Stonehenge | Page 8

labour. His request was at first met with
a flat negative, but eventually the devil so played upon her cupidity, by
the assurance that she could have as much money as she could count
and add up while he was engaged in the work of removal, that she
readily gave her consent. As usual the devil had the best of the bargain,
for he, knowing her powers of arithmetic to be but scanty, handed her a
number of pieces of money, whose value was fourpence halfpenny, and

twopence three-farthings. The dame had barely managed to add the first
two coins together, when the devil called upon her to stop, and looking
round she saw the stones were all removed, and had been tied with a
withe band into a neat bundle which was slung upon his shoulder.
Away flew the devil towards Salisbury Plain, but as he sped onwards
the withe cut deep into his shoulder, so heavy were the stones. He
endured it as long as he could, but just towards the end of his journey,
while passing over the valley of the Avon, he winced, and re-adjusted
his burden; in so doing one of the stones fell down and plunged into the
river at Bulford, where it remains at the present day, as witness to the
veracity of this legend. Right glad to be rid of his burden when he
reached the Plain, the devil made haste to set up the stones, and so
delighted was he with the result of his first efforts, and with the
progress he was making, that he cried aloud with glee, "Now I'll puzzle
all men, for no one knows, nor ever will know, how these stones have
come here." Unluckily this bold boast was overheard by a holy friar
walking near, who straightway replied in right Wiltshire fashion,
"That's more than thee can tell"; and then realising who the builder was,
turned and fled for his life. Enraged at his discovery by the friar, and
perceiving that his scheme had failed, the devil, who had just taken up
a stone to poise it upon its two uprights, hurled it at the holy man, and
struck him on the uplifted heel as he made haste to run. The friar's
sanctity was evidently greater than his personal courage, for it was the
stone and not the friar which suffered most from the impact. Even
to-day the huge impress of the Friar's heel is to be seen upon the stone.
At this juncture the sun rose, and the devil had perforce to relinquish
his task. This accounts for the present scattered appearance of the
stones.
Turning from fancy to fact, the word Hele, from which the stone takes
its name, is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb helan = "to
conceal," and is so applied to the stone because it conceals the sun at
rising on the day of the Summer Solstice.
THE "SLAUGHTERING STONE"
In all matters of archæology it is constantly found that certain questions

are better left in abeyance, or bequeathed to a coming generation for
solution. The "Slaughtering Stone" appears to be an admirable example
of this class. Just within the area enclosed by the earthwork circle, lies a
prostrate Sarsen Stone, to which this name has been given. The idea of
its having been used as a place of slaughter for the victim intended for
sacrifice in the "Temple" of Stonehenge, seems to rest upon a very bare
foundation. It is probably a picturesque piece of nomenclature devised
by certain bygone antiquaries to whom Stonehenge was a "Druidical"
monument, and who, therefore, having the idea of human sacrifice, and
"wicker figures" prominently before them, naturally jumped at the idea
of providing a slaughtering stone for the numberless human victims
whom they imagined had been slain there. Nevertheless, the stone is
curious because of the row of holes which have been worked across
one corner, which certainly is unshapely, and which would square up
the stone very nicely if it were removed along the line of these holes.
The indentations are somewhat oval, suggesting that they were made
by "pecking" with a sharp instrument, rather than drilled by a rotating
one, which would make a circular incision. Having recorded this,
however, there is little to add, except that Mr. Gowland, who minutely
examined the stone in 1901, is of opinion that the oval indentations
referred to are more recent than the building of Stonehenge. Had they
been contemporaneous with the erection of the Trilithons, he is
convinced that the action of the water in the holes, combined with frost,
would have caused a very much greater amount of disintegration than
exists to-day. Yet another difficulty arises. At the meeting of the British
Archæological Association at Devizes in 1880, a visit was paid