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Three soldiers trudged down a road in a strange country.
They were on their way home from the wars. Besides being
tired, they were hungry. In fact, they had eaten nothing for
two days.
“How I would like a good dinner tonight,” said the first.
“And a bed to sleep in,” said the second.
“But all that is impossible,” said the third. “We must march
on.”
On they marched. Suddenly, ahead of them they saw the
lights of a village.
“Maybe we’ll find a bite to eat there,” said the first.
“And a loft to sleep in,” said the second.
“No harm in asking,” said the third.
Now the peasants of that place feared strangers. When they
heard that three soldiers were coming down the road, they
talked among themselves.
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“Here come three soldiers. Soldiers are always hungry But we
have little enough for ourselves.” And they hurried to hide
their food.
They pushed sacks of barley under the hay in the lofts They
lowered buckets of milk down the wells.

_
They spread old quilts over the carrot bins. They hid their
cabbages and potatoes under the beds. They hung their meat
in the cellars.
They hid all they had to eat. Then —they waited.
The soldiers stopped first at the house of Paul and Franchise.
“Good evening to you,” they said. “Could you spare a bit of
food for three hungry soldiers?”
“We have had no food for ourselves for three days,” said
Paul. Fran^oise made a sad face. “It has been a poor
harvest.”
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The three soldiers went on to the house of Albert an<
( ould you spare a bit of food? And have you some corner
where we could sleep for the night?”
>h no,” said Albert. “We gave all we could spare-to soldiers
who came before you.
( hir beds are full,” said Louise.
A^
At Vincent and Marie’s the answer was the same. It had. been
a poor harvest and all the grain must be kept for seed.
So it went all through the village. Not a peasant had
any food to give away. They all had good reasons. One family
had used the grain for feed. Another had an old sick father to
care for. All had too many mouths to fill.
:hed. The is hur_
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Then the first soldier called out, “Good people!” The peasants
drew near.
“We are three hungry soldiers in a strange land. We have
asked you for food, and you have no food. Well then, we’ll
have to make stone soup.”
The peasants stared.
Stone soup? That would be something to know about.
“First we’ll need a large iron pot,” the soldiers said.
The peasants brought the largest pot they could find. How
else to cook enough?
“That’s none too large,” said the soldiers. “But it will do. And
now, water to fill it and a fire to heat it.”
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It took many buckets of water to fill the pot. A fire was built
on the village square and the pot was set to boil.
L
And now, if you please, three round, smooth
stones.”
Those were easy enough to find.
The peasants’ eyes grew round as they watched the soldiers
drop the stones into the pot.
“Any soup needs salt and pepper,” said the soldiers, as they
began to stir.
Children ran to fetch salt and pepper.
“Stones like these generally make good soup. But oh, if there
were carrots, it would be much better.”
“Why, I think I have a carrot or two,” said Frangoise, and off
she ran.
She came back with her apron full of carrots from the bin
beneath the red quilt.
“A good stone soup should have cabbage,” said the soldiers
as they sliced the carrots into the pot. “But no use asking for
what you don’t have.”
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“I think I could find a cabbage somewhere,” said Marie, and
she hurried home. Rack she came with three cabbages from
the cupboard under the bed.
*
“If we only had a bit a few potatoes, this soup would be good
enough for a rich man’s table.”
The peasants thought that over. They remembered their
potatoes and the sides of beef hanging in the cellars. They
ran to fetch them.
A rich man’s soup —and all from a few stones. It seemed like
magic!
^*\
“Ah,” sighed the soldiers as they stirred in the beef and
potatoes, “if we only had a little barley and a cup of milk!
This soup would be fit for the king himself. Indeed he asked
for just such a soup when last he dined with us.”
The peasants looked at each other. The soldiers had
entertained the king! Well!
“But—no use asking for what you don’t have,” the soldiers
sighed.
The peasants brought their barley from the lofts, they
brought their milk from the wells. The soldiers stirred the
barley and milk into the steaming broth while the peasants
stared.
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At last the soup was ready.
“All of you shall taste,” the soldiers said. “But first a table
must be set.”
Great tables were placed in the square. And all around were
lighted torches.
Such a soup! How good it smelled! Truly fit for akmg But
then the peasants asked themselves Would not such a soup
require bread-and a roast-and cider? Soon a banquet was
spread and even-one sat down to eat.
Never had there been such a feast. Never had the peasants
tasted such^soup. And fancy, made from stones.
They ate and drank and ate and drank. An< they danced.
They danced and sang far into the night.
At last they were tired. Then the three soldiers asked : ‘Is
there not a loft where we could sleep?”
— ^\
“Let three such wise and splendid gentlemen sleep in a loft?
Indeed! They must have the best beds in the village.”
So the first soldier slept in the priest’s house.
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The second soldier slept in the baker’s house. And the third
soldier slept in the mayor’s house.
*
I:-, the morning the whole village gathered in the
nare tc rive rhem a send-off.
- you have taught us,” the peasants
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said to the soldiers. “We shall never go hungry, now that we

^X
Marcia Brown has won the Caldecott Medal three times. Six
of her books have been named Caldecott Honor Books, and
many have been selected by the American Library
Association as Notable Books of the Year. In 1992 she
received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, which honors an
author or illustrator whose books have made a substantial
and lasting contribution to children’s literature. Her work is
versatile and imaginative, and she varies her style from book
to book in stories that have delighted generations of children.
Other award-winning books by Marcia Brown:
Cinderella
Caldecott Medal
ALA Notable Children’s Book
“The text is a free translation by Marcia Brown of Charles
Perrault’s version, which is the sprightliest of them all. and
the pages sparkle with her exquisite artwork and lovely
colors.” — The Sew Yorker
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Caldecott Honor Book
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Every book by this versatile artist seems cntirch different
from the one before it. and each is outstanding in its own
Way.” — The Horn Book
Once
,a mouse …
Once a Mouse … Caldecott Medal
Piobafjlj Marcia Brown i most handsomer) designed and
executed book [The] atroog, dramack woodcuts pcrfctil)
Interpret the «>id Cabk —School LibraryJournal
Shadow Caldecott Medal ALA Notable Children’s Book .1
picture booh worth even penrrj and then tome —School
Library Journal, starred revse*
A knot kmit —Kirkits
This book made available by the Internet Archive.