Sweet Porridge is a German Fairy Tale collected by The Brothers Grimm.
A girl and her mother live in poverty and have no food left. In a forest, the girl meets an aged woman who knows of her trouble and gives her a pot that magically produces porridge when the words "Cook, little pot, cook!" are spoken. When the pot is full, the words "Stop, little pot, stop!" must be said to make the pot stop making porridge.
The girl takes the pot home to her mother, and they cease to suffer from starvation. One day, when the girl has gone out, the mother says, "Cook, little pot, cook!" But when the pot is full, the mother cannot stop it from cooking, as she does not know the right words. The porridge fills the whole house, then the next house, and then the whole street, to the terror of the villagers... but no one knows how to stop the pot.
At last, when only one house remains, the girl returns, sees what has happened, and shouts, "Stop, little pot, stop!" This stops the flood of porridge, but whoever wants to get to the girl's town has to eat his way there.
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Tropes included:
- An Aesop: Starting something you don't know how to stop can easily lead to disaster.
- Food End: The story ends with people having to eat their way through the porridge to get to the town.
- It Won't Turn Off: When the mother uses the pot without knowing the words to stop it, the town winds up flooded with porridge.
- Magic Cauldron: The pot can produce endless amounts of porridge.
- Miracle Food: A mysterious old woman gives the pot to a girl who is starving.
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: While the girl is away, the mother uses the pot to magically produce porridge—but since she doesn't know the words to stop the pot, by the time the girl returns, the village is drowning in porridge.
