Monday 28 January 2008

Monday morning Inspiration # 19


Many years ago three soldiers, hungry and weary of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a meager harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of anything to eat.

The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then turned to the village elders. "Your tired fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of how to make soup from stones."

Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was put to the town's greatest kettle as the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones. "Now this will be a fine soup", said the second soldier; "but a pinch of salt and some parsley would make it wonderful!" Up jumped a villager, crying "What luck! I've just remembered where some's been left!" And off she ran, returning with an apronful of parsley and a turnip. As the kettle boiled on, the memory of the village improved: soon barley, carrots, beef and cream had found their way into the great pot, and a cask of wine was rolled into the square as all sat down to feast.

They ate and danced and sang well into the night, refreshed by the feast and their new-found friends. In the morning the three soldiers awoke to find the entire village standing before them. At their feet lay a satchel of the village's best breads and cheese. "You have given us the greatest of gifts: the secret of how to make soup from stones", said an elder, "and we shall never forget." The third soldier turned to the crowd, and said: "There is no secret, but this is certain: it is only by sharing that we may make a feast". And off the soldiers wandered, down the road.

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here

8 comments:

--xh-- said...

nice one - the value of sharing. it is really importent in the corporate world, where team work is something which you need to do to make your work move :-D

Noushy Syah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Noushy Syah said...

Two heads are better than one!
Especially in critical situations...

Really inspiring post.Thanks Shalini.Have a gr8 day.

Sudha said...

Thanks for making me remember the story .I had almost forgotten this.

Vasanthan said...

no words to describe, a nice story. one i would read to my little cousins

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

@Anoop

Very true and work place is one such place where one can work as a team and get benifited.

@Noushy

Thanks! Glad to know you liked it :)

@Sudhakar

Thanks! Glad that I refreshed your memory with this post :)

@Vasanthan

That's sweet! Feel honored to play a small role in ur bro's life through this post :)

Aarthi said...

Hey have heard this story before....but the way you described it...makes it more interesting...grt..lovely story...:)

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

Thanks Aarthi :)Glad to know you liked it :)