Sweet Porridge

Once there was a poor but good girl who lived alone with her mother.One day they had nothing left to eat.So the girl went into the forest, and there she met an old woman.

The old woman already knew about the girl’s trouble, and she gave her a little iron pot.“Say ‘Cook, little pot, cook,’ and it will make sweet porridge,” she said.“Say ‘Stop, little pot,’ and it will stop.”

The girl carried the pot home to her mother.Now their days of hunger were over.They ate sweet, warm porridge as often as they liked.

One day the girl went out, and her mother said, “Cook, little pot, cook.”The pot cooked, and the mother ate until she was full.Then she wanted it to stop — but she had forgotten the words.

So the pot cooked on and on. The porridge began to overflow, and it filled the kitchen, then the house, then the street.At last only one house was still standing above the porridge when the girl came home.She said, “Stop, little pot,” and it stopped — and anyone who wanted to go back into the town had to eat a path through the porridge.