Do you remember the children’s story “Stone Soup”?
Based on an old French folktale, it has been passed down in several versions, but the idea is always the same: A lone traveler, or three soldiers or perhaps three monks come to a village, where no one wants to feed them. So they put a stone in a big pot, fill the pot with water and tell the villagers that they are making stone soup.
All it needs is a garnish, they say. One villager adds a couple of carrots. Another contributes a potato. Another has a chicken he can part with, and so on. The travelers remove the stone, and everyone in the village enjoys a big pot of delicious soup.
