MAGIC STONES AND ELECTRIC GEMS 39
still earlier date, in 443 a.D., a
council decree pronounced those bishops guilty of sacrilege who
permitted the making of vows over these stones or the deposition of
offerings thereon.62
Some of the stones of the druidic dolmens were called by the French peasants of a later age pierres tourniresses, or
"whirling stones," for it was solemnly asseverated that at midnight on
Christmas Eve these stones gyrated on their base. A still stranger
fancy was that some other stones of this class became fearfully thirsty
at times, once every hundred days, or perhaps only once in a century,
and then rolled off to the nearest stream to slake their thirst. Under
others, again, it was believed that a hidden treasure reposed,
watchfully guarded by a terrible dragon. However, on one night in the
year, while the clock was striking twelve, he snatched a moment's
sleep, and whoever was clever enough and quick enough to make use of
this chance could acquire untold riches.63
A
strange belief prevails in and about Dourges (dept. Aube), France. On
the top of a hill near this place is a chapel built in honor of St.
Estapin, and in close proximity to this chapel are rocks with many
irregular hollows of such varying shapes and forms that almost any part
of the human body can be thrust into the openings. On the 6th of August
in each year, those from the neighborhood suffering from illness or
disability of any kind come hither, and, after having made their way
as best they can nine times around the chapel, proceed to the platform
whereon are the wonderworking stones, and introduce the afflicted part
of their body into the appropriate opening in one of the rocks. The
result
"Renel, "Les religions de la Gaule avant le Christianisme," Paris, 190β, p. 369.
•Ibid., 190β,ρ.368.
