MAGIC STONES AND ELECTRIC GEMS 41
finally induced some one to devote much toil and time to the difficult
task of turning the stone over. What, however, was his chagrin and
disgust when the under side presented the words: "Tourner je voulais,
Car lassée j'étais" (I longed to turn, because I was so tired). Whether
the practical joker who originated the inscription was present to enjoy
the success of his joke is not revealed.68
To
a mass of quartz at Jerbourg, Guernsey Island, local fancy has attached
a wild legend, which finds expression in the strange designation of the
stone as "The Devil's Claw." The old Chronique de Normandie, which,
although written much earlier, was first printed in 1576 at Rouen,
recounts under date of 797 a.d. that
Duke Eichard, when on his way from one of his strongholds to a manor
where dwelt a damsel of surpassing beauty, was assailed by the Evil One
; but, like a second St. Michael, Duke Eichard overcame his dangerous
antagonist. Seeing that he could not prevail by force, the Devil had
recourse to one of his most perilous wiles, and changed himself into a
beautiful, richly-attired maiden. In this disguise he lured Duke
Eichard to the seashore and induced him to enter a boat and put out to
sea. He thus spirited the duke away to the lonely isle of Guernsey, and
at the landing spot, where the Devil finally seized his too-confiding
prey, stands this mass of quartz, a deep black splash running right
across, indicating in popular fancy the mark left by the devil's claws.67
A
solitary boulder standing on a heath in North Germany is the subject of
a curious legend illustrating the superstitious reverence inspired by
the thunder. Once upon a time a bridal procession was traversing the
heath when a violent thunder-storm broke out. Taking no heed of this,
the musicians who accompanied the procession continued to
• Sir Edgar McCuIloch, " Guernsey Folk Lore/' London, 1903, p. 150. Ibid., p. 157; fig. on p. 156.
