Good point! "Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it." (2 Kings 18.21) And so with the old man of the castle.

What a contrast with Shakespeare's own staff which, shaken not stirred, is said to make its Hitchcockian (as it were) cameo in Psalm 46.