It was a cold, wet, and windy night in outback Australia, and a swagman knocked on door of a farm. An old woman opened the door, and grudgingly let him in so he could sit by the fire – and, after all, he might be looking for work.

The farmer family were having dinner, but didn’t offer the swaggie any food, thinking they were doing him a big favor by letting him sit by the fire.

After drying himself, the swaggie produced a smooth oblong stone from his pocket and mildly enquired if they would let him make “stone soup”, for which he’d need nothing more than a pot of water.

As this wouldn’t cost them anything, they agreed. The swaggie put the stone in the pot and watched until the water boiled.

“I notice some old cabbage leaves over there”, he said, “can I add them to enhance the flavor?” As the leaves were only to be fed to the pigs next day, they agreed.

Some time later, he enquired, ” That ham bone still has some meat on it, and it would help too, if you can spare it?” As the bone was only going to be thrown to the dog later, it was surplus and could be spared.

Awhile later, he asked about some potato peelings, and carrot scraps; these were also conceded to him. Also some fish heads and tails.

The swaggie happened to catch family members sniggering and winking at each other when they thought he didn’t notice; so, he surreptitiously took a packet labeled “herbs” from his pocket and emptied contents into the soup.

Finally, the soup was cooked, but the father of the family seized the pot off the fire and poured the contents into bowls for the family. “Stone soup, indeed!” he growled, “Do you think we’re stupid?” So saying, the family laughed and slurped the soup, not allowing the swaggie any. Soon they were writhing with agony, and died. The “herbs” had done their job well.

The swaggie robbed the house, set it on fire, and disappeared. His brother, who had worked for this family and was never seen again, was avenged.

Moral:

“Stone soup” is all very well; but “stone fish soup” may be altogether different.

Related Articles:

• Guy And A Bucket Of Shrimp
• Overcoming Depression
• The Different Elements of Forgiveness
• Government, Religion and Contraception
• Movie Review – The Descendants

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.