When the old woman answered the knock, there was a man standing at the door. He was winsome and cheery as he wished her a jolly good morning. But, his clothing was tattered, his hat had a hole in it, and his shoes were all scuffed-and worn. He had several days’ growth of beard, but he spoke with the confidence of a Wall Street banker. She was thin and haggard as she stood with the door partly open, ready to slam it shut if need be. She peered at him from beneath her bushy eyebrows, suspicious and impatient at the unwelcome intrusion. Her wrinkled face betrayed her years of hard, dreary labor.

“Would ye happen to have a morsel of bread for a weary traveller?” ‘Absolutely not!” came the answer. “I’m a poor widow woman with nothing to eat in the house!” “Well then, would a handsome and good-hearted woman like ye, have a little bit o’ water and a kettle? You see, I have in my pocket this bright, shiny nail. It still has plenty of flavor left in it. With a little bit o’ water and a speck of salt and pepper, I could make us both some delicious nail soup!” “Nail soup?” she asked. “Nail soup,” he responded. “A favorite dish in many of the places I’ve travelled. “Well…I do have some water … and perhaps I still have left a little salt and pepper.” Proudly holding the sparkling nail before her still incredulous eyes, the man pushed open the door and entered the house.

By the time the water was boiling, the traveller felt quite at home. Watching the bubbles rise to the top and the black pepper churning about, he declared that it was “just about ready”. He picked up the wooden spoon and gave the water a turn like a chef in the finest of restaurants. The nail responded with a rolling rattle against the black iron pot. He scooped up a spoonful of the nail soup and blew on it ’til it was cool enough to taste. With an ecstatic look of deep satisfaction he smiled at her and pronounced it “absolutely delicious!” “But, ye know, for the finer palate of a genteel person, the taste is not quite perfect.. Something is missing.” He paused fora moment, “I know! The carrot! The carrot is missing. If we just had a carrot, the taste of this soup would be absolutely perfect!” The old woman drug her fingers crosswise over her lips and hesitantly remarked, “Well,….I might could find a carrot left over from the garden. But, I’m not promising anything.” The traveler chopped up the carrot and raked it into the pot.

When the carrot started cooking, the traveler remarked to the now hungry widow, “Ye know, what would really taste good is an onion cooked into this soup. A shame and a pity to have nail soup with no onion!” The old woman fidgeted, unwilling to reveal that she had had an onion in the cellar all along. She surrendered the onion which he chopped up and put in the pot.

When the fragrance of the onion began to combine with the carrot (and of course the nail), the concoction really began to smell like soup. With his feet propped up and his hands folded across his well-fed stomach, he began to muse on another time and place. “It was in London that I had the best nail soup I ever ate. A royal dinner with all the nobility there…(pause). . .I think it was the potato that really made that nail soup unique. Potato does so much to bring out the flavor of the nail. Yessiree, a little potato does wonders for a steamin’ caldron of good nail soup!” The odor of the gurgling pot had now summoned her digestive juices, and the woman could hardly wait to dig into that good nail soup. Searching her mind, she happened to remember a potato she had left in the cupboard. She rose from her chair, went straight to the cupboard and brought him the cherished potato.

“Salt pork! A teeny bit o’ salt pork would…” She scrambled and scurried and cut off for him a sufficiency of good salt pork.

And so, with the bread which the woman supplied, the couple sat down to a meal that was fit for a king. Why the man was positively brilliant in the kitchen! Amazing what a good cook can do with a nail that he carries in his pocket!

This story, which came back to me from the fifth or sixth year of my life, illustrates how a very determined and negative woman was tricked into providing a meal for a very clever panhandler. This, in spite of the fact, she had already said, “Absolutely not! I have no food in the house!”

This certainly happens to physical possessions, but it also happens with spiritual things. People surrender the truth in just this way. Rarely do men give away the truth with callous and reckless abandon. They bargain it away inch by inch, bit by bit, a teeny morsel at a time. A more obvious crook might never had gotten through the door.

But, the traveler succeeded because he only asked for a little at a time, and not for his own benefit but for the common good of both.

The devil still travels the streets and highways. He doesn’t ask for much. But, if you will let him in the door, he will make for you some of the best nail soup you ever tasted.

Sources:

NORTH PARK CHURCH OFCHRIST Abilene, TX. Sept. 26, 1984

Jay Bowman: The Collected Works Paperback – January 12, 2016, edited by Warren and Paula Berkley