Even if one accepts that death is inevitable, farting can still present a serious
hazard. In medieval times, some believed that the soul left the body by the
anus. In the 14th century farce, Le
Muynier, this acutely important moment goes desperately wrong for a poor miller.
[The miller] warns the priest to
absolve him from his sins, saying: “My stomach is in control of me. Alas! I don’t know
what to do; turn around.”
The priest answers: “Ha! Saving your
grace!”
Then the miller remarks: “Turn
around! I’m going to shit myself!”
The wife and the priest pull the
sick man to the edge of the bed and place him in such a position that if the
doctrine of soul-departure by the anus be true, they may witness the miller’s
final performance. The phenomenon of rectal flatulence is now observed, when
suddenly, to the consternation of the wife and priest, a demon appears and
placing a sack over the dying miller’s anus, catches the rectal gas and flies
off in sulphurous vapour.
(John G. Bourke – Scatalogic Rites
of All Nations 1891)
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