STONE SOUP

Remember when I posted about my daughter giving to the foodbank in exchange for a popsicle party at school?

This is my remedy. It fits with the superstruct game too...imagine that!

Oh yeah ...and BLOG ACTION DAY '08 - POVERTY

October 15th 2019.

New session of my Waldorf inspired coop. I started it as I have, well, FOREVER, with the story STONE SOUP and making soup with the children.

Once, a long time ago the land was ravaged by drought. The poor people struggled to feed themselves as the land dried up and their crops failed. Everyone was hungry.

My story today is about a humble little stone. A stone that was magic. A stone just like this one.

One day a stranger came to town. He was a young man with a large rucksack on his back and well worn shoes on his feet. He travelled down the main street and the townsfolk, suspicious of strangers, pulled their children in the door and shut it fast!

'I'm sorry we have nothing for you here!" one frail looking woman said apologetically.

The young man whistled as he walked. He did not seem to notice the closed faces and closed doors. He was smiling serenely.

When he reached the town centre he took off his rucksack and pulled a large soup pot out. He went to the community well and filled his pot half full, careful not to waste a dtop of water. He made a small fire and set the pot on top.

An old man, on his way home stopped because he was curious. He watched as the young man pulled a small rock out of his pocket and dropped it into the pot. SPLASH!

"Heh! What are you doing lad?" he asked.

"Oh? Oh! I'm making myself a pot of stone soup, would you like a bowl?" the young man said getting out a soup ladle.

"Stone Soup!" The old man said surprised. "How can you get soup from a stone?"

"Oh its a MAGIC STONE." the young man said. "Here let me get you a bowl!"

He tasted the steaming broth and frowned. "Oh I'm sorry it isn't ready yet! It's missing something!"

"Well I have some good bones from a rabbit I caught back at my place, perhaps thats what it needs?" the old man said and went and got his bones.

His neighbour saw him rushing back and followed, curious.

"What's that beggar man doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh he's no beggar, he offered ME some of his soup! It's Stone Soup!" he said and dumped the bones into the pot SPLASH!

The young man looked at the suspicious woman and with a warm smile offered her a bowl too. She blushed and smiled back and tentatively said "Yes please"

He tasted the soup again and said "Oh I'm sorry, it still isn't ready yet, it's missing something!"

"I have a potato back in my house! Let's see if thats what it needs!" and off she went."Imagine, soup from a stone!"

SPLASH! Into the pot went the potato.

Now there were three people gathered round the pot in the town square and others let their curiosity get the better of their fear and came forth. With each the young man offered to share his soup, and each was sure they had a little something that might make it taste right, a carrot, an onion, a clove of garlic, a stalk of celery, a long forgotten withered turnip, a handful of hoarded barley, a pinch of spice, a bit of dulse to salt it, a few wild greens.

Now almost the entire town was gathered and there was animated discussions going on and the children were playing together, and someone had brought their fiddle and others were dancing.

The young man called out to the crowd "I think its just about ready!"

Out of the corner of his eye he spied the woman who had spoken to him earlier. She was looking at the ground and her little boy was hiding his face in her skirts.

"You there!" he called "Would you like some soup?"

"I have nothing to offer you for it" she said sadly.

"You don't need to bring anything, it's nearly ready! Here come have a bowl"

She relaxed and joined the party.

"And what about you boy? Would you like some soup?

He came up and shyly said "I DO have something for the soup!"

"You do! What is it?"

The little boy opened his mouth and sang

"Blessings on the blossom
Blessings on the root,
Blessings on the leaf and stem
Blessings on the fruit"

The young man smiled, lifted the ladle to his lips and grinned even wider "Oh you were right, that is exactly what it needed! Thank you! The stone soup is ready!"

Everyne ate a bowl and the party continued all the way til bedtime.

The town mayor offered the young man a place to sleep, and the next morning he packed his pot into his rucksack and said his goodbyes to all his new friends and was on his way. He stopped at the house of the little boy on his way out of town.

"Here " he said, handing him a rock "all you need to make the magic work is an open heart and a prayer"