Pierre lived in France. He was a very clever guy, but he was also very lazy. He didn't like to work; he just liked to enjoy himself. But he was very clever. He wasn't really lazy, he just didn't like to do things he didn't enjoy.
He loved soup more than anything else. He loved bacon, chicken, and pasta, but he loved soup the most.
One day, he went to another town for work. Somehow, he didn't have any money in his pocket. He was very hungry. It was already night time, and he had missed his last train back to Paris.
He went around asking restaurants, "I don't have any money today, but can you give me some food? When I go back to Paris, I'll send you the money."
They said, "You can pay with your phone."
He said, "I don't even have my phone today."
So they said, "Sorry, we cannot give you food without money."
He was very hungry and wondering where he would sleep. It was a very cold, rainy day. He saw a group of villagers camping with tents and a warm fire. He went to them and said, "I am very hungry, can you give me some food?"
They said, "No, this is our campsite. We don't sell food here. We have already eaten dinner."
Pierre said, "You know what? I am the best cook in Paris. I can make soup out of stone, and it will be so tasty and healthy, it will make you younger."
"Really? You can make soup out of stone?" they asked.
"Yes," Pierre said. "I don't need any of your food. Just let me boil some water, and I will take a rock from here and make soup out of it."
They were curious. "Okay," they said. "We don't have to give you anything, just hot water and a pot."
Pierre took a big pot, put hot water in it, and started boiling it. He looked around and found a big, round stone. He put it in the water.
"Now," he said, "I will make soup. But you know what? This soup is good, but it will be even tastier if you can give me a little salt."
"Sure," they said, and gave him salt.
"Wow," Pierre said, sniffing the pot. "The soup is smelling beautiful! But if you have any spices, it will be even tastier."
So they gave him pepper and cardamom.
"You know what," Pierre said, "this soup can be even tastier if you give me some carrots."
"Okay, sure," they said.
He chopped the carrots and put them in. "Abracadabra!" he chanted, churning the water. "Look, the color is becoming red because of the rock!" (But it was really because of the carrots).
"By the way, do you have tomatoes? If I put tomatoes in this magical soup, it becomes heavenly."
They gave him a bag of tomatoes. He put them in and kept churning.
"I see you have some pumpkin. Pumpkin makes this magical soup super tasty."
They gave him two pumpkins.
"Oh, and some celery! Celery will make it crunchy."
They gave him celery.
By this time, the soup had become a nice, thick broth full of vegetables. Pierre turned off the fire and tasted it. "Delicious!" he said. "All of you, have some."
They all had the soup and said, "Wow! Pierre is a magician! He made soup out of stone!"
They didn't realize he had tricked them into giving him all the ingredients.
"We love the soup," they said. "You can stay here tonight in our tent."
So Pierre stayed in the tent, and the next morning he took a train back to Paris. And that is how he made a fool out of everybody by making soup out of stone. But it wasn't out of stone—it was because of the carrots, pumpkin, and all the vegetables!
