Stone soup
Preserved but no longer current.
Also seen as: St. Bernard's soup
Bernard's soup. The story goes that a beggar asked alms at a lordly mansion, but was told by the servants they had nothing to give him. "Sorry for it," said the man, "but will you let me boil a little water to make some soup of this stone?" This was so novel a proceeding, that the curiosity of the servants was aroused, and the man was readily furnished with saucepan, water, and a spoon.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Stone soup” mean?
Bernard's soup. The story goes that a beggar asked alms at a lordly mansion, but was told by the servants they had nothing to give him. "Sorry for it," said the man, "but will you let me boil a little water to make some soup of this stone?" This was so novel a proceeding, that the curiosity of the servants was aroused, and the man was readily furnished with saucepan, water, and a spoon.
Is “Stone soup” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.