Stone Soup


I'm feeling in the mood for stone soup. If you've never had it, it is a most delicious soup, rich and nutritious.

All you need are 3 smooth stones. You could use any stones, but I find smooth ones make a better soup than rough and jagged ones.

Of course, I lack a pot in which to make the soup. Usually, there is someone who has a pot and we can start to make the soup.

You just place the stones in the pot, add water and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for a bit and soon it is done. The most aromatic soup you have every tasted.

Sometimes, someone might drop in a bone or a few scraps of meat they've found. These are not necessary, as the soup is quite fine without them, but it does help add an extra dimension to the flavour - not that is necessary with stone soup.

Usually, someone manages to find a carrot or onion or a celery stalk or two in the corner of their cupboard and decide to drop it in. Again, stone soup is just fine the way it is, but it never hurts to add these to the soup. Sometimes even a cabbage is added.

Others have been known to add a few dried beans or a potato or two they have found hidden away somewhere - just for texture, of course. Stone soup is fine without them, but it does add a little extra to it.

As good as stone soup is, it is a little lackluster in colour. Now and then, someone will remember a bell pepper or green or yellow wax beans, or perhaps a few sprigs of parsley they had lying around and add it to the soup.

Stone soup is a miraculous soup, from just a few stones and some water, a very rich and nutritious soup can be made. I think its chief power is in warming the hearts of people.

I've got the stones, does anyone have a pot and some water?

Image nabbed from here.

Comments

tin-tin said…
i'm sorry.. but it's like i don't want to have a taste...

and thanks for greeting me on my bday :)
KayMac said…
i've got the pot
But we shall fight over the stones! I love this story! I did this every year by reading it and letting the class enact the crowd scenes at Thanksgiving. Then, we made it in my class...each child bringing a baggie of a few veggies. We got a real kick of taking some to the principal, vice, and secretaries and putting a stone in the bottom! Of course, they played it up right on cue. I miss that kind of thing so much.
Richard said…
tin-tin: you're welcome.

kaymac: thanks!

MOI: I'm sure there is a moral somewhere in that story ;-)

It really depends on the telling, because you want it to grow without seeming obvious about it.
It is so amazing to do with a group of young children because as you're reading, you can see the lights come on in faces of those who get it, and gradually, one by one, they all get it and love the pattern as well as the moral.
Richard said…
MOI: the best part of instruction is seeing the lights come on. Of course, Plato would argue that it is just unlocking doors.

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