Stone Soup

"For this stone will always make a good soup as long as you work on it together" (p.105)

Stone Soup is one of the stories that both my mum and sister mentioned to me straight away when I told them about my blog idea. They have both worked in schools with young children and tell this tale to teach them how to be kind to people and of the wonders of team work. 

The version in Fairy Tale Feasts is the Portuguese version which tells of a Monk who is a man of faith and poverty. The monk wanders into a village and after being cruelly turned away from every home asks to borrow a pot to make soup from a stone. The villagers become curious and the monk tells them of how delicious it can be with a few different items to “make it better” and one by one they all provide him with the ingredients. In the end they have enough delicious soup to feed the whole village. 

Stone Soup is told in many different ways some using travelers, old women and even tramps as the main protagonist. Regardless of this the moral is still the same and makes this tale perfectly didactic. Children will remember the clever plan and learn that it is better to be kind and cooperate well with others. 

The story appears in Fairy Tale Feasts in the soups section. This is interesting as we have discussed in class that most cookbooks will always feature a soup section in hopes of encouraging home cooks to include this as a valid course in the typical meal. Soup is popular in many cultures and is often used to feed the poor just like the porridge in my previous post. 

Stone Soup also works as a recipe for children. You are told one by one as each ingredient goes in and can construct your own version from that. Fairy Tale Feasts lists your typical recipe for vegetable soup but also as a side note gives the idea of a Stone Soup party in which every guest brings their favourite vegetable and makes it together in true Stone Soup spirit!