- And fancy, made from stones! -

The evolution of Stone Soup presented in these selected variants shows a trend wherein the trickster character (i.e. the stranger who arrives into town in search of a meal) evolves into an increasingly benevolent figure whose appearance creates a lasting positive impact on the communities who participate in the Stone Soup tradition. As the versions shift through time they become increasingly global- the variants explored here retell the story from distinctly Chinese, Jewish, Russian, German, Scandinavian, Mexican, Italian, Caribbean, and American Southwestern perspectives. This expansion of environment and specificity of character reflects, among other factors, the role of Stone Soup as a teaching tool in elementary education (S. Kimmel). The expanded retellings reflect an increasing focus on multicultural resources for early educators and offer responses to contemporary culture, from a playful Halloween retelling to a heartfelt recognition of the impact of isolation during COVID-19.

In McGovern's 1986 variant, the traveler walks away proud of himself for using trickery to earn himself a meal, saying to himself "What a fine supper I will have tomorrow." (McGovern 32) The emphasis is not on the changed nature of the woman who provides the meal, but rather on the ability of the boy to earn his meal with nothing more than a useless stone. This narrative is challenged in Ross' 1987 rendition that relies on the villainous archetype of the Big Bad Wolf and the familiar and heroic archetype of Mother Hen. Mother Hen plays the role of the trickster, not only by fooling the Big Bad Wolf into believing the myth of stone soup but also by tricking him into doing her chores in the process. However, she is clearly the moral role model of the story.

Both the McGovern and Ross variations rely on humor and soft colorful illustrations to relate the tale, but this aesthetic and tone is turned on its head in Aubrey Davis' Bone Button Borscht published in 1997. Moody and sophisticated, this tale introduces a dire element to the story. The traveler archetype is supplanted by a beggar archetype. There is no indication that the beggar has come to this town with a primary desire to trick his way into a meal; he is starving and deeply disturbed by the town's reluctance to help him. The only building that will accept the beggar is the synagogue. Aubrey Davis' sincere and dire tone is echoed by Petričić's detailed renderings, notably his use of color. When the beggar discovers the door to the synagogue is open, his path is revealed by "a thin line of light in the snow." (A. Davis 12)

Forest's 1998 version of Stone Soup is bright and colorful and introduces an element that relates to this story's role in elementary education: a recipe. The addition of the recipe adds an interactive element to the Stone Soup story that persists in the form of other recipes and songs lifting the story off of the page and into action. Forest's version, like McGovern's, Ross', and Aubrey Davis' all feature a traveler, unlike Brown's telling which features soldiers. Muth challenges this trend by introducing the traveling monk.

Muth's 2003 version diverges from previous versions in several key ways. Casting the travelers as monks gives the characters a pious and benevolent nature that is missing in earlier variations. Muth also sets this story outside of a European landscape in a Chinese village walled off from the world at the base of a mountain. This change in the environment is also reflected in the artwork - a drastic illustrative shift reflecting an Eastern influence in both the tone and aesthetic of the story. This shift in landscape also occurs in Kimmel's 2004 Cactus Soup which places the story in the Mexican town of San Miguel and adjusts the ingredients used in the story to reflect regional food culture. Kimmel, like Brown, casts the travelers as soldiers and emphasizes the role of distrust and war weariness to justify the town's reluctance to help the soldiers.

Seeger, like Forest, introduces interactive elements to the story in the form of musical notation in his 2005 variant Some Friends to Feed. Gershator continues the trend of expanding the environment outside of the European context in the 2005 publication of Kallaloo! A Caribbean Tale a version that uses dialect and regional ingredients to distinguish itself from earlier versions and includes not one but two recipes to engage the reader in both story and cultural experience. But in 2007 Compestine's The Real Story of Stone Soup took a metadramatic approach to the tale and examined the role of the benevolent trickster.

In the universe created by Compestine, the story of Stone Soup already has a cultural purchase over the characters. She sets the story outside of the European context in a coastal Chinese landscape from the perspective of the tricked rather than the trickster. It is the narrator's dismissive and deceitful nature that lends moral authority to the tricksters in the tale. "... I could get away with not paying them very much," says the narrator of the three young boys he hires to work for him (Compestine 5). The boys eventually trick him into providing much of the labor needed to make the soup. Maddern's Nail Soup, also published in 2007, sets the story in a Scandinavian landscape, but, like Compestine, directly addresses this benevolence of the trickster. "Perhaps he didn't trick her after all but he softened her heart, Maybe this was because they did two things human beings have done since the beginning of time- they shared food and told stories. Long may we continue to do so!" (Maddern 26).

Evans' Bone Soup, published in 2008, is the first holiday-specific retelling represented in this selection, followed by Glaser's Stone Soup With Matzoh Balls: A Passover Tale in Chelm in 2014. By the 2010s, it seems many classrooms and storytimes for young children had a ravenous appetite for Stone Soup. David Davis' 2011 Fandango Stew seems custom-made as a read-aloud, using humor, dialect, and evocative illustrations to set the story squarely in a Wild West setting, replete with a repeating song that activates the reader (and, when applicable, the listener).

2020 brings us two very different iterations of Stone Soup. Durant's Quill Soup features a cast of all animals and vibrant patterns that bring a modern aesthetic to folk art techniques. Quill Soup closely follows the structure established in Brown's 1947 variant, including the post-meal celebration and the housing of the traveler. However, in the same year, a very different variant arrives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Corona Soup: A Modern Retelling of Stone Soup differs from Brown's version, and every version of Stone Soup on this list, in one key way. There is no inedible ingredient. In this version, the role of the inedible ingredient is played by the isolation experienced by a tight-knit community during lockdown. This is not a story of a long fractured community coming together in response to the kindness of a stranger, but rather a story of how a tight-knit community teaches the youngest members of that community the power of creativity, generosity, sharing, and community care.

Beyond these 15 variants, countless other stories revisit Stone Soup across the globe and across time. Passed down to children from parents, caregivers, teachers, librarians, and from a multitude of picture books, this story lends itself easily to reinterpretation and reimagination. The variations of Stone Soup practice the very pedagogy explored in the text in almost every variant: that the shared contributions of the many may transform any pot of water into a hearty soup fit for a king, a child, a skeleton, a beggar, a cowboy, a grandmother, or whoever may be in need of the transformative power of sharing. In a literary form where hunger and starvation so often lead to tragedy, Stone Soup is a folktale that offers a glimmer of hope in a grim world.