Grimm Reviews – “Sweet Porridge”

My introductory post.  

“Sweet Porridge”

There was this poor girl and her mother who didn’t have anything to eat.  One day the girl went into the woods and an old woman gave her a little pot.  When told to “Cook, little pot, cook,” the pot would make sweet porridge.  To stop the porridge, all they had to say was, “Stop, little pot.” The girl went back and she and her mother ate all the porridge they could.

One day the girl went out and the mother got the pot to cooking.  But she must have been a bit senile because she couldn’t remember how to stop it.  So the pot cooked and cooked until the village was full of porridge.  The girl returned and got the pot to stop, and people had to eat their way to their homes.

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I have a couple questions about this tale.  Did the girl and mother keep this pot to themselves, because they apparently could have fed the whole village?  Of course, a diet of porridge would grow tiresome after a while, but still there were probably other poor, hungry people in the village.  Also, the mother could remember “Cook, little pot, cook,” but couldn’t remember “Stop, little pot?” Seriously?