Stone soup

Three soldiers were on their way home from a long war. After several days on the road, the sight of a village gladdened their hearts: they hoped to taste a hot meal at last.

The townspeople shut themselves up in their houses; war and looting had taught them to hide what little they had.
All the soldiers got was a big pot and some water.

They set up in the middle of the village, lit a fire and dropped three stones into the pot.

This stirred the villagers’ curiosity. "What are you doing?" one of them asked. "Stone soup, but the truth is it gets better with a bit of carrot". A woman ran home and brought some carrots, and the grateful soldiers tipped them into the soup. "With onions and potatoes it’s even better", somebody remarked. And so others kept bringing more ingredients, along with new comments and suggestions for improving the flavor of the soup, which encouraged someone else to bring an ingredient.

When it was good and hearty and tasty, the soldiers took the stones out of the soup, served themselves and shared out the best meal the villagers had tasted after many months of hardship.

Don’t know how to motivate people? Think it’s time to change things, to break the apathy? Make stone soup