Characters: Hok, Lok, Siew, the villagers
Setting: China, in the village
Pot: The monks were talking about what makes one happy. They went into a village that had been through many hard times, the village didn’t even trust their neighbors! The selfish villagers showed no welcome to the three monks.
genre: folk tale
The folk tale “ Stone Soup” retold by Jon J Muth talks about how selfish people did not know about happiness, and the monks help them simply by making a stone soup. Three monks were walking into a selfish village, which showed no sign of welcome to the three visitors. The three monks decided to help the villagers to know about happiness. They made a big pot of stone soup. The sent interested the villagers. They brought all kinds of food and vegetables, and then something magical began to appear upon the villagers: they started to share again! The well-again villagers welcomed the monks warmly as they should be doing.
True happiness comes from sharing and trusting others and being nice and friendly to others. People will not be happy if everybody is selfish and gets their own property, not caring about others and just being themselves. It isn’t about holding onto things just for oneself; It’s about being part of a community, helping each other, and finding joy in giving and receiving. In the folk tale, the villagers work hard, but only for themselves, they are suspicious. The selfish people don’t know happiness, they have very little to do with others. But this is changed by the three monks who make a bowl of stone soup, and the villagers become happy again. The people’s little food, which they fought so hard to keep, was turned into a gargantuan bowl of stone soup. The villagers find their happiness by sharing the food they had to make the soup and share it with others. Sharing and trusting others can make people happy.
The art of teaching is to use a more creative and interesting way instead of lecturing and blaming others. Sometimes, blaming others and telling them directly what to do isn't the way to help and teach people, the suitable way is to tell them implicitly or let them do something that will affect what they do in the future. Preachment is not helpful, you need to allow people to experience it on their own so that they can learn important lessons by themselves In the folk tale, the villagers were weary and untrusting of strangers and unwelcoming. The monks are patient and generous. They are not blaming the selfishness of the village. Instead, they realize that the villagers need to be helped and find a more suitable and creative way to teach them to be happy by making a stone soup. The monks make stone soup to make them work together instead of saying that they don’t know happiness and should take care of their neighbors. This is the art of teaching creatively and effectively.
Selfish and suspicious people won’t stay in the zone forever, they can transform to be generous and grateful by sharing and cooperation if they are kindly treated. People are not born to be bad guys, and there must be some reasons to make them act like such. If people live in a nasty environment with a lack of resources, they will turn out to be people who do nasty things, too. But they aren't always like that, they can change if they feel that people care and love them even when they are doing bad things. In the folk tale, the villagers are suspicious at the beginning. The monks don't judge the villagers for how broken they are but for how good they can become. They used a simple but wise way to show the possibility of sharing and cooperating, which made the villagers realize that sharing makes them richer. They become generous and show gratitude to the monks. Selfish people will change by sharing and being grateful, which will make them more and more happy and grateful.
The folk tale “ Stone Soup” talks about selfish people who did not know about happiness, and the monks help them simply by making a stone soup. Three monks were walking into a selfish village, which showed no sign of welcome to the visitors. The three monks decided to help the villagers by making stone soup. It interested the villagers. They brought all kinds of food. Then, they started to share again! The villagers welcomed the monks warmly, as they should be doing. Happiness comes from sharing and having friends. Teaching isn't always telling them directly or saying they are wrong, teaching can be taught in other creative and suitable ways. And finally, people change over time, bad won't be bad forever, and they can be changed by Sharing and being grateful, which will make them more and more happy and grateful.
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