OK, first of all, a confession right off the bat – there’s no such thing as Stone Soup, so if you’re looking for a RECIPE, you’re out of luck!
But do any of you out there remember the parable about Stone Soup? I kind of forgot about it myself until my husband, an alumni of the State University of New York at Albany, was reading his alumni magazine today. In it was an article about Marcia Brown, a 1940 graduate of the University at Albany predecessor New York State College for Teachers. In the article he learned that his fellow alumni Ms. Brown (who passed away last year at age 96) had penned one of his favorite childhood books, Stone Soup. The book is based on an old folk story in which hungry strangers manipulate the local people of a town into sharing their food. It is a truly wonderful story of how appealing to curiosity, and thus human nature, can turn those unwilling to show charity and humanity into cooperative, willing participants in a feast with strangers. Click here to read more about the Stone Soup parable.
That story really fascinated me as a child as well, and it was wonderful to be reminded of it again when my husband shared the story with me. My first recollection of it was of Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan) reading it to me on TV!! How many of you out there remember that show?
In any event, sorry that I don’t have an actual recipe for you this time around, but I highly recommend the Stone Soup book!
Do you have a recipe for Stone Soup? Or maybe just a story that is similar to the folk tale?? If so, please share it below!!
