Stone Soup

One day a tramp (vagabundo) came to an old woman's house."Excuse me", said the tramp. "I'm very hungry. Can you give me something to eat ?" But the old woman was very mean (tacaña) . "Go away," she said."I haven't got any  food." "Oh", said the tramp. "That's a pity.I've got a magic stone (piedra) .I can make soup with it.But I need some water." "Well, I've got a lot of water." said the mean, old woman. "A magic stone, eh?". She fetched a big saucepan (cazo) of water.The tramp put the stone into it.After a while he tasted the soup."Mmmm.It's very good," he said."It just needs  a bit of salt and pepper." The old woman fetched (fue  por) the salt and pepper.

"Mmmm. That's better," he said."It really needs a few vegetables.It's a pity you haven't got any vegetables." "Oh, I can find some vegetables." said the old woman. She ran into the garden and brought back some potatoes, carrots, beans and a big onion. The tramp put the vegetables into the saucepan. " Is it ready now ?" , asked the woman."Almost," said the tramp."It really needs  a bit of meat.It's a pity you haven't got any meat,"."Oh, I can find some meat ." said the old woman.She ran into the  kitchen and came back with some ham and some sausages.The tramp put them into the saucepan.

"Right," said the tramp. "Ican't see the stone anymore.So the soup is ready.It's a pity you haven't got any bread." "Oh, I've got some a bit of bread," said the woman.She ran into the kitchen and came back with a loaf of bread,some butter and a piece of cake.She put them on the table.

The old woman tasted the soup."Mmm.This stone soup is delicious and you made it with just that magic stone."

When the tramp left, he said." Here is the magic stone.You can keep it." "Oh thank you." said the old woman."But remember." said the tramp."For the best stone soup, you need a bit of meat, a few vegetables and a bit of salt and pepper , too."

Note: we use " a bit of" with uncountable nouns and  "a few" with countable nouns. But we can use "a lot of "  with countable and uncountable nouns.