Tricky soup
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Tickler at large | Feb 10, 2009
Mohan and Sohan left their village and headed for a big city in search of work. They found well-paying jobs and were very happy. A year later, they lost their jobs due to the recession. Instead of rushing back to their village, they stayed put in the big city hoping they would find work again. In a few months, all their money was finished. They were left with just enough money to pay for their fare back home. So they started the long journey. After 36 hours of train journey, there was 6 hours of bus journey followed by another 12 hours of trek up a hill before they could make it to their village.
After the bus journey, their money was finished and they were hungry. As they passed a village, the villagers were unwilling to share any food with the hungry travellers because of the recession.
The travellers then filled a pot with water, dropped a large stone in it, and placed it over a fire in the village square. One of the villagers became curious and asked what they were doing. The travellers answered that they were making “stone soup”, which tasted wonderful, although it still needed a little bit of garnish to improve the flavor, which they didn’t have. The villager didn’t mind parting with just a little bit to help them out, so it got added to the soup. Another villager walked by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mentioned their stone soup which hadn’t reached its full potential yet. The villager handed them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walked by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup was enjoyed by all.
What do you say?
Do comment below.
Filed Under: Miscellaneous
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Hmmm…nice one. But, a single experienced village cook could have taken the interest to bring the soup to fine quality taste in a single shot.
It is like many people who try to mentor a youngster thro indirect stories, personal experiences etc. Instead a single direct face-to-face session for about 30 mins with an experienced mentor can save the trouble. The youngster then understands that the warnings and stories were meant for him. And quickly catches up…
Should appreciate the bonding between Sohan and Mohan though.
Hi All,
very interesting story, The fact is that hunger is mother of many innovating idea which we never gets until our mouth is full. All the great people were hit very hard in life, before they immerged as all-time great leader, whether it is Mahatama Gandhi, when he was thrown out of Train compartment which was just for white people, then he started his fight against Britisher and made him a extremely great leader.
Thanks
CatGup
It seem to me that City has taught them how to take advantage of any situation by marketing.
hey this is a nice one. you definitely can beat recessionary pains if you have some enterpreneurship and fire in your belly!!
This is an old Grimms fairy tale. I remember reading it as a child, except it was three soldiers.
this is happening in the usa – thanks bush, thanks obama
Get a life. This is an old childhood story. Apparently it got outsourced to india with everything else.
And the moral of the story is.. Never give up!!
Creativity and innovation does pay but does it really work recurrently in real life situations?
All these Western folk tales are goody goody to read but only when you have Western shrwedness and ability to rule – like we were for 50 years .. yes independence happened but at cost of several lives and internal commotion. And moral of that story was we waited and fought till our resources and wealth got stolen for so called exchange of language prowess.
Digressing for your point here maybe – but the moral to me is earn your bread if you can and when it comes to your own country men share your soup as well. However in situations where outsiders astutely seek your belongings- don’t repeat your history.. beware..
Yes I had heard it before but it’s always refreshing to hear a story that has a moral. What is interesting is the cross section of the responses; – could have done it better, – reminder of it’s origin, – refinement on the story, and even a bit of anger (must have been outsourced). The truth is that the original bi- line on LinkedIn raised our interest to see the rest.
This my friends is the hope that we have in today’s world. I still trying to find that Rock and I won’t give up until all is lost.
JED.
You got it!
Hi,
Great story.
Someone told me this story when I was a little girl and I have told it to many since then. We called it the story of stone soup. In my family we’ve been making it for years whenever there is nothing to make for dinner.
There’s a similar story in Portugal but with a fat glutton monk who went from village to village with an empty pot and a stone. The city of Almeirim the region of Ribatejo is renown for it’s “Stone Soup” or “Sopa da Pedra” which is a hearty soup with more than twenty ingredients to it.
Hey,
Hope we give each other quite a few Zen Slaps!!! Gee, i enjoy getting one and giving one tooo…
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ZenSlap
Cheers,
Anitha