What is the "saying" or meaning behind the WORRY STONE (Which are the
pieces of sea shells found on the beach that have been smoothed by the
turbulence of the sea.  You rub them to relieve stress, and there is a
sweet story behind them.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 09 Dec 2005 20:45 PST

Hi,

Are you thinking of the Chumash Indian story mentioned in the
children's book "The Worry Stone"?


"...The boy?s worries remind the woman of how her grandfather once
gave her a ?worry stone? and with the stone came a Chumash Indian
story. That Native story tells of how a young woman?s husband died on
their wedding day. Tokatu never remarried, and cried at her husband?s
gravesite each year on the anniversary of their marriage and of
Akima?s death. When Tokatu died an old woman, the women of the village
buried her next to Akima. On his grave, they found small, smooth
stones, ?Tears of Tokatu,? and the Chumash came to believe that these
stones had the power to ease people?s troubles..."

Dengler, Marianna. The Worry Stone. 1996. 32p.
http://www.umaine.edu/call/profdev/booklists/storiesw.html

An actual worry stone differs from one native American tribe to
another. In the blackfeet tribe, a worry stone is a small piece of
volcanic glass. When given to you by a medicine person, it is said to
have the power to absorb your troubles when rubbed. If you steal
another person's worry stone, it is said all their troubles will
befall you.