Jon J Muth, Retold and illustrated by
Stone Soup.
Scholastic, 2003.

This classic tale of turning scarcity to plenty while engendering a sense of cooperation and community has been given no more beautiful treatment than that offered here. As Jon J Muth explains in an author's note, the story of collective broth made from stones--or a nail, an ax, or bone buttons, as some versions have it--comes from European folklore, with related stories found in Jamaica, Korea, and the Philippines.

For his retelling, Muth sets the story in China using the Buddha story tradition, in which "tricksters spread enlightenment rather than seeking gain for themselves." Three traveling monks, Hok, Lok, and Siew--the characters correspond to deities in Chinese folklore who bestow health, wealth, and prosperity--wander the mountains considering the meaning of happiness. They arrive in a mountain village that has suffered famine, floods, and war. Villagers have closed their doors against each other and of course against strangers: "The villagers worked hard, but only for themselves." The monks agree that the villagers do not know happiness and decide to show them how to make stone soup.

They begin working alone, building a fire and boiling water in a small tin pot, to which stones soon will be added. Suddenly a small girl in a yellow jacket appears and asks what they are doing. "My mother has a bigger pot," she offers when they explain, and she runs home to get it.

Soon the villagers are looking out their windows. Slowly at first, and then enthusiastically, the villagers bring their own offerings for the pot: carrots, onions, mushrooms, noodles, pea pods, garlic, ginger root, lily buds--all the ingredients for stone soup. (Clearly, this is not the version that would be made in Sweden!) "Something magical began to happen among the villagers. As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave even more. And as this happened, the soup grew richer and smelled more delicious."

When the soup is ready, the villagers gather for a feast and after they eat, they tell stories, sing songs, and unlock their doors. The next morning they bid farewell to their guests, saying, "With the gifts you have given, we will always have plenty. You have shown us that sharing makes us all richer."

Muth's text is accompanied by watercolors that feel both animated and tempered, in the tradition of much Chinese painting. They make lovely portraits of the villagers in daily life: a farmer feeding his chickens, a tea merchant covering his baskets, a seamstress serving dumplings, a doctor measuring herbs.

Muth has not only retold a classic, he has created one. If you need inspiration for imaging how the inhabitants of this troubled earth might live together, this book offers that inspiration.

Patricia Kirkpatrick
Summer 2003