Stone Soup Served Three Ways

Stone Soup by Ann McGovern (1968) has illustrations copyrighted in 1986 by Winslow Pinney Pels. (That’s a cute reversal of numbers: 68 and 86) The cover shows only a little old lady and a young adult. The younger one is barefoot. One foot is wearing a bandage. This story begins with a young man walking alone day and night. He’s hungry, so he knocks on the door of a big, fine house and asks for food. When the little old lady who lives in the house says she has nothing to share, he asks for a stone. And the familiar tale unfolds. “‘This stone will make wonderful soup . . . Now get me a pot,’ says the young man.” Pels captures a mischievous expression on the young man’s face at this moment. Winslow Pinney Pels’ ability to show the young man’s many emotions breathe life into this story. He juggles onions with joy, balances a carrot on his nose with glee, and sniffs the soup’s aroma with satisfaction. The little old lady does all the work and is left alone with a mess to clean up. The young man walks off with the stone.

Bone Button Borscht by Aubrey Davis (1995) includes a brief history of the Stone Soup story. “Folktales morph as they crisscross the globe, but when a story has a strong heart, its moral remains the same no matter how it’s told. This version of ‘Stone Soup’ has a strong Yiddish accent.” In this story, a “ragged little beggar” hobbles through snow and bitter cold. He comes upon a town that appears deserted. Well, it is a snowy, bitter cold day, after all. His requests for food are unfulfilled. But– “‘Thank God for synagogues!’” He enters the open door of a synagogue and warms himself by the stove. Then, the beggar grabs “one of the bone buttons on his coat” and tugs. He promises the shamas that he can make enough Bone Button Borscht for the entire town. When the shamas goes door to door seeking supplies and ingredients, the villagers offer up sarcasm. This story has humor! One neighbor answers the request for a spoon with, “‘What’s he going to do? Use it to part the Red Sea? Teach it to dance, maybe?’” Of course, the curious residents do supply a growing number of ingredients as the clever beggar remarks how tasty the borscht would be with, say, onions, beans, cabbage, and more. When the soup is done, “The people ate, and they laughed. They laughed and they ate. Then they brought out accordions and violins, and they sang, and they danced for hour after delightful hour.” At the end of the story, the beggar graciously leaves behind his bone buttons. Susan Petricic’s pictures are mostly gray except for moments when the characters spend time together. The pot is a luscious red, the borscht is multicolored and so is the miraculous feast. The villagers “learned to help one another without borscht, even in hard times. That was the real miracle the beggar left behind.”

Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth (2004) features the “Buddhist story tradition, where tricksters spread enlightenment rather than seeking gain for themselves.” His art is intentional. The color yellow, the willows, and the pile of three stones are symbolic. In Muth’s story, three monks mosey on into a town. Hok, Lok, and Siew find it has been through many difficult times and now the residents don’t trust strangers. They are even suspicious of their neighbors. Muth introduces the town’s characters straight away: a farmer, a tea merchant, a scholar, a seamstress, a doctor, and a carpenter. “They worked hard, but only for themselves. . . they had little to do with one another.” The oldest monk makes the moral explicit by explaining to the youngest monk. “‘These people do not know happiness. . . But today . . . we will show them how to make stone soup.’” A brave little girl is the catalyst. She helps the monks search for just the right stones and she offers them her mother’s biggest pot. “One by one, the people of the village came out to see just what this stone soup was.” The monks take turns suggesting ingredients that would make a delicious soup. Gradually, the villagers offer carrots, mushrooms, noodles, pea pods, cabbages, dumplings, bean curd, and more. When the villagers gather to eat soup, they bring rice, steamed buns, sweet cakes, and tea. “After the banquet, they told stories, sang songs, and celebrated long into the night.” Jon J Muth’s refined watercolors are stunning, as usual. His author’s note at the back of the book is enlightening.

If we think of this story as representational, if we think of stone soup as any project in which a divided community comes together for the benefit of all, how many more ways can Stone Soup be served?