Literal translation
if you are afraid, put a stone in your pocket
Meaning
if you're scared, find your own comfort
Explanation
This mocking formula addresses a fearful person, ironically suggesting a remedy as trivial as their worry is judged to be exaggerated. The literal image proposes a concrete, easy gesture: slipping a stone into one's pocket, as though this simple extra weight, material and reassuring through its solidity, could suffice to calm a purely psychological fear. The advice obviously has no real power against danger or anxiety, and it is precisely this displayed absurdity that produces the mocking effect: an anxiety judged disproportionate is answered with a solution just as disproportionate in its uselessness, implicitly sending the person back to the excess of their own reaction. The formula is used in direct response to someone expressing fear over a situation deemed harmless, to tell them, without real malice, that they should reassure themselves, with no need for outside help. The register is familiar and teasing, common among close acquaintances, in a spirit of affectionate joking.