This is one of my favourite folk tales, which was apparently first published in 1720.
A visitor (sometimes it is several visitors who are starving) says that he has a stone which can be used to make soup. All it takes is to place it in boiling water if the villagers can supply that.
As the visitor tastes the soup, he suggests that it could do with a little seasoning, and perhaps other ingredients and over time, each villager contributes something to the soup which then feeds everyone.
The stone is not magic of course, and the owner is a trickster, but the outcome is a delicious soup.
The outcome has been achieved by sharing, and persuasion to participate.
There's a moral there somewhere for the nature of education and the development of community.
Image: Stones on Budleigh Salterton beach, Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license
Comments