Sweet Porridge
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Sweet Porridge is a folkloric German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm, as tale number 103 in Grimm's Fairy Tales, in the 19th century. It is Aarne-Thompson type 565, the magic mill. Other tales of this type include Why the Sea Is Salt and The Water Mother.
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There was a poor but good little girl who lived alone with her mother, and they no longer had anything to eat. So the child went into the forest, and there an aged woman met her who was aware of her sorrow, and presented her with a little pot, which when she said, "Cook, little pot, cook," would cook good, sweet porridge, and when she said, "Stop, little pot," it ceased to cook. The girl took the pot home to her mother, and now they were freed from their poverty and hunger, and ate sweet porridge as often as they chose. Once on a time when the girl had gone out, her mother said, "Cook, little pot, cook." And it did cook and she ate until she was satisfied, and then she wanted the pot to stop cooking, but did not know the word. So it went on cooking and the porridge rose over the edge, and still it cooked on until the kitchen and whole house were full, and then the next house, and then the whole street, just as if it wanted to satisfy the hunger of the whole world, and there was the greatest distress, but no one knew how to stop it. At last when only one single house remained, the child came home and just said, "Stop, little pot," and it stopped and gave up cooking, and whosoever wished to return to the town had to eat their way back.
[edit] Cultural uses
Sweet porridge refers to cancer like processes and is often used in the criticism of the exclusivity rights system and policy that is out of control. Systems like the 'sweet porridge' can be described by modern systems theory.
See also the criticism of the Club of Rome
[edit] See also
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
- The Master and His Pupil
- Strega Nona is a similar story, only with spaghetti rather than porridge.
