From the FRACTINT documentation

Appendix B Stone Soup With Pixels: The Authors

THE STONE SOUP STORY

Once upon a time, somewhere in Eastern Europe, there was a great
famine. People jealously hoarded whatever food they could find,
hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a peddler
drove his wagon into a village, sold a few of his wares, and began
asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night.

  [No! No! It was three Russian Soldiers! – Lee
Crocker]
[Wait! I heard it was a Wandering Confessor! – Doug Quinn]
[Well *my* kids have a book that uses Russian Soldiers! – Bert]
[Look, who’s writing this documentation, anyway? – Monte]
[Ah, but who gets it *last* and gets to upload it? – Bert]

  “There’s not a bite to eat in the whole province,” he was
told. “Better keep moving on.”

  “Oh, I have everything I need,” he said. “In fact, I was
thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you.” He
pulled an iron cauldron from his wagon, filled it with water, and
built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an
ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the
water.

  By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers
had come to the square or watched from their windows. As the
peddler sniffed the “broth” and licked his lips in anticipation,
hunger began to overcome their skepticism.

  “Ahh,” the peddler said to himself rather loudly, “I do
like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with CABBAGE —
that’s hard to beat.”

  Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage
he’d retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot.
“Capital!” cried the peddler. “You know, I once had stone soup with
cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a
king.”

  The village butcher managed to find some salt beef…and
so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so
on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for all. The villagers
offered the peddler a great deal of money for the magic stone, but
he refused to sell and traveled on the next day. And from that time
on, long after the famine had ended, they reminisced about the
finest soup they’d ever had.