In the south of France, during the wars of religion, the town of Mende was devastated by Protestants. To make big guns (cannons) they melted down the cathedral's bell ... It was the tallest bell in France, it's name was Mary-Thérèse.

Some years later, Catholics placed the clapper of Mary-Thérèse inside the cathedral.

Until 1899, in order to have children, local women, while praying to the Virgin Mary, rubbed their stomachs and "bottoms" against the clapper.

For the same reasons, in the Middle Ages, mixing business with pleasure, their grandmothers rubbed their bodies against druidic tables or standing stones ... Standing stones that clergymen hastened to convert to Christianity, at best, by sticking a cross in the top; at worst, by knocking them down and breaking them up.

The menhir of Grizac (30 km from the town of Mende) was miraculously spared ... but not the bell.