This re-working of a legend from South East China allows an idle and boastful fisherman to tell what he claims to be the 'real story' of 'stone soup', whilst the pictures tell a contradictory version of how he is the unsuspecting victim of a confidence trick at the hands of the three young fishermen he hires to work for him. Chiding them for forgetting to bring a cooking pot, they appear to make lunch by magical means, using a hole in the sand, water and hot stones, but in reality they exploit his greed and gullibility to their own ends. The contrary narratives of text and pictures are worked out with a great sense of mischief and fun.