you secretly are. The name tells you all you need to know: “Pill: an objectionable person; a bore” (OED). Grim: a venerable name among Goblins . . .” (Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, page 205.) Hence, Pill Grim: a boring, objectionable old Goblin. One of this grim Grim’s nastier tricks is to knock that sensible creature, Conscience, off her perch, and to usurp her place. Then the Pill Grim will fill you with shame at the sight of sex and enable you to see sex everywhere. Yet lust is not the Pill Grim’s only obsession. Wine, candy, music, sleeping in, second helpings—even the circus is all looked down on, as is anything else that looks suspiciously like fun. Recently changes in public and private morality (the work of creatures like The West Ghost and the Evil Neck-romancers) appeared to endanger the Grim. People of all ages, nude except for the earphones of their Sony Walkmen, were rumored to be leaping into hot tubs, swilling champagne, shamelessly massaging themselves and each other, necking in or on parked or moving automobiles, indulging in a wide variety of coed contact sports and dancing. Fun or not, all these activities appear to be so to the Pill Grim. But the crafty Pill Grim has turned this to her advantage. Across the land, a generation of snappily-attired, sex-manual-reading would-be hedonists now writhe, in an agony of guilt, because they aren’t getting enough fun! Well done, Pill Grim! HISTORY: Long before the decently clad figurehead of the Mayflower had occasion to frown sternly at the New World’s wantonly naked cliffs and the shockingly undisciplined surf off Plymouth, certain troll-black, no-nonsense Fairy forerunners of the Puritans had preceded them thither. These sourpuss Spirits, scandalized by the endless merry dancing, tunepiping, teasing, tickling and giggling of their fellow English hobgoblins, founded the famous Dull Jack (all work, no play) Colony, and were the ancestors of the present day Pill Grim. The Pill Grim found much to admire in the conduct of the Shakers, an early American religious sect sworn to chastity and carpentry. The Shakers pursued their ideals with such fervor that today there are plenty of hard, straight-backed chairs and few Shakers. The Pill Grim has had to turn her attention to the remainder of American society. SPOTTER’S TIPS: You don’t spy on the Pill Grim—you counterspy. In fact, the emotional state commonly diagnosed as paranoia is often simply an acute awareness of a Pill Grim’s Progress
棲息地 “みだら”と名のつく
人間の活動で,この妖精たちが
鼻を突っこまないものはない。
ときにはヒステリックに、とき
には見くだした態度で, 人間は
生まれながらにして罪深いもの
だと説いてまわっている。
その独善的なしかめっ面で他
人の寝室, 公園の暗がりに駐車
している車, 娘や息子にきた異
性からの手紙, あるいは若いひ
とり暮しの女性のアパートなど
をこそこそとのぞきまわってい
る。またPTAや公序良俗にう
るさいオバサンたちの集会には
かならず出没し、会場をヒステ
リックなまでに盛り上げる手伝
いもしている。
習性 すぐめくじらを立てる。
直情径行型で思慮が浅い。 とく
にセックスに関することには敏
感で、目に入る“恥ずかしいも
の”はすべてワイセツだときめ
つけてしまう。 ポルノ映画や雑
誌の肝心な部分を黒く塗りつぶ
してしまうのもこの妖精のなせ
るわざなのだ。
暴力よりもセックスに関する
ことにうるさく,この人間の神
秘的な行為をあからさまにする
ことを極端に嫌う傾向がある。
自分がしていることと同じ行為
なのに、他人がそれをしている
のを“見る”のはいけないとい
う勝手な論理を押しつける。
「自分がするのはいいけど,他
人がするのは見てはだめ」 とい
うから、みんなは自分でするよ
うになったという。 この論理の
パラドックスに気づかない時代
遅れの考えが特徴である。
みんなですれば恐くない,と
いう風潮の隠れた推進者でもあ
臭いものにふたをしている
る。
うちに、なかでそれが腐ってし
まってあとでとりかえしがつか
なくなるということに気づいて
いない。
出身地 イスラエルのどこか一
地方らしい。
歴史 キリストの死後いろいろ
な変遷をたどってきたが,一貫
して唱えていることは“愛”であ
る。
しかし最近では愛を強調しす
ぎたために、かえって愛を高尚
なものにしてしまい, 人間はも
っとかんたんに手に入れること
愛
のできるものを求めている。
にかわるなにかを……あるい
は新しい愛のかたちを······。
私立探偵の情報 キリスト教的
善意をスパイしてはいけない。
逆にスパイさせるのだ。 一般に
精神分裂症というのは、このキ
リスト教的善意をあまりにも強
く意識しすぎたために起こる病
気だからである。
116
Habitat
There is no human activity labeled “indecent” into which these sprites don’t stick their noses. Sometimes hysterically, sometimes condescendingly, they go around preaching that humans are sinful by nature.
With their self-righteous scowl they peer into other people’s bedrooms, cars parked in dark corners of parks, letters from the opposite sex received by sons and daughters, and the apartments of young women living alone. They also unfailingly appear at PTA meetings and gatherings of morality-obsessed middle-aged women, helping whip the room into a hysterical frenzy.
Behavior
Quick to take offense. Impulsive and shallow. Particularly sensitive about anything sexual — anything “embarrassing” that enters their field of vision gets immediately labeled obscene. Blacking out the crucial parts of pornographic films and magazines is also their doing.
More vocal about sex than violence, with a strong tendency to be extremely averse to anything that makes this mysterious human act explicit. They impose a selfish logic: the same act they themselves perform is forbidden to be “seen” when others do it.
“I can do it myself, but others mustn’t be seen doing it” — which is why everyone started doing it themselves, apparently. This outdated thinking, oblivious to its own logical paradox, is their defining characteristic.
They are also a hidden driving force behind the attitude of “if everyone does it, it’s fine.” They cover up the smell without realizing that inside, it’s rotting — and by the time they notice, it’s too late to fix.
Origin
Apparently somewhere in a region of Israel.
History
Has undergone various transformations since the death of Christ, but the one consistent message has always been “love.”
However, in recent times the overemphasis on love has paradoxically elevated it into something too lofty — and humans are now seeking something more easily obtainable. Something to replace love… or perhaps a new form of love.
Field Intelligence
Don’t spy on the Christian goodwill sprite. Instead, let it spy on you. Schizophrenia is generally a disease caused by being too intensely conscious of this sprite.
116
George you will enjoy this one. Remember how JJP said he would hide female genitalia in his artwork just to mess with people? The Latin name of The Pill Grim includes the word pudenda. Pudenda is defined as “the human external genital organs collectively, especially of a female.”
So not only did he hide it in artwork, but in The Secret as well.