the peasants. Thus the Penrith circle is locally known as "Meg and her
Daughters," a dolmen in Berkshire is called "Wayland the Smith's Cave,"
while in one of the Orkney Isles is a menhir named "Odin's Stone." In
France many are connected with Gargantua, whose name, the origin of
which is doubtful, stands clearly for a giant. Thus we find a rock
called the "Chair of Gargantua," a menhir called "Gargantua's Little
Finger," and an _allée couverte_ called "Gargantua's Tomb." Names
indicating connections with fairies, virgins, witches, dwarfs, devils,
saints, druids, and even historical persons are frequent. Dolmens are
often "houses of dwarfs," a name perhaps suggested or at least helped by
the small holes cut in some of them; they are "huts" or "caves of
fairies," they are "kitchens" or "forges of the devil," while menhirs
are called his arrows, and cromlechs his cauldrons. In France we have
stones of various saints, while in England many monuments are connected
with King Arthur. A dolmen in Wales is his quoit; the circle at Penrith
is his round table, and that of Caermarthen is his park. Both in England
and France we find stones and altars "of the druids"; in the Pyrenees,
in Spain, and in Africa there are "graves of the Gentiles" or "tombs of
idolaters"; in Arles (France) the _allées couvertes_ are called
"prisons" or "shops of the Saracens," and the dolmens of the Eastern
Pyrenees are locally known as "huts of the Moors." Dolmens in India are
often "stones of the monkeys," and in France there are "wolves' altars,"
"wolves' houses," and "wolves' tables."

Passing now to more definite beliefs connected with megalithic
monuments, we may notice that from quite early times they have been--as
indeed they often are still--regarded with fear and respect, and even
worshipped. In certain parts of France peasants are afraid to shelter
under the dolmens, and never think of approaching them by night. In
early Christian days there must have been a cult of the menhir, for the