On the way home from war, the soldier was starving.
Wherever he knocked, he never got to eat.
He went around the whole village asking if they would give him alms.
But what he got did not cover his poor dinner.
He decided quickly, picking up a large stone.
I'm making soup out of this! I'll find a place.
The soldier knocked on the first house in the first village.
He thought that stone would soon make a delicious dinner here.
The old woman opened the door. The lad greeted her.
I came to ask for alms, although I am not poor.
Can you give me water and a pot? I've brought something to cook.
My bag is full of more and more fine stones.
The old woman stared in amazement. Can you cook with stone?
If you learn, you will surely have a rich life.
Come-come invited. Show me how you do it.
I will give you everything you need, just as you wish.
Bring some water, put it over the fire.
When the water was boiling, he threw a pebble into it.
Lighten up, lighten up. And the old woman just watched.
It will be a delicious soup by the time the evening comes.
Tasted, tasted, tasted. He made a big snap.
It should have a spoonful of fat in it, if you have any around the house.
Of course my soul is here. It's out there in the little chamber.
If you need a pinch of salt, feel free to let me know.
A pinch of salt and a small potato sweeten the stone.
If you could bring me in, if you're going, coming out of the closet.
A serious woman was running and running. She brought everything she asked for.
The jolly obsitos promised a good dinner for the change.
Says our hero:-very tasty, almost ready.
Something, maybe, with a little sausage in it.
I'll bring him, I'll bring him, he said, and almost ran.
As he rushes to his secret chamber to fetch the sausage.
The stone soup is ready. They were very well fed.
The old woman thought, this stone is a fortune.
It's worth a lot, a stone of soup is worth a lot, wow!
The old woman had never seen such a miracle.
Give me the miraculous stone, he begged the lad.
He practically dragged him, wouldn't let the poor man go.
So be it. So be it, it's a hundred forints.
The poor lad became rich. And so far his chin is worn out.
Hungarian folk tale transcription. Author: Sándor Erdős.
Source of the tale: https://meskete.hu/mese/a-koleves/46 where you can also listen to it as an audio story.
This is the tale and more than 1.000 others can be found in the On the Meskete.hu story portal.
Image source: https://www.servertech.com/blog/stone-soup
