Stone Soup (A story told by Jean Thurston)

[MildredHubble]

First a little context. I started school, primary school, when I was still 4 years old. I was the second youngest there by about 2 weeks. I had a wonderful first teacher though, she was kind, patient and gentle. I've never forgotten her. I found out that she had died in 2011 when I moved back to the same town 29 years later. I remember her telling us this story, this is how it goes...(I've had to split this into two posts)

A traveller rolled into a small town, riding his horse drawn caravan. He stopped in front of the Town General Store. "Ok Dorris..." he said to his horse as he climbed down. "...I need to pick up some supplies, some food for when we camp, and some hay for you."

He looked around at the townspeople who had started to gather to examine him. "How do you do?" He said politely with a smile. But the townspeople whispered to eachother and quickly walked away without even a word of acknowledgement.

The traveller, shrugged and smiled. "Never mind Dorris, I'm sure we will still make some friends." Dorris shook her head and snorted. "Oh don't be so pessimistic Dorris, in the last town they liked you so much they brought you apples every day!"

The traveller looked into the window of the General Store and at all the good things in the window. "We shall eat well tonight Dorris!" he shouted back to his horse as he pushed open the door to the store just as a small brass bell rang out, ding-a-ling!

When he entered the store he saw a man behind a counter wearing a clean white shirt and a long brown apron. The man eyed him suspiciously while he smoothed down his curly black mustache.

Two customers also surveyed his movements around the store while they muttered about him.
"Good morning!" Said the traveller to the man behind the counter (and half to the other customers in the store) "I would like to buy some supplies, my horse and I have travelled far and we are very hungry."

"Not today!" Replied the man behind the counter. "We don't serve people like you here!"
"I have plenty of money" said the traveller.
"I don't care, we don't like strangers! Best be moving along!" Barked the man from behind the counter.

The traveller felt disappointed, but he knew from all his years of travelling to new towns that it did little good to try to push the matter. Besides, there were other stores and farms that he could try.

The traveller tried all the stores in the town, but no one would serve him. They all told him "We don't like strangers here! Best move along!". Even the farms were just as unhelpful.

"I'm sorry" he said to Dorris as they travelled slowly down a narrow road towards the woods. "No one seems to want to be friends with us here. But don't worry, I will fix us up something. I might even find you a few apples in the woods Doris!"
Dorris whinnied with cautious excitement.

As they entered the woods, the traveller spotted a clearing.
"Ok Dorris, here will do! You settle down and have a rest, and I will build a fire."

The traveller built a small ring of medium sized stones on the ground and placed some dry tree branches and leaves I'm the middle. He reached in to his pocket and pulled out a box of matches. "Soon we will be nice and warm at least Dorris!" He said as he struck a large match and lit the fire. He then arranged some larger sticks above it in a pyramid and hung a large pot full of water on the arrangement above the fire.

The traveller looked around carefully at the ground. He was looking for something, something that had to be just right.
"Ah! That will do!" He said as he reached down to pick up a large stone.
"Don't worry Dorris, dinner will soon be ready!" He exclaimed.
Dorris made an amused sounding snort and started to nibble at a patch of dry grass nearby.

 

[MildredHubble]

(continued)

The traveller looked inside the small cupboard in his caravan. Inside was a pot of salt, black pepper and a wooden rack with jars of herbs and spices. He took them out carefully and walked over to the now steaming pot over the fire.

He gently dropped the stone into the pot causing water to splash gently onto the fire which made a sharp sizzling sound.

He began to pour his salt, pepper and the finest herbs and spices into the water and began to stir it with a wooden spoon. Soon the woods began to take on the smell of all the delicious herbs and spices.

"That should do Dorris! Stone Soup for supper tonight!" Said the traveller cheerily.

Soon the delicious smell began to waft through the woods, down the narrow country road and towards the town. The man from the counter at the general store was walking there. He sniffed the air. "That smells delicious!" He thought. It smelled so delicious that he simply had to know where the smell had came from.

He walked towards the woods where the smell seemed stronger. He could see the light of a camp fire and a pot steaming away. "That has to be it, I simply must try some of that food!" He said to himself.

The man cautiously approached the fire. The smell was so distracting he didn't even notice the traveller sitting just a few feet away.

"Good Evening!" said the traveller in a welcoming tone.

The man from the store gasped, but the sweet smell from the steaming pot prevented him from running. He looked into the pot where he saw a large stone sitting at the bottom.

"Smells good doesn't it?" Said the traveller.
"Yes, y...y..yes it does, what is it?" stuttered the man.
"Stone Soup" said the traveller "It's very good!"

"May I try some?" Said the man.

The traveller looked at the man with a compassionate expression. "I'm afraid we don't have enough. Only enough for me and Dorris. Sorry."

The man started to splutter "B..bb..bb..but it smells so good!"

The man started to think. He paced back and forth for a while. Then he stopped and looked at the traveller, his face breaking into a small smile for the first time since they met.

"I have some potatoes and onions at home! Would Stone Soup taste better with those? Then we could both have some stone soup? If you would like?!" Said the man optimistically.

"You know, Stone Soup tastes perfect with potatoes and onions! Ok, if you bring some potatoes and onions to put in the soup, we have a deal and we shall both eat stone soup!" Replied the traveller.

The man excitedly exclaimed "Excellent! I shall run home and be back with onions and potatoes very quickly!"

And off he ran. And as he did, he passed the two customers (two ladies) who had been in his store when the traveller had entered earlier that day. They had both detected the smell in the air and found it so delicious they had also come to investigate.

They approached the traveller and the campfire following the scent.

"Good evening ladies" said the traveller.

"Good evening" replied the two women. One had curly red hair and the other brown straight shiny hair nearly arranged under a green bonnet. They were both carrying baskets with the groceries from earlier that day.

"What is that devine smell" said the lady with red hair.

"Stone Soup" replied the traveller "It's very good!"

"May we try it?" Asked the lady wearing the bonnet.

The traveller looked down at the ground with a sad and sympathetic expression. "I'm afraid ladies, that it's only for me and my horse Dorris, she hasn't eaten in a while and I'm afraid there won't be enough for us all." he said.

The women exchanged glances and whispered quietly to eachother back and forth before the lady with the red hair smiled and asked "We have lots of nice vegetables here, some broccoli, some turnip and carrots..."
" I have some apples too! I'm sure your horse would prefer apples instead of Stone Soup!?" Interrupted the lady in the green bonnet.
"Would the stone soup taste better with some broccoli, turnip and carrots?!" continued the lady with the red hair.

The traveller smiled. "Stone Soup tastes best with broccoli, turnip and carrots! Dorris would certainly like some apples! Ok ladies, if you share your vegetables, we can all have stone soup!"

The ladies smiled and sat down on a large branch near the fire. One took out a small pen knife and vegan to chop up the vegetables and put them in to the soup.

Meanwhile, the smell from the travellers camp fire had begun to waft towards the town. People began to open their doors and windows to try to work out where such a good smell could be coming from.

The man from the general store had begun to run hurriedly down the high street as the townspeople watched.

"Where are you going!?" Shouted the town blacksmith from his doorstep.

The man stopped. He had armfuls of potatoes and onions and he was trying not to drop them.

"I'm off to the traveller's camp site, he is cooking the most wonderful Stone Soup! He has offered to share it with me if I bring some onions and potatoes for the soup! I must hurry before he changed his mind!"

A small crowd had begun to gather around the man from the General Store. They all began to ask "Would the traveller share with us?"
"He might!" Said the man from the general store.
"I have bacon!" Shouted the town butcher.
"I have pumpkin and cucumber... and mushrooms!" Declared the green grocer.

Soon all the townspeople began to shout that they had all kinds of food and asked if perhaps the Stone Soup would taste better with it. The man from the General Store agreed it might. Soon all the townspeople and farmers were making their way to the traveller's camp site carrying all sorts of food and ingredients. All hoping that they could share the delicious smelling Stone Soup.

Before long they had all arrived at the campsite where the traveller, the lady with the red hair and the lady in the green bonnet had been chatting while waiting for the Stone Soup to cook.

The crowd began to offer the traveller all sorts of nice food as ingredients asking each time "Would the stone soup taste nicer?" and each time the traveller agreed that "It would".

Before long the traveller and everyone who had rejected him earlier that day were sitting, chatting and feasting on Stone Soup. There was plenty to go around! They all agreed that Stone Soup was indeed delicious and taste all the better for each contribution they had made to the recipe.

They chatted and laughed, and ate well in to the night. Everyone insisted that the traveller and Dorris would be most welcome any time in their town. They all became the best of friends. Each time the traveller and Dorris passed through they all got together, every one of them, to make Stone Soup together and laugh and talk and eat. Of course, there was always plenty of apples for Doris.

...

Well I hope I did a decent job of it. I'm no writer but I always liked that story. I hope maybe some of you do too!

 

[VictorR]

This brings back memories, thank you. I don't remember exactly when I learned this story, but I'm leaning towards 6-7.

 

[SusanLR]

I remember that story too!
Every time I've ever ask anybody if they knew the story, they never had heard of it.

You wrote it so clearly.
I'm sure I couldn't have retold it that well.
But I never forgot it either. I think it was in second grade when I heard it.
Thanks for posting it!

 

[Angular Chap]

Nicely told! If it wasn't for TVTropes I would never have heard this story!

TVTropes - Stone Soup

Looks like there are different versions as well, with different morals.

There's also the free and open source rougelike game with Stone Soup in the title, but I don't know how related it is to the original story.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

 

[MildredHubble]

Thanks so much everyone! I'm glad that I seem to have retold it ok

I was only 4 years old when she told my class the story. But it stuck in my mind like glue. I had always suspected it was a kind of folk tale that Mrs Thurston had told us but I never heard it again. So I'm glad that it has been told elsewhere. I kinda wanted to keep the story she told us around regardless of its origin as I think it's quite a clever tale

I found Mrs Thurston's obituary online. She really achieved a lot. She had a degree in music and after she retired (something I remember vividly, she was given a bag and a few other things in an assembly) she returned to university and she completed (I believe) a dissertation on May Pole Dancing.

This is something I remember vividly too. She would take us into the main hall where a May Pole had been set up and she would teach us the dance "heal and toe heal and toe" and I remember watching fascinated by the patterns at the top of May Pole, made out of the streamers/ribbons weaving together.

I'm sad that I never got to see her again. I looked her up online around 2011 and saw a recent news article about her. She had continued teaching kids about the first world war and the symbolism of the poppy. She had taken kids on visits to the war memorials and had contributed to campaigns to keep them maintained. It was nice to see she was still going strong.

I used to visit the town where she lived often and I hoped one day I would bump into her and say hello. Unfortunately she died soon after the news article. I only found out when I moved back there a couple of years later.

But I thought I would post the story here as best I could as a kind of memorial to her

 

[Angular Chap]

Thanks so much everyone! I'm glad that I seem to have retold it ok

I was only 4 years old when she told my class the story. But it stuck in my mind like glue. I had always suspected it was a kind of folk tale that Mrs Thurston had told us but I never heard it again. So I'm glad that it has been told elsewhere. I kinda wanted to keep the story she told us around regardless of its origin as I think it's quite a clever tale

I found Mrs Thurston's obituary online. She really achieved a lot. She had a degree in music and after she retired (something I remember vividly, she was given a bag and a few other things in an assembly) she returned to university and she completed (I believe) a dissertation on May Pole Dancing.

This is something I remember vividly too. She would take us into the main hall where a May Pole had been set up and she would teach us the dance "heal and toe heal and toe" and I remember watching fascinated by the patterns at the top of May Pole, made out of the streamers/ribbons weaving together.

I'm sad that I never got to see her again. I looked her up online around 2011 and saw a recent news article about her. She had continued teaching kids about the first world war and the symbolism of the poppy. She had taken kids on visits to the war memorials and had contributed to campaigns to keep them maintained. It was nice to see she was still going strong.

I used to visit the town where she lived often and I hoped one day I would bump into her and say hello. Unfortunately she died soon after the news article. I only found out when I moved back there a couple of years later.

But I thought I would post the story here as best I could as a kind of memorial to her

Nice idea! Lest we forget as they say.

Lest we forget