The Apprentice’s face flushed scarlet as he entered the room and saw the stretcher in front of him. The black satin sheet which covered it seemed to shimmer in the candlelight, but there was no mistaking the peaks underneath. It is, of course, utterly forbidden, but we are aware that the boys occasionally discuss rituals with each other, usually in hushed voices in their dorms. As a result, the stretcher has become a somewhat legendary form of punishment. The very mention of it has the capacity to strike profound fear into the hearts of the uninitiated. And so it should… It is the most intense and severe of all the punishments we employ, designed specifically to test the limits of a young man’s body and mind. Failure is almost inevitable, but acceptance of failure is a vital lesson a young man needs to learn on the path to full enlightenment. The stretcher is a long, low, wooden bench upon which penis-shaped pegs of increasing sizes have been mounted. Apprentices are expected to sit on and, in many cases, ride the pegs, starting with the smallest and working their way up.