The number and variety of spouts in this monastery is second to none among the medieval buildings seen by Sasha.

There are demons with horns on their heads, barbed wings folded on their backs, and bared teeth; There are prostitutes with sad faces and twisted limbs; There are farmers with felt hats, hands clasped in front of them, and empty eyes; A monster with fangs and scales, like a pangolin and a mermaid; There are pigs with open mouths and hooves in the air, like pigs about to jump off the eaves at any moment; There are short, fat, and deformed dragons; There is a giant with a snake-like tongue sticking out of his mouth, a beard parted on either side, and a wild dog coiled on his ears; the whispering clown; a dog that rudely shows people its butt and tail; Huge disgusting, six-legged, head-down insects, and even a monstrous-looking lizard with a bishop's crown.

Black, white tubes protrude from their excessively long mouths and buttocks, and the trails left by the current meander from the outlet all the way down to the eaves.

"In Egypt, you can see dripping spouts in flat-topped temples, which were used to supply water to scrub sacred vessels; In Greek temples, the heads of lions were made of marble or terracotta bricks, and water flowed from their open mouths; The Romans also used dripping spouts, and they were not limited to using one animal, nor were they limited to one or a few materials. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, people used aluminium drip spouts for their urban construction, and they were fascinated by it.

However, the most used dripping spout was in the Middle Ages, where the bishop of Rouen was saved by subduing a terrible monster with a cross or with the help of a prisoner, this monster can breathe fire, has sharp claws, solid skin, and a long neck, the bishop of Rouen did not bring back all the body, only brought back its head and neck, and installed it on the eaves of the church, which is the origin of the dripping mouth. “

Little Hopkins had known about it from his father and books a long time ago, but he was eager to hear what the dean had to say.

"How many dripper spouts are there?"

"Seventy sevens."

"Four hundred and ninety?" It's amazing.

"Yes, but not all on the roof." The dean said, gesturing to the place where they had passed, where there was a ruined stone tablet, and on each four corners of the stone was a drip spout the size of a baby's fist.

"Originally, the function of the dripping nozzle was to carry the excess water off the roof when the heavy rain came, so that the building would not be flooded, and then it was believed that the terrible sculpture on the eaves of the church could ward off evil spirits that wanted to enter the church, and finally they were considered the patron saint of the church, so on the eaves of some churches, the drip nozzle could not lead the water away."

"Meaning is greater than effect."

"Exactly." The abbot said: "This monastery was built by a duchess to exorcise the demons of her only begotten son, and the records say that the child often fainted for no reason, with blood spots all over his body, and could not find the root cause of the pain, and could not breathe, and the local archbishop tried to exorcise him seven times in a row to no avail, so he proposed to the Duchess to build a monastery to express his piety and prayer to the Holy Spirit." ”

"While the monastery was being built, the Duchess had a nightmare in which she saw countless tiny, winged demons wrapping around her children, and suddenly, a flash of light flashed, and dozens of strange-looking and terrifying monsters descended and drove them away. When she woke up from her dream, she called in a painter and painted the savior in the dream, which is the dripping spout you see now on the eaves. ”

(To be continued, I'll make it up later)