m'm'm'm good

Canyon Elementary students make 'stone soup'

There's nothing like a little creative thinking to pry open pantries guarded by hoarding villagers.

And there's nothing like a stage to bring out the natural ham in a group of 60 or so kindergartners, first- and second-graders.

With a portable platform, chairs for the moms, dads and grandparents, some down-home costumes and energetic singing, Canyon Elementary's multipurpose room was transformed Thursday into a famine-stricken village in post-war Eastern Europe - with a few adaptations for modern-day songs and the children who would sing them.

Under the direction of and piano accompaniment by music teacher Diane Volkman, the primary grades presented "Stone Soup," a musical written by Virginia Kolk Pedulla.

It recounts the classic tale of three soldiers walking home from the war, tired and hungry from their long trek through barren lands. "Walking, Walking" is the dirge that opens this musical.

Meanwhile, the residents of the next village are waking and setting to their work with a cheery, "Good Morning" tune. But soon they spot the travelers and they quickly hide any trace of food.

"We've covered up the carrots," the animated first- and second-graders belt out, "so when the soldiers come walking by they will not find a bite."

Figuring there's no harm in asking, the hungry soldiers approach the villagers to see whether they could spare a little food.

They "looked as hungry as they could," said narrator Colter Norick, a second-grader in Suzanne Henry's class. One of the straw-hatted farmers demonstrated by bending over and holding his empty belly.

They'd had nothing to eat all day, the villagers insisted in "No, There Isn't Any Food."

"Well, then," one soldier says, "we'll make soup from stones."

"How do you do that?" a villager asks.

"Just listen," he responds, "and we'll tell you!"

First, they need a cooking pot. The villagers quickly produce a large pot, that looked suspiciously like a flower pot. They filled it with "water" from oatmeal-box "pails." Bright construction-paper flames leaping from makeshift logs were stacked around the pot to get the water boiling.

Next came a pair of large round stones, generously donated by the villagers.

As everyone waited for the tempting soup, anticipation - and a well-timed suggestion from a soldier who recalled how good stone soup is with a bit of onion - prompted one woman to produce some "lovely yellow onions" from her cupboard. In went the oversized construction-paper onions.

"It bubbled and bubbled and the soup smelled so good," narrator Norick said.

Soon, another soldier's suggestion prodded another villager's memory about the carrots she had hidden earlier. Before long, the smell was too much, and a pair of big, juicy soup bones went into the pot.

"It bubbled and bubbled and the soup smelled so good," came the refrain once again.

"Yum, yum!" a villager responded.

A couple more villagers knew where to find salt and pepper.

"It would taste good now," a soldier pronounced his assessment of the meal-in-the-making. "But it would taste so much better with some butter and barley."

A villager miraculously found the necessary grain, and another plopped in a big, yellow chunk of "butter."

With the soup boiled to perfection and their hunger satisfied, the villagers and soldiers joined in dancing out their excitement. First- and second-graders clapped their hands and swung their partners in joy as Canyon Elementary librarian Jody Lester accompanied on piano.

Then the kindergartners - with morning and afternoon classes joining for the first time - joined hands in a circle to offer up an endearing rendition of "Clap Your Hands Together" and "Farmer in the Dell."

Thanks to their new-found generosity, all was well in the village and "they lived happily ever after," Norick proclaimed.

As the young actors and musicians bowed to the crowd's applause, the room echoed with a show-ending reprise of "Stone Soup:"

"We're gonna have stone soup."

"What kind of soup?"

"Stone soup - the best soup in the land."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.