STONE BROTH.
A poor man, in a storm of wind and rain, came to a great house to beg for alms, and was sent off with cross words. But he went back, and said, “May I but ask to dry my clothes at your fire, for I am wet with rain?” This the maids thought would not cost them much, so they let him come in. He then told the cook that if she would but give him a pan, and let him fill it from the pump, he would make some stone broth. This kind of dish was so new to the cook, that she let him make it. The man then got a stone from the road, and put it in the pan. The cook gave him some salt, peas, mint, thyme, and all the scraps of meat that she could spare, to throw in. Thus the poor man made a rich mess, and the cook said, “Well done! you have made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear; and it just shows that ‘they who crave for food will break through stone walls.’”
Where there’s a will there’s a way.