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 archaeology 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