“Dim, Dime, Damn,” an old epithet in our farmer family which meant, a dim person not alert, dangerously ignorant, whose say-so was not worth a dime, becoming the damnation of us all.

There is in my family a story from an old poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, based on the ancient story of the ErlKonig/Erl King who endangers the innocent, claims to not have done so, tearing families apart, having endless appetite for destruction and execrable deeds whilst others who ought know better say “Dont be afraid of the peril, trying to explain away the immanent deathly danger by claiming it is’a nothing to be concerned about…’

Here is a portion of the tale in my translation:

ThE ERL KING

Who rides there so late
through the night dark and drear?
The father it is,
with his little child so dear.

He holds his boy tightly,
clasped in his arms;
He holds him safely,
keeping him warm.

“My son, why do you
your face in me hide?”
“Look, Father, the Erl-King
is close by our side!

Do you not see the Erl-King,
with his crown and his train?”
“My son, ‘Tis only mist
rising over the plain.”

In our family tale, as in the poem, the father with son in his arms is riding his steed slowly through a deep forest in darkest night. But, Erl King smells the scent of “innocence of child” and like the predator he is, The Erl King begins to track the young one.

But, the child, unlike his unknowing father, is still fully aware and prescient.

The child sees the Erl King clearly, scrunches closer to his father’s chest, crying out in fear.

Yet, the father dismisses the child’s fears, saying his son is imagining a malignant force which does not exist… when in fact, a voracious monster is reaching through dark boughs of trees to steal and carve the child’s mind to its own crooked liking.

When Erl King speaks, only the pure, alert child-heart can hear him…

“Oh come dear child! Oh come with me!
Full of games, I will play with thee;
On my necklace, lovely flowers unfold,
my Mother shall grace you with garments of gold.”

The child pleads with his father to awaken, to heed the danger…

“My father, my father,
do you not hear??
The words the Erl-King
now breathes in my ear?”

But the father cannot rouse himself sufficiently.

“Be calm, dearest child,
your fanciful thinking deceives…
‘Tis only sad wind sighing
through the withering leaves.”

The tale goes on in “the ancient mythic three,” meaning thrice the child proclaims the actual threat, and three times reality is denied by his father/ would be protector.

Each time the child cries, “Look, look!” the father does not, cannot listen, for the father has lost his own instincts to see predators clearlt. He thus makes light of what is bearing down on them:

“My darling, my darling,
I see it aright…
‘Tis just aged grey willows
deceiving your sight.”

eanwhile the father’s steed begins to trot, then gallop wildly as though chased by demons. The father cannot rein his horse in.

But, the Erl King keeps right up, runnin alongside, whining its promises and pretties, its votives and victories toward the child, whispering grandiose words that begin to turn the child into a stunned, helpless, eventually feelingless thing…

feelingless because the child’s spirit cannot bear to be assaulted so. Without fierce sustained protection, instead– to bear it all– the child surrenders, goes limp.

At the end of this ancient theme –in tales and in part of human nature in some — the Erl King, a malignant Pied Piper, stealer of souls, a self-centered monster, professes his love for the child. Seeing that the child is now weakened and nearly capitulated, the Erl King is filled with dark ecstatic shivers of malignant joy.

The child whispers the final truth:
“My father, my father,
he seizes me fast,
Fully the Erl-King
has hurt me at last.”

The father now realizing his son has become pale and drained,

“…now engages in full gallop,
with terror half wild,”
to try to save
his beloved child…”

But he cannot. At the end of the steed’s mad but unsummoned dash, the child lies in his father’s arms, eyes glazed, body without bones. Death, in the guise of Erl King has sickened and killed the innocent child.

And as it is said in our family amongst the elders, the Erl Konig’s alert prey and but with unheeding and reckless father, is ever destroyed, sending the ever empty stomach of the Erl King, to maniacally track and seize another person, then another, seeking to devour the life’s energy fron other that Er Konig hiself does not have… but in the end killing all life he touches so that his lust to feel alive can never be satisfied

___________________
CODA
The Erl King represents a malignant force that kills, without heed, without differentiation.

There is a modern day counterpart in those who will not cease non-protective endangering behavior, even when told and told time and again the deadly Erl King is on the hunt to kill life.

Crime to Intentionally Get Someone Sick?
A person whose intentional or reckless behavior spreads an infectious disease, such as HIV, SARS, or COVID-19, could face criminal charges.

Excerpts from an article at Nolo, By Stacy Barrett

Spreading the common cold doesn’t carry criminal consequences. But intentional or reckless behavior that spreads a disease with serious public health consequences—such as HIV, SARS, Ebola, or COVID-19—can result in criminal charges.

A majority of states have communicable disease laws that make it a crime to expose another person to a contagious disease on purpose.

Even without a specific communicable disease statute, all states have general criminal laws—such as assault, battery, and reckless endangerment—that can be used to prosecute people for spreading diseases intentionally or recklessly.

And if emergency public health orders are in place, prosecutors can charge people with violations of quarantine and other emergency orders.

Communicable Disease Laws
A communicable disease is an infectious disease that spreads from one person to another in a variety of ways, including contact with another person, contact with a contaminated surface or object, or bites from insects or animals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains a national tracking system for infectious diseases.

Criminal communicable disease laws typically focus on infectious diseases with serious public health implications that spread through contact with an infected person’s blood, saliva, mucus, or other bodily fluids.

Some states have laws that are specific to a particular disease, like HIV, or a category of diseases, like sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Other states have laws that address communicable diseases generally. These laws and their punishments differ significantly among states.

In most states, people can face criminal prosecution for spreading a communicable disease if they intentionally or recklessly expose others to the disease. For example, it can be a crime to:

—have sex or share needles without disclosing to your partner that you have HIV or an STI
—donate blood or organs when you know you have an infectious disease like HIV or hepatitis C, or
—-intentionally expose another person to a communicable disease to harass or threaten the person (for example, by spitting in the face of a police officer while claiming to have the coronavirus).

Could I Be Charged With a Crime for Spreading the Coronavirus?
As the new coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads across the country, prosecutors are using criminal laws to punish people who purposely expose or threaten to expose others to the virus.

More commonly, states are using criminal penalties to enforce public health interventions, like quarantines and shelter-in-place orders, to limit the spread of the virus.

General Criminal Laws
Law enforcement and prosecutors can also charge people who intentionally spread or threaten to spread communicable diseases under general criminal laws.

Assault and Battery
Prosecutors can charge assault and battery (inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily injury on another) if an individual knowingly exposes others to a communicable disease.

In cases where people have knowingly exposed others to an undisclosed, life-threatening infection, like HIV or hepatitis C, prosecutors have filed charges for aggravated assault (assault causing serious bodily injury) or assault with a deadly weapon…

Reckless Endangerment
Reckless endangerment occurs when a person’s conduct places or might place another person in danger of death or serious injury. In some states, individuals infected with HIV have been convicted of reckless endangerment for behavior, such as having unprotected sex, which might place others in danger of serious injury or death.

Public Health Emergency Order Violations
During emergency situations involving a communicable disease outbreak, states have emergency police powers to enforce orders to protect public health and safety.

Criminal Penalties and Sentence Enhancements
Depending on the criminal charges filed, a person could face misdemeanor or felony penalties. Misdemeanors generally carry penalties up to a year in jail, whereas felony penalties involve more than a year’s incarceration.

Criminal Penalties
Penalties for transmitting a communicable disease often depend on the nature of disease and the means of exposure. For example, in California, misdemeanor penalties apply for intentionally exposing another person to a contagious disease. Whereas engaging in unprotected sex with the intent to expose your partner to HIV can result in a felony. (Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 120290, 120291.)

Violations of public health emergency orders typically carry misdemeanor penalties, but government officials can also require a person to comply with the order.

Sentence Enhancements
States might also have sentence-enhancement statutes that increase penalties based on the defendant’s knowledge of transmitting a particular communicable disease. Sentence enhancements …increase the sentence length when a person commits a crime while infected with a disease. For example, a defendant who engages in a misdemeanor act of prostitution [–or gathering with others who do not know the convener’s infectious condition, might face felony charges if the defendant knowingly engaged in prostitution [or coming close to vulnerable others,] while having HIV or an STI [or Covid19.]

Ed Note: Washington DC is not a state, but if there be a federal mandate for complying with public health precautions for all, and one does not heed the dangers to others, reckless endangerment charges could be brought.

So it goes. And goes.
Let us pray