✦A fresh retelling of a traditional market tale
The Witty Merchant
A soup seller demands payment for a delicious smell. A travelling merchant answers with something equally difficult to put in a bowl.
A story to read together
The Witty Merchant
Take your time. Let the story unfold.
At a busy market, a traveller sat on a bench to eat the plain bread he had brought from home. Nearby, a soup seller stirred a fragrant pot of vegetables and herbs. The warm smell drifted across the lane. The traveller closed his eyes for a moment and took another bite of bread. “That smells wonderful,” he said, without asking for a bowl or touching the stall.
A strange price
The soup seller heard him and hurried over. “If my soup made your meal more enjoyable, you must pay for it,” he declared. The traveller looked at the bread in his hand. “But I have not eaten any soup.” “You enjoyed its smell,” the seller replied. “Surely that is worth something.” People stopped to listen. Some laughed at the unusual claim, but the traveller looked worried. He had only enough money for his journey home. He did not want a quarrel, and he did not know how to answer.
A merchant stops to listen
A merchant named Miran was passing with a small bag of goods. He asked both people to explain what had happened. The seller repeated his demand. The traveller showed his bread and empty cup. Miran thought for a moment, then asked the seller to bring an empty bowl. He fetched one eagerly, expecting his to collect payment. He took a few coins from his own purse and held them above the bowl. The crowd leaned closer. The traveller wondered whether he was about to spend money on his behalf.
A payment no one could keep
Miran jingled the coins so that they rang brightly against one another. Then he returned them to his purse. “There,” he said. “You have heard the payment.” The seller stared at the empty bowl. “But you have not given me a single coin!” Miran smiled. “And he has not taken a single spoonful of soup. If the smell is the meal you are charging for, surely the sound can be its payment.” The crowd chuckled. Even the seller could hear the neat balance in his reply.
A better kind of trade
The seller’s face grew warm. He looked at the traveller’s small piece of bread and put the empty bowl down. “I was trying to charge for something I had not sold,” he admitted. He apologised and offered the traveller a little soup freely. The traveller accepted with thanks. Miran went on to his own stall, where he explained his prices clearly before selling anything. By evening, the soup seller had found a better way to attract customers: a friendly greeting and a fair price. People remembered Miran’s joke, but they also remembered the kindness that followed it.
The end
After the final page
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
What had the traveller actually taken from the soup stall?
Why did the sound of the coins fit the merchant’s answer?
How did the seller change his behaviour after the joke?
Make something: Invent a harmless impossible shop that sells things such as echoes or shadows. Draw one item and a funny imaginary payment.
