Steckel Elementary School’s second- and third-grade classes performed the classic stories of “Strega Nona” by Tomie dePaola and “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown for family and friends to enjoy. On Nov. 7, the audience filled the seats of the classroom, excited to watch these characters come to life.

“Strega Nona” features a grandmother witch, her assistant and the village townspeople. Strega Nona loves to help everybody with their troubles but finds herself getting older and having a harder time with the townspeople’s requests. One day, while cooking a pot of pasta, Strega Nona recites a spell over a pot, making the pasta appear. She warns her assistant to never touch the magic pot, which he ignores.

While away from her home, her assistant decides to invite townspeople over for food. He wants to make them pasta from the forbidden magic pot without Strega Nona’s knowledge. The pot begins to fill with pasta and overflows all over the ground, creating a giant mess.

Strega Nona comes home and realizes what her assistant has done. She stops the pot from overflowing, but her assistant is not off the hook.

“Always leave the magic to Strega Nona,” she says.

As a punishment, she hands her assistant a fork to eat all the pasta he has created.

“Stone Soup” is a story about travelers who arrive at a village with an empty pot and hungry for food to eat. Unfortunately, nobody in the town is generous enough to share their food with the travelers.

Angrily, the travelers go to a stream to fill their pot with water.

“I will be making stone soup,” one of the travelers announces, as everybody watches in confusion.

She drops a large stone into the middle of the pot but explains to her fellow travelers and the townspeople that stone soup cannot be completed without their assistance. One by one, the townspeople grab ingredients to help: cheese, tomatoes, a ham bone and potatoes.

With everybody’s help, the stone soup becomes a success and a favorite among all.