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近日在读《程序员修炼之道》一书时，读到这样的故事，很有些意思，故事大概如下：

三个士兵从战场返回家乡，在路上饿了。他们看见前面有村庄，就来了精神——他们相信村民会给他们一顿饭吃。但当他们到了哪里，去发现门紧锁，窗户也关着。经历了多年战乱，村民们粮食匮乏，并把他们仅有的一点粮食藏了起来。

士兵们并未气妥，他们开始煮一锅水，小心地把三块石头放进去，吃惊的村民们走出来看望着他们。

“这是石头汤。”士兵们解释说。“就放石头吗？”村民们问。“一点没错——但有人说加一些胡萝卜味道更好……”一个村民跑开了，又很快带着他储藏的一篮胡萝卜跑回来。
几分钟之后，村民们又问：“就是这些了吗？”

“哦，”士兵说：“几个土豆会让汤更实在。”又一个村民跑开了。

接下来的一小时，士兵们列举了更多让汤更加鲜美的配料：牛肉、韭菜、盐，还有香菜。每次都回又一个不同的村民跑回去搜寻自己的私人储藏品。

最后他们煮出了一大锅热气腾腾的汤。士兵们拿掉石头，和所有村民一起享用了一顿美餐，这是几个月以来他们所有人第一次吃饱饭。

看完后，又在Google搜了一下，发现这个故事还有其他的版本，比如有的说是一个乞丐到了一个地主家使用了该方法，有的有说是一群小孩中的一个小孩使用了该方法，不管什么样的版本，故事的大概都查不都，不过我更喜欢这本书上的版本，因为在里面一直都有一种相互合作的氛围，实际上团队软件开发也是这样，团队中需要有个催化剂来提高队员的协作能力，而上面的士兵就充当了这个催化剂，只要团队协作效果好，最后每个人都是赢家。

当然，每个故事在不同的情形下都有自己不同的寓意，对于读到这则故事的你，得到些收获了吗？

最后在附上该故事的英文版：
The Story of Stone Soup

Once upon a time, somewhere in post-war Eastern Europe, there was a great famine in which people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering soldier came into a village and began asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night.

“There’s not a bite to eat in the whole province,” he was told. “Better keep moving on.”

“Oh, I have everything I need,” he said. “In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you.” He pulled an iron cauldron from his wagon, filled it with water, and built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water.

By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come to the square or watched from their windows. As the soldier sniffed the “broth” and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their skepticism.

“Ahh,” the soldier said to himself rather loudly, “I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage — that’s hard to beat.”

Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage he’d retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot. “Capital!” cried the soldier. “You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king.”

The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for all. The villagers offered the soldier a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell and traveled on the next day. The moral is that by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.