
Now for our next Devon delight we are off to Shebbear, where their fifth of November sees their local residents turning the Devil`s Stone.
This is sited on a very pleasant village green, by St Michael's Church, and it just looks to passing traffic like any other large rock - but the locals know it has several secrets.
The first of these is that it is not local stone, and there is even modern evidence to suggest that it was once moved by a glacier. Then there is the curious fact that it weighs much heavier than it appears. Most interesting, though, are all the stories of the way it got there, most of which involve The Devil, hence the name of the stone. The one which seems to have most provenance is that one day The Devil was having a fight with Archangel Michael, and somehow he either dropped the stone or it was forced from his grasp, upon which both stone and Devil fell to earth, the stone landing right on top of him. And this is why the church is called St. Michael`s. We also know that the stone was there before the church was built, in Saxon times, though the oldest part of the church still remaining is the Norman south doorway.
As far as the reasoning for the turning of the stone, legend has it that it takes a whole year for the Devil to dig a tunnel from his chamber in such a way that when he breaks through he can feel the stone with his fingers and lever it off so that he can climb out. But if the stone is moved, or turned, he is thwarted, so he must descend and start to dig another tunnel. And the church also rings its bells just before the villagers turn the stone, so that he will hide from the noise and not hear the movement or feet above him.
I have not been able to find out when the stone flipping started, but there is strong local tradition, and in both World Wars there have been occasions when it did not seem appropriate to do it, only for a decided spell of bad luck to befall the village, and then, when they turned the stone after all, things started to get better.
Now this card comes from Album 9, which is entitled "Marchen" - or fairy tales - and which held 216 cards when completed. Our set, "Der Starke Knecht" is translated as "The Strong Servant" and it is complete in six cards, these being :
- Der starke Knecht [the strong servant]
- Der schone Kragen [a nice collar]
- In der Teufelsmuhle [in the Devil`s Mill]
- Die Ferkelschwanzchen [the piglet`s tail]
- Die Fahrt nach der Holle [the road to Hell]
- Die alten Bekannten [old friends]
The story comes from Switzerland, but the earliest edition I have tracked down is 1915 and these cards were issued in 1906. The story is set in Switzerland too, and it involves some cruel landowners who lived in a mighty castle, whose servants were disrespected and often killed. The locals were powerless, until one day a man came to town. He went to the castle and said he wanted to work for him. The landowners set him a task before they agreed, and that was to lift a huge boulder inside the castle walls. This was easily accomplished by the man, who managed not just to lift it but to throw it, so that it flew in the air, and sank deep into the earth when it landed.
Once he was employed, he was continually set tasks of strength and daring, all of which he passed. The landowner grew scared, that the man could so easily do of these things, and one day he asked the servant to dig a well. When night fell, and the man was still digging at the bottom of the well the landowner got he rest of the servants to put a block of stone over the well so that there was no way out, only to see the stone lift up and move away. The man then started climbing up the steep sides of the well, and the landowner ran. After that we do not know what happened, but neither man nor servant was ever seen again, and the villagers were left alone.
The problem is that the cards do not seem to fit this story, so maybe this is a later tale after all and I have just not found the one to which these cards relate.
I am impressed by the fact though that this card was only chosen for the Devils, and instead it is yet another story of a thrown stone and a blocked entrance.