Unit 506 | Lesson 1

Once upon a time, there was a great famine, which meant there wasn't enough food to go around. The people in one small village didn't have enough to eat, and they didn't have enough food to store away for winter. People were afraid their families would go hungry, so they hid the small amounts of food they did have. They even hid their food from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering soldier came into the village. He asked different people he met about finding a place to sleep for the night.

"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron, a big black cooking pot, from his wagon. He filled it with water and built a fire under it. Then, he reached slowly into his knapsack and, while several villagers watched, drew an ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water.

By now, hearing about the magic stone, most of the villagers had come to the square or watched from their windows. As the soldier sniffed the stone soup and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their lack of trust.

"Ahh," the soldier said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat."

Soon a villager ran from his house into the village square, holding a cabbage. "I have this cabbage from my garden." he said as he held it out for the soldier.

"Fantastic!" cried the soldier. The soldier cut up the cabbage and added it to the pot. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef, and it was fit for a king."

The village butcher said he thought he could find some salt beef. As he ran back to his shop, other villagers offered bits of vegetables from their own gardens--potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on. Soon the big black pot was bubbling and steaming. When the soup was ready, everyone in the village ate a bowl of soup, and it was delicious.

The villagers offered the soldier a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell it. He had many offers for a cot to sleep on that night. The next day he traveled on his way.

The moral of the story: By working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.