Stone Soup

 Many years ago in a time of great hardship and famine an old poor man wandered into a poverty stricken village and asked for shelter for the night. "There's nothing to eat here," the villagers told him, "you'd better move on!"

"I have enough here to make soup for all of us," the poor man replied, "if I could just borrow a large pot." Curious, the villagers produced a pot and stood around watching as the poor man filled it with water and built a small fire underneath. He then took three round stones from a small bag and dropped them into the water.

As the water came to the boil the poor man sniffed it hungrily saying, "I do love stone soup, but if I just had a little cabbage it would taste even better!" At this one of the villagers disappeared returning a few minutes later with a cabbage he has been hiding and put it into the pot.

A while later the poor man tasted the soup and says "Hmm, this is good, but a couple of carrots would make better still." Again a villager produced a bunch of carrots and so it went on as potatoes, onions, mushrooms and a bit of salt beef were all added to the pot until there was indeed a delicious meal for all.

There are many versions of this old story, but the message is the same. We all have a contribution to make and by sharing our gifts and resources our own lives are enriched.


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