The labor of the carver is the refreshment of the viewer. Whoever you are, therefore, do not scorn but rather be mindful of the work of one laboring to bring you joy. If you do not know how to carve you will consider it no hardship, but let me tell you that the work is heavy; it makes the eyes misty, bows the back, crunches the ribs, brings pain to the kidneys, and makes the body ache all over. Therefore, oh viewer, I beseech you to view the peal board gently and keep your fingers from the work, for as the hailstorm ruins the harvest so does the unserviceable viewer destroy the work. As the sailor finds welcome the final harbor, so does the carver the final cut.

Deo gracias simper et Silos Beatus, 12th century