The Smiling Stone Soup works to support the premise that with creativity, cooperation and good spirits, we can make the world a better place. What is the magic within the stone that the woman added to the soup? If you know, email us your answer at info@smilingstonesoup.com. Please include your mailing address in your response. Correct response will be given a prize.

Story of Stone Soup

A road weary woman stopped in a small town in hopes of getting something to eat. She knocked at the first house and asked the man for some food and the man turned her down. Door after door, the answer was the same:

"I have nothing to give you,"
"Times are tough" and,
"I have nothing to spare."

Finally, a woman with three small children told her that she had water she could give and a large pot she could loan her.

"Thank you" the woman smiled gratefully, "We can make stone soup with that water."

She hauled the pot and water to the center of town and built a small fire under it. As the water started to boil, a passing child stopped and asked her what she was doing.

"I am making stone soup. Would you like to join me?”

With a smile, the child nodded his agreement.

“First we must add a special stone with magic in it," said the traveler. She reached into her backpack and carefully unwrapped a stone she’d been carrying with her for years and placed it in the simmering pot.  With great excitement the child went off to tell his parents of the magic stone and the soup.

Soon people throughout the town heard about this woman who was making soup from a stone. They gathered around the pot asking questions:

"What does your stone soup taste like?"
 "Well, it would be better with a few beans."
 "Oh, I have some beans."
 "I could bring a few carrots and stalks of celery."
 "We still have some squash in our garden. I’ll go get them."

One by one, each person brought something to add to the pot. What had started as just some water and a magic stone, had now become a delicious soup, enough to feed all the people. And feast they did.