Acting. A Form of Narration

One of the stories I loved growing up was, Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown.  I loved looking at the illustrations and the text was magical to me.  The thought of the villagers hiding their food under their beds and behind things..... I related so well to!  Stashing stuff all over my bedroom when I was supposed to be cleaning it was something I was very familiar with.  (Sorry Mom...)  I got the biggest kick out of how those soldiers tricked the villagers into making a huge pot of soup out of stones.

Yesterday I was laying on the couch.  The Native's trickled in from school.  After reporting to me on their day they each went about getting their chores done, getting snacks, etc.  I continued to lay here on the couch and knit.  Miss K came in and out of the room randomly dumping things on the ground.  After a few minutes of tromping in and out of the room with objects that were obviously going to be the means of some make believe adventure I asked her what she was doing!

I am going to tell you a story and act it out!  This is what she told me. 

I could tell this was going to be good so I got out my camera as she began to narrate:

I bring to you, the story of Stone Soup. Written by: Marcia Brown. Acted out by: Miss Henny Penny and Turkey Lurkey.

There were three soldiers who were on their way home from the wars. They were very tired and hungry. They saw a village up ahead of them. When the villagers saw the soldiers coming, they weren't very nice. They didn't want to share so they hid all of their food. When the soldiers asked them if they could have something to eat and a place to sleep and rest the villagers lied and told them they didn't have any food. Mom, that wasn't honest. They lied to the soldiers!

Anyway, the soldiers knew the villagers weren't telling the truth so they came up with an idea. They told the villagers they were going to make stone soup and share with everyone. The villagers were curious. They had never heard of stone soup before.

The soldiers asked them for a big pot. The soldiers put the big pot on some wood and lit a fire under it. Then, they poured in a bunch of water into the pot and some salt and pepper.

Yes, you are seeing correctly.  Henny Penny has on only one sock.  This shouldn't shock you by now...

We need three big smooth stones the soldiers told the villagers. The villagers brought the soldiers some stones. That part was easy.

The soldiers dumped the stones in the pot. Mmmmm this is going to be good soup.

This would be what is called, a preemie carrot.

You know what would make it better? Carrots. Too bad nobody has any carrots. One of the villagers went and got some carrots and the soldiers cut up and dumped the carrots in the pot.

Mmmm this is going to be the best stone soup! It would be even better if it had some cabbage. Too bad there isn't any cabbage. One of the villagers said they had cabbage so they got not one but three heads of cabbage and dumped it in the pot.




This is going to be the best soup ever the soldiers told the villagers. But it would be even better if we had some meat and potatoes. This soup will be good enough for a rich person. The villagers wanted to eat soup good enough for a rich person so they went and got some meat and potatoes and dumped it in the soup.

Henny Penny didn't have any pretend barley.  Barley is a grain, crackers are a grain.  Good 'nuff.

Barley. This soup needs barley. The villagers ran and got barley to put in the soup.

This is NOT water.  I know it looks like the bottle of water used earlier but we are assured, this bottle in fact, is milk.

And some milk! This soup will be so rich it will be good enough for a king they told the villagers. They told the villagers they'd had dinner with the king before. The villagers wanted to eat a soup that the king had eaten so they went and got milk.

Don't be deceived. This really is a king.  A king in a Cat in the Hat get up.  Even kings celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday.  And yes, he is in his pajamas.  No one changes into his jammies after getting home from school faster than Turkey Lurkey.

A soup fit for a king!

The soup was all mixed and at last it was ready.

The villagers and the soldiers sat down to eat. They sniffed the soup. It smelled so good.

They tasted the soup. It was the best stone soup the villagers had ever had. They ate and they ate and they ate until they were all stuffed full.

Then, they got up and danced with the soldiers. They danced,

and they danced,

and they danced. Until they grew very tired.

The villagers liked the soldiers now so much they told them to sleep in their houses and in their beds.

So they did.

The next morning, the soldiers waved good bye to the villagers.

The End.