Stone Soup

Once upon a time an old lady was on a long journey to reach her home town. She had been walking for many days when she came to a village late one afternoon. At the first house she knocked on the door and asked if they could give her shelter for the night, but the owner said they had no room. Walking further into the village she met a man on the road and asked him where she would be able to buy some food. He said she would need to go to another village for that and hurried on his way. She tried another house and asked if they had any food to spare. The answer was no, this year’s harvest had been very bad and what little food they had they must keep for themselves. Tired and hungry, the old lady went from house to house and got the same response every time. No one could help her. The old woman thought that the bad harvest must have been very bad indeed if it had made the whole village so unhappy that they forgot the traditional custom of welcome and hospitality for travelers.

She saw a group of boys playing under a tree by the village square and told them that she was very hungry and wanted to make magic soup, but she couldn’t do it by herself, she needed some help. ‘What kind of soup?’ they asked. ‘Stone soup’ she said. ‘All I need is a big pot of boiling water and I can make the most delicious soup you ever tasted.’ The boys were also very hungry and it was a long time since they had tasted delicious soup. ‘I can bring a pot from my house,’ said one. ‘I’ll get the water from the well,’ said another. The rest set off to get some wood to make the fire.

As the boys made the fire and put the pot on it a few villagers stopped to see what was happening. By the time the water was boiling a crowd had gathered around. The old lady dropped a stone into the water and waited a few minutes. Then she lifted a spoonful of soup to her lips and took a sip. ‘Hmmm’ she said, ‘delicious, but it’s missing something. I know – it needs a little salt.’ ‘I have some salt said a woman’, and she went off to get it. When the salt was in the pot the old woman tried it again. ‘Wonderful’ she said, ‘but it would be even better if it had some herbs in it.’ ‘I have a few in my garden’, said a man, and soon there were herbs in the pot. The old lady tasted again. ‘Delicious’ she said, but it would be just perfect with a few vegetables in it.’ ‘I have a potato’ said one man. ‘I have a bit of cabbage’ said another. Soon the soup had several different kinds of vegetables in it. The old lady tasted it again. ‘You know’ she said, ‘if this soup had some fish in it, it would be fit for a king.’ ‘I caught a fish in the river this morning’ said one of the boys, ‘you can have that.’ By now the whole village was crowding round to see the magic soup being made and gradually they all decided that they wanted to be part of the magic. One woman brought garlic, another some lentils, yet another brought some meat. As the contributions came, the old lady stirred them into the soup. Eventually she declared that the soup was ready, but it was of course far too much for her to eat, so she invited everyone to go and get their bowls so she could give them some.

That night the villagers ate the most delicious and most nutritious meal any of them had tasted for a long, long time. They stayed late in the village square talking and laughing around the fire on which the soup had been made.

The next morning as the old lady prepared to go on her way the villagers begged her to stay. ‘Please don’t go,’ they said, ‘you made us this wonderful soup and we were happy together for the first time in years. You must stay and help us do it again.’ But the old lady told them that she had to be on her way, and besides they didn’t need her to help them any more. Now they had the recipe they could make stone soup for themselves any time they wanted it.

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