Nail Soup

Australian storyteller Eric Maddern gives a spirited retelling of the classic trickster story in which a penniless vagrant offers to share soup made from a single rusty nail with his host, while at the same time artfully wheedling sufficient ingredients to turn a pot of iron gruel into a banquet. Maddern’s take on this has an eloquent, raffish traveller arriving at dusk on the doorstep of a lone and surly housewife, who gradually warms to the stranger’s mouth-watering patter, and ends up sharing the humble riches of her larder with him. This is, of course, a tale of seduction and deceit, and Maddern feels impelled to add a postscript arguing for the tale’s underlying humanity. Paul Hess’s full page, colourful and humorous illustrations convey this more effectively, filling the book with the cosy radiance of growing camaraderie and shared, succulent fantasy between rogue and hostess as the ingredients swell the pot.

An excellent re-imagining of a reliable favourite story.