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Stories of the roots of the shame eating ritual differ, but most revolve around the 13th century Monk St Polycarp. Cursed with crippling embarrassment at the stupid things he said, he began writing them down in his journal. But every time he did, he felt mortified at the thought that someone might read them. So, he would walk down to Eastville Park Lake at dusk to discard the latest pages.
But one evening the unfortunate Polycarp arrived at the banks with his journal and there waiting for him was a giant, monstrous fish creature. It had started life as a simple carp, but months of gorging on his delicious shame had make it huge and monstrous. The beast demanded to be fed. But Polycarp, horrified and embarrassed, refused to relinquish his journal. The beast swallowed poor St Polycarp and his journal whole! Many historians think that the roots are actually much older: going back to the Babylonian myth of a giant shame eating fish man who consumed King Cyrus after he accidentally did a fart in court that was much louder than he was expecting |
Can you help us bring the Fishponds Beast ritual back?
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