Chapter Stone Soup to Stops of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Stone Soup to Stops

Stone Soup or St. Bernard's Soup. A beggar asked alms at a lordly mansion, but was told by the servants they had nothing to give him. “Sorry for it,” said the man, “but will you let me boil a little water to make some soup of this stone?” This was so novel a proceeding, that the curiosity of the servants was aroused, and the man was readily furnished with saucepan, water, and a spoon. In he popped the stone, and begged for a little salt and pepper for flavouring. Stirring the water and tasting it, he said it would be the better for any fragments of meat and vegetables they might happen to have. These were supplied, and ultimately he asked for a little catsup or other sauce. When fully boiled and fit, each of the servants tested it, and declared that stone soup was excellent. (La soupe au caillou.)

Stone Still Perfectly still; with no more motion than a stone.

“I will not struggle; I will stand stone still.”
Shakespeare: King John, iv. 1.

Stone of the Broken Treaty Limerick. About a century and a half ago England made a solemn compact with Ireland. Ireland promised fealty, and England promised to guarantee to the Irish people civil and religious equality. When the crisis was over England handed Ireland over to a faction that has ever since bred strife and disunion. (Address of the Corporation of Limerick to Mr. Bright, 1868.)

“The `stone of the broken treaty' is there, and from early in the morning till late at night groups gather round it, and foster the tradition of their national wrongs.”- The Times.

Stone of Stumbling This was much more significant among the Jews than it is with ourselves. One of the Pharisaic sects, called Nikfi or “Dashers,” used to walk abroad without lifting their feet from the ground. They were for ever “dashing their feet against the stones,” and “stumbling” on their way.

Stone of Tongues This was a stone given to Otnit, King of Lombardy, by his father dwarf Elberich, and had the virtue, when put into a person's mouth, of enabling him to speak perfectly any foreign language. (The Heldenbuch.)

Stones
   Aerolites, or stones which have fallen from heaven. J. Norman Lockyer says the number of meteors which fall daily to the earth “exceeds 21 millions.” (Nineteenth Century, Nov., 1880, p. 787.) The largest aerolith on record is one that fell in Brazil. It is estimated to weigh 14,000 lbs. In 1806 a shower of stones fell near L'Aigle, and M. Biot was deputed by the French Government to report on the phenomenon. He found between two and three thousand stones, the largest being about 17 lbs. in weight.
   Eagle stones. (See Eagle-Stones.)
   Health stones. Purites (2 syl.) found in Geneva and Savoy. So called from the notion that it loses its steel-blue colour if the person in possession of one is in ill-health.
   Square stones. The most ancient idols were square stones. The head and limbs were subsequent additions.
   Touchstones. (q.v.)
   Stones. After the Moslem pilgrim has made his seven processions round the Caaba, he repairs to Mount Arafat, and before sunrise enters the valley of Mena, where he throws seven stones at each of three pillars, in imitation of Abraham and Adam, who thus drove away the devil when he disturbed their devotions.
   Standing stones. The most celebrated groups are those of Stonehenge, Avebury, in Wiltshire, Stennis in the Orkneys, and Carnac in Brittany.
   The Standing Stones of Stennis, in the Orkneys, resemble Stonehenge, and, says Sir W. Scott, furnish an irresistible refutation of the opinion that these circles are Druidical. There is every reason to believe that the custom was prevalent in Scandinavia as well as in Gaul and Britain, and as common to the mythology of Odin as to Druidism. They were places of public assembly, and in the Eyrbiggia Saga is described the manner of setting apart the Helga Feli (Holy Rocks) by the pontiff Thorolf for solemn meetings.
    Stones fallen down from Jupiter. Anaxagoras mentions a stone that fell from Jupiter in Thrace, a description of which is given by Pliny. The Ephesians asserted that their image of Diana came from Jupiter. The stone at Emessa, in Syria, worshipped as a symbol of the sun, was a similar meteorite. At Abydos and Potidæ'a similar stones were preserved. At Corinth was one venerated as Zeus. At Cyprus was one dedicated to Venus, a description of which is given by Tacitus and Maximus Tyrius. Herodian describes a similar stone in Syria. The famous Caaba stone at Mecca is a similar meteor. Livy recounts three falls of stones. On November 27th, 1492, just as Maximilian was on the point of engaging the French army near Ensisheim, a mass weighing 270 lbs.