Editing Stone Soup

{{Short description|European folk story}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Estátua de frade em Almeirim.JPG|thumb|Statue of a monk and stone soup (''sopa da pedra'') in Almeirim, Portugal]]

'''Stone Soup''' is a European [[Folklore|folk story]] in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal. In varying traditions, the stone has been replaced with other common inedible objects, and therefore the parable is also known as '''axe soup''', '''button soup''', '''nail soup''', '''bolt soup''', and '''wood soup'''.

==Story==

Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the very hungry travelers. Then the travelers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large [[Rock (geology)|stone]] in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travelers answer that they are making "stone [[soup]]", which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit of [[Garnish (food)|garnish]], which they are missing, to improve the flavor.

The villager, who anticipates enjoying a share of the soup, does not mind parting with a few [[carrot]]s, so these are added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travelers again mention their stone soup which has not yet reached its full potential. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient, like [[potatoes]], [[onions]], [[cabbages]], [[peas]], [[celery]], [[tomatoes]], [[sweetcorn]], [[meat]] (like [[chicken (meat)|chicken]], [[pork]] and [[beef]]), [[milk]], [[butter]], [[salt]] and [[black pepper|pepper]]. Finally, the stone (being inedible) is removed from the pot, and a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by travelers and villagers alike. Although the travelers have thus tricked the villagers into sharing their food with them, they have successfully transformed it into a tasty meal which they share with the donors.

== Variations ==
*An Eastern European variation of the story (which is similar to the Northern European rendition) is called "axe soup", with an [[axe]] as the catalyst.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rusartnet.com/russia/literature/folk-tale/the-axe-soup|title=The Axe Soup|website=RusArtNet|language=en-gb|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref>
*In the [[French folklore|French]], Hungarian and [[Russians|Russian]] versions of the tale, the travelers are [[soldier]]s returning home.
**In the Hungarian version, a single starving soldier tries to obtain food from villagers. He comes upon an old woman and tricks her into giving him the ingredients needed for the soup; At the end of the tale, they share the soup, and he sells the rock to the woman.<ref>{{Citation |title=Magyar népmesék: A kőleves | date=27 September 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al4DpKBL8o4 |language=en |access-date=2023-02-12}}</ref>
**In Russian tradition, a soldier prepares "axe [[kasha]]" ({{lang|ru|[[:s:ru:Каша из топора|Каша из топора]]}}). The tale ends with the soldier taking the axe when leaving, claiming he will eat it on the road.<ref>Claire Burchett, "Spotlight on: Kasha", Liden & Denz Intercultural Institute of Languages (14 July 2017): https://lidenz.ru/spotlight-on-kasha/</ref>
*[[Johann Peter Hebel]] wrote a German version, "''Der schlaue Pilgrim''" ("The Cunning Pilgrim", 1811),<ref name="Ashliman" /> in which a wily [[pilgrim]], allegedly on his way to [[Jerusalem]], tricks a hostess step-by-step into adding rich soup ingredients to his [[Pebble|pebble stones]], finally leaving the stones uneaten.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hebel |first=Johann |title=Der schlaue Pilgrim |publisher=Chr. Fr. Müller'schen Hofbuchhandlung |year=1838 |pages=22–24}}</ref>
* In Northern European and Scandinavian countries, as well as Poland,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lubimyczytac.pl/ksiazka/293983/cygan-i-baba|title=Cygan i baba|website=Lubimy czytać|language=pl|access-date=2023-09-13}}</ref> the story is most commonly known as "nail soup", and the main character is typically a [[tramp]] looking for food and lodgings, who convinces an old woman that he will make a tasty [[nail (fastener)|nail]] soup for both of them if she would just add a few ingredients for the garnish.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nail Soup - traditional swedish folk-tale |url=http://hem.fyristorg.com/kulturkemi/net/soup.htm |access-date=November 23, 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020316195723/http://hem.fyristorg.com/kulturkemi/net/soup.htm |archive-date=March 16, 2002}}</ref>
* In the Portuguese tradition, the traveler is a [[monk]], and the story takes place around [[Almeirim]], Portugal. Nowadays {{lang|pt|[[:pt:Sopa da pedra|sopa de pedra]]}} is considered a regional dish of Almeirim.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cm-almeirim.pt/conhecer-almeirim/gastronomia/item/202-sopa-de-pedra-receitas |title=Sopa da Pedra – Receitas |trans-title=Stone soup – Recipes |website=Almeirim Municipal Chamber |language=pt |access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref>
*The archetypal foolishness of the residents of the Dutch city of [[Kampen, Overijssel|Kampen]] gave rise to the term [[Kamper onion|"Kamper onion"]] (Kamper ui, plural: Kamper uien) for [[Town of fools|town-of-fools]] type stories: a tramp convinces a farmer and his wife that he knows how  to cook a nutritious stew from onion and salt. But while cooking he adds plenty of other stuff "to improve the taste".

==Cultural and historical references==
In the [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index|Aarne–Thompson–Uther]] folktale classification system, this tale and set of variants is type 1548.<ref name="Ashliman">{{cite web |first=D. L. |last=Ashliman |title=Stone Soup: folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 1548 |access-date=November 23, 2019 |date=November 15, 2008 |url=https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1548.html}}</ref>

===Art, entertainment, and media===

===="Stone soup"-like collaborations====
There are many examples of projects referencing the "Stone Soup" story's theme of making something significant by accumulating many small contributions. Examples include: 
*''[[Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup]]'', a computer game which expanded on an abandoned project using contributions from many different coders
*''[[Stone Soup (magazine)|Stone Soup]]'', a children's literary magazine published by the California-based Children's Art Foundation since 1973
*[[Stone Soupercomputer]], a computer composed of many small units
*Stone Soup,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Last|first1=David|last2=Thomas|first2=Paul|last3=Hiscocks|first3=Steven|last4=Barr|first4=Jordi|last5=Kirkland|first5=David|last6=Rashid|first6=Mamoon|last7=Li|first7=Sang Bin|last8=Vladimirov|first8=Lyudmil|title=Signal Processing, Sensor/Information Fusion, and Target Recognition XXVIII |chapter=Stone Soup: Announcement of beta release of an open-source framework for tracking and state estimation |editor-first1=Lynne L |editor-first2=Erik P |editor-first3=Ivan |editor-last1=Grewe |editor-last2=Blasch |editor-last3=Kadar |date=2019-05-07|chapter-url=https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/11018/1101807/Stone-Soup--announcement-of-beta-release-of-an-open/10.1117/12.2518514.short|publisher=International Society for Optics and Photonics|volume=11018|pages=1101807|doi=10.1117/12.2518514|bibcode=2019SPIE11018E..07L |isbn=9781510627017 |s2cid=164384633 }}</ref> an open-source software project aimed at providing researchers and practitioners with a framework for the development and testing of Bayesian target tracking and state estimation algorithms.

===Adaptations===

====Film====
The film ''[[Fandango (1985 film)|Fandango]]'' (1985) contains a wedding sequence towards the end which builds on the Stone Soup theme. The protagonists need to hold a wedding ceremony, but they lack the necessary funds. Therefore, they set up a folding [[card table]] by the main street of a sleepy Texas town, dust it off, and invite passersby to come to the wedding. As they concoct stories of delinquent caterers and crashed champagne trucks, the friendly townspeople contribute their time and resources, the result being a magical wedding ceremony.

====Literature====

Gerald P. Murphy's stage adaptation of "Stone Soup" was published by Lazy Bee Scripts in 2008 and has had successful productions in US, UK and France.

[[Gerald Griffin]] wrote "The Collegians" (1829) which includes a version of limestone soup in chapter 30.

[[William Butler Yeats]]' play ''The Pot of Broth'' (1904) tells a version of the story in which a clever Irish tramp uses his wits to swindle a shrewish medieval housewife out of her dinner.{{sfn|Yeats|2010|pages=109–119}}

The story is the basis of [[Marcia Brown]]'s 1947 children's book ''[[Stone Soup: An Old Tale]]'' (1947),<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Marcia |author-link=Marcia Brown |title=Stone Soup (1947) |year=2005 |isbn=978-0689878367 |publisher=[[Aladdin Paperbacks]] |location=New York City}}</ref> which features soldiers tricking miserly villagers into cooking them a feast. The book was a [[Caldecott Honor]] book in 1948<ref>{{cite web |title=Stone Soup, 1948 Caldecott Honor Book |date=3 July 2013 |url=http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/1948honorstonesoup |publisher=Association for Library Service to Children |access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref> and was read aloud by the Captain (played by [[Bob Keeshan]]) on an early episode of ''[[Captain Kangaroo]]'' in the 1950s, as well as at least once in the 1960s or early 1970s.{{sfn|Spicer|Disbrowe|2007|page=9}}{{sfn|Bradbury|2010|page=66}}

In 1965, [[Gordon R. Dickson]] published a short story called "Soupstone", where a headstrong pilot is sent to solve a problem on a planet under the guise of a highly educated and competent official. He succeeds by pretending to understand everything, but actually merely making the locals apply their already present knowledge and abilities to the task.

"Stone Soup" (1968),<ref>{{cite book |title=Stone Soup (1968) |date=1986 |publisher=[[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic Inc]] |isbn=978-0590416023 |last=McGovern |first=Ann |author-link=Ann McGovern |edition=Reissue |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/stonesoup00mcgo }}</ref> written by [[Ann McGovern]] and illustrated by Nola Langner, tells the story of a little old lady and a hungry young man at the door asking for food, and how he tricks her into making stone soup. The book was reprinted and reissued in 1986 with Winslow Pinney Pels as the illustrator.

In 1975, [[Walt Disney Productions]] published a Wonderful World of Reading book titled ''Button Soup''. Daisy Duck tricks Scrooge McDuck to share his food to help flavor her Button Soup.

Canadian children's author Aubrey Davis adapted the story to a Jewish context in his book ''Bone Button Borscht'' (1996). According to Davis, he wrote the story when he was unable to find a story that he liked for a [[Hanukkah]] reading.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Aubrey |title=Bone Button Borscht |year=2002 |publisher=Turtleback Books |location=[[St. Louis]] |isbn=978-0613991032}}.</ref> [[Barbara Budd]]'s narration of ''Bone Button Borscht'' traditionally airs across Canada on [[CBC Radio One]]'s ''[[As It Happens]]'', on the first day of [[Hanukkah]].

French author and illustrator Anais Vaugelade published a children's picture book, ''Une soupe au caillou'', in which the tramp from the original folktale is replaced by a wandering wolf, and the old woman by a curious hen. All characters in the story are animals, gathering to help making the stone soup, each of them carrying an ingredient for the final dish.

[[Jon J. Muth]]'s children's book based on the story, also called ''Stone Soup'' (2003),<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Jon J. Muth |first=Jon J. |last=Muth |title=Stone Soup |year=2003 |publisher=[[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic Press]] |location=New York City |url=https://archive.org/details/stonesoup00muth |edition=1st |isbn=978-0439339094 |url-access=registration}}</ref> is set in China, as is [[Ying Chang Compestine|Ying Chang's]] ''[[The Real Story of Stone Soup]]'' (2007).<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-3107728801/stone-soup-a-story-about-using-story-for-research |title=Stone Soup: A Story about Using Story for Research |last=Kimmel |first=Sue |date=July 2013 |journal=School Libraries Worldwide |volume=19 |number=2 |access-date=November 23, 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[Robert Rankin]]'s book [[Nostradamus Ate My Hamster]] features a version of the story introduced as an old Irish tale.

====Music====
[[Shel Silverstein]]'s song "The Wonderful Soup Stone" tells a version of this story. [[Bobby Bare]] included the song on his album ''Lullabys, Legends and Lies'' (1973).<ref name="Amazon entry">{{cite web |title=Bobby Bare Sings Lullabies Legends & Lies|website=Amazon |url=https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Bare-Sings-Lullabies-Legends/dp/B000ROAL8K |access-date=November 23, 2019}},</ref> and [[Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show]] included the song on their album ''Belly Up!'' (1973).

A version of the tale written by [[Tom Chapin]] and [[John Forster (musician)|John Forster]] appears on Chapin's album ''Mother Earth'' (1990).

''Stone Soup'' – an album released in November 2001 by the UK artist Moss (a.k.a. Bernard Moss) on [[Pork Recordings]] (catalogue ref. PORK 091).

"Stone Soup" - A song featured on the album Mr. Supernatural in 2004 by the artist [[King Khan and the Shrines]] on [[Hazelwood Records]]

====Television====
* [[Jim Henson]]'s ''[[The Storyteller (TV series)|The Storyteller]]'' series contains one tale called "A Story Short", in which the Storyteller himself (played by [[John Hurt]]) is the main character. In the beginning, he arrives at a castle where a man is thrown out for begging for food. He proceeds to trick the King's cook into making stone soup. After the people are happily fed, the cook realizes what has happened and pleads with the King to let him boil the Storyteller in oil, but the King instead offers a way out — to tell him a story every day for a year instead.
* The [[PBS Kids]] show ''[[Between the Lions]]'' featured an episode with a version of the story being read. In this version, the strangers were replaced by aliens.
* The tale was adapted as an episode of the show ''[[Hungarian Folktales]]''.
* A [[:ru:Каша из топора|Soviet cartoon]] based on the Russian variant of the tale was made in 1982.
* [[Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)|''Land of the Lost'' (1974 TV series)]] Season 1, Episode 14 is entitled "Stone Soup" in which Marshal (the father) uses Stone Soup to get his children to help gather things for dinner. Ta brings a [[bearded dragon]] (called an [[iguana]]) to the soup, although the second season states that Pakuni are [[vegetarian]]s.
* ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'' Season 8, Episode 13 is entitled "Stone Soup" and has this story as its theme.
* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' Season 9, Episode 13 is entitled "Gimme That Chocolate Milk" and has a short sketch making fun of this parable. In it, the villagers kill the stranger who tricked them into sharing in order to cover up their "communal embarrassment".<ref>{{Citation|title=Robot Chicken - The soup| date=10 January 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg-NG7q_xbU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/dg-NG7q_xbU| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-03-09}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* [[The Walking Dead (season 10)|''The Walking Dead'' Season 10]], Episode 21. Carol mentions the "Stone Soup" story.

===Military tactics===
US Army General [[George S. Patton]] referred to the "rock soup method" of acquiring resources for attacks in the face of official disapproval by his superiors for offensive operations. In the military context, he sent units forward, ostensibly on reconnaissance missions, where he knew resistance was to be met. "Surprised" at the enemy resistance, Patton would later request support for his scouts, and these missions eventually turned into small scale probing attacks. Then, once full combat had begun, Patton would request (or make the executive decision) to encircle or push full force against enemy resistance, under the rationale that the reinforcements were either bogged down or unable to retreat. He did this during the [[Battle of Sicily]], in the advance on [[Palermo]], and again in the campaign in northwest Europe, near [[Metz]] when his [[3rd US Army]] was officially halted during [[Operation Market Garden]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Farago |first=Ladislas |title=Patton: Ordeal and Triumph |publisher=Westholme Publishing LLC |year=2005 |location=[[Yardley, Pennsylvania]] |isbn=978-1594160110}}</ref>

===Places===
A large pool located on Karl Johan street in [[Oslo]], funded by the steel company ''[[Christiania Spigerverk]]'' ("Christiania Nail Factory"),  is nicknamed ''[[Spikersuppa]]'' literally meaning "Nail Soup" in Norwegian.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2000|title=Spikersuppa|encyclopedia=Oslo byleksikon|edition=4|editor=Tvedt, Knut Are|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|page=407|isbn=82-573-0815-3}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
* {{annotated link|Allegory of the long spoons}}
* {{annotated link|Tragedy of the commons}}, the inverse of the Stone Soup story
* [[Purple hat therapy]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Yeats |first=William Butler |author-link=William Butler Yeats |title=The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol II: The Plays |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York City |year=2010 |pages=109–119 |isbn=978-1439105764}}
* {{cite book |first1=Susan |last1=Spicer |first2=Paula |last2=Disbrowe |title=Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans |year=2007 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)#History|Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group]] |location=New York City |isbn=978-0307518279 |page=9}}
* {{cite book |first=Ray |last=Bradbury |author-link=Ray Bradbury |title=Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book |year=2010 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |location=[[Boston]] |isbn=978-0306819391 |page=66}}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|The Nail Broth}}
{{Commons category|Stone Soup}}
* {{cite web|url=http://business.agchamber.com/events/details/23rd-annual-stone-soup-music-festival-6598|date=2014|website=agchamber.com|title=23rd Annual Stone Soup Music Festival|author=Arroyo Grande Grover Beach Chamber of Commerce|location=Ramona Garden Park, Grover Beach, CA}}
*{{cite web|url=http://business.agchamber.com/events/details/2015-stone-soup-music-festival-street-faire-august-7877 |author=Arroyo Grande Grover Beach Chamber of Commerce |title=2015 Stone Soup Music Festival Street Faire - August 22, 2015 - August 23, 2015 |date=August 22, 2015 |website=www.aggbchamber.com |location=Ramona Garden Park, Grover Beach, CA |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150826012009/http://business.agchamber.com/events/details/2015-stone-soup-music-festival-street-faire-august-7877 |archive-date=August 26, 2015 }}
* {{cite web |date=1975 |publisher=Atheneum Books |author=Brown, Marcia (Story retold by) |website=ProsperityPages |url=http://www.michaelppowers.com/prosperity/stonesoup.html |title=Stone Soup: An Old Tale Retold |access-date=November 23, 2019}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.nahee.com/spanky/www/fractint/stone_soup.html |last=Griffin |first=Noel |title=The Stone Soup Story |website=Fractint |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819131346/http://www.nahee.com/spanky/www/fractint/stone_soup.html |archive-date=August 19, 2017 |access-date=November 23, 2019}}
* {{cite web |website=Stone SouperComputer Homepage |url=https://www.extremelinux.info/stonesoup/stonesoup.html |title=The Story of Stone Soup |access-date=November 23, 2019}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=oEG4oQEACAAJ "Stone Soup"] from Google Books

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone Soup}}
[[Category:Fables]]
[[Category:Fictional food and drink]]
[[Category:Collaboration]]
[[Category:European folklore]]
[[Category:Almeirim]]
[[Category:ATU 1525-1639]]
[[Category:Stories about fools]]
[[Category:Confidence tricks]]