Stone Soup

Part One · Nothing to Spare

Long ago, three travelers were walking home along a dusty road. They had walked for days, and they were tired and very hungry. At sunset they came to a little village. "Maybe someone here will give us a bite to eat," said the first traveler. "And a place to sleep," said the second.

But the people of the village saw them coming. "Strangers!" they whispered. "They will want our food." So they hurried to hide everything they had. They hid the carrots under the beds and the potatoes in the barn. They put the cabbages in the cellar and the bread up in the attic.

The travelers knocked on the first door. "We have nothing to spare," said the farmer. They knocked on the next door. "It has been a bad year," said his neighbor. At every house it was the same. "Sorry, no food here. Not a crumb." The doors closed, one after another.

The three travelers sat down in the village square. They looked at each other. Then the third traveler smiled a slow smile. "Well," he said loudly, "if nobody has any food, we will just have to make stone soup." The people peeked out of their windows. Stone soup? What was that?

Part Two · A Pot of Stone Soup

The travelers asked to borrow a large pot. A woman brought out the biggest pot in the village. They filled it with water from the well, and they lit a fire under it. Then the third traveler took three smooth, round stones from his bag. He dropped them into the pot. Plop, plop, plop!

By now, all the people had come out to watch. The traveler stirred the pot and tasted the water. "Mmm," he said. "Stone soup is delicious. But it is even better with a little salt and pepper." "I have some salt and pepper," said a girl, and she ran to fetch them.

The traveler stirred and tasted again. "Ahh. The last time we made stone soup, we had a cabbage too. That was the best soup of all." The farmer's wife scratched her head. "I think I might have a cabbage," she said. She went down to her cellar, and she came back with a big green one.

"A few carrots would make it taste like a feast," said the traveler. Soon a boy came running with carrots. "A few potatoes would be wonderful," said the second traveler. Out came the potatoes. Then somebody found some onions. Somebody else brought barley, and the butcher brought a little bit of meat.

The pot bubbled and steamed, and a lovely smell floated over the whole village. "Soup like this needs bread," said someone. The baker brought bread. "And something to drink," said someone else. Out came jugs of milk and cider. People carried tables into the square and set them in a long row.

At last the traveler took a big spoonful and tasted it. "It is ready!" he cried. Everybody sat down together at the long tables. They ate the stone soup, and they all agreed it was the best soup they had ever tasted. After supper, there was music and dancing until late at night.

The next morning, the travelers got ready to leave. The people of the village came to say goodbye. "Thank you for teaching us to make stone soup," they said. "We will never be hungry again!" The third traveler smiled, and he gave them the stones to keep. "It is easy," he said. "Just remember: it works best when everyone puts something in."