I forget where this tale started, and like the one of Stone Soup there are likely many versions.

My version takes place in Anatolia (Turkey) long ago on a cold winter night.
Several men of a village sat around talking about their herds, families and how cold it was.
One man, without thinking, said it wasn't that cold, and he had stayed out all night in worse.
His friends immediately challenged him to a contest. He had to spend the very next night alone, without fire on the hilltop overlooking their village from sundown to sunrise.
If he failed, went home early or started a fire, he would have to prepare a magnificient banquet for his friends.
And so, with his friends escorting him to the hillside the next day as the sun was setting.
He stood there alone, it getting darker, colder,the wind coming up. He pulled his robes closer and stamped his feet. He heard a wolfpack.
By midnight he was half frozen, knew he could not survive another hour and was about to walk home in defeat. He looked down on his village in shame. And there, in a far away window he saw a tiny flicker of light from a candle.
The man stared at the tiny light. And somehow, he gained an inner strength to remain until sunrise, staring at that distant light.
His friends walked out next morningto him , prepared a fire and brewed coffee.
They questioned him carefully. Did he prepare a fire? No. Did he sneak home and return? no.He had NO source of heat? He started to reply, and then told of the distant candle.
His friends fell on his admission as proof he received a source of warmth,however slight and had lost the wager.
They announced they would come to his home that very night for dinner.
They assembled at his home, entered and noted how cold it was as he greeted them.
He excused himself to go attend his kitchen.
They talked idly, until over two hours had passed. Angrily, they stormed into the kitchen.
There were indeed several pots with ingredients of lamb, rice and vegetables, coffee and a dessert fully prepared. and, in the window sill was a single candle, cooking it all.

It's cold and wet here. I am drinking coffee a Menehune brought from Hawaii.