Stone Soup

Stone Soupis a Europeanfolk storyin 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 asaxe soup,button soup,nail soup,bolt soup, andwood soup.
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 largestonein 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 "stonesoup", which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit ofgarnish, which they are missing, to improve the flavor.
The villager, who anticipates enjoying a share of the soup, does not mind parting with a fewcarrots, 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, likepotatoes,onions,cabbages,peas,celery,tomatoes,sweetcorn,meat(likechicken,porkandbeef),milk,butter,saltandpepper. 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.
In theAarne–Thompson–Utherfolktale classification system, this tale and set of variants is type 1548.
There are many examples of projects referencing the "Stone Soup" story's theme of making something significant by accumulating many small contributions. Examples include:
The filmFandango(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 foldingcard tableby 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.
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 Griffinwrote "The Collegians" (1829) which includes a version of limestone soup in chapter 30.
William Butler Yeats' playThe 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.
The story is the basis ofMarcia Brown's 1947 children's bookStone Soup: An Old Tale(1947),which features soldiers tricking miserly villagers into cooking them a feast. The book was aCaldecott Honorbook in 1948and was read aloud by the Captain (played byBob Keeshan) on an early episode ofCaptain Kangarooin the 1950s, as well as at least once in the 1960s or early 1970s.
In 1965,Gordon R. Dicksonpublished 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),written byAnn McGovernand 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 Productionspublished a Wonderful World of Reading book titledButton 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 bookBone Button Borscht(1996). According to Davis, he wrote the story when he was unable to find a story that he liked for aHanukkahreading.Barbara Budd's narration ofBone Button Borschttraditionally airs across Canada onCBC Radio One'sAs It Happens, on the first day ofHanukkah.
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 calledStone Soup(2003),is set in China, as isYing Chang'sThe Real Story of Stone Soup(2007).
Robert Rankin's bookNostradamus Ate My Hamsterfeatures a version of the story introduced as an old Irish tale.
Shel Silverstein's song "The Wonderful Soup Stone" tells a version of this story.Bobby Bareincluded the song on his albumLullabys, Legends and Lies(1973).andDr. Hook & the Medicine Showincluded the song on their albumBelly Up!(1973).
A version of the tale written byTom ChapinandJohn Forsterappears on Chapin's albumMother Earth(1990).
Stone Soup– an album released in November 2001 by the UK artist Moss (a.k.a. Bernard Moss) onPork Recordings(catalogue ref. PORK 091).
"Stone Soup" - A song featured on the album Mr. Supernatural in 2004 by the artistKing Khan and the ShrinesonHazelwood Records
US Army GeneralGeorge S. Pattonreferred 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 theBattle of Sicily, in the advance onPalermo, and again in the campaign in northwest Europe, nearMetzwhen his3rd US Armywas officially halted duringOperation Market Garden.
A large pool located on Karl Johan street in Oslo, funded by the steel companyChristiania Spigerverk("Christiania Nail Factory"),  is nicknamedSpikersuppa("Nail Soup") as a humorous reference to the story.