[Terr_]

While I can see how it can be retold that way, the core plot-mechanic is still (A) fraud by pot-stirrers and (B) greed by participants.

At each step, the participant (especially the first) is deliberately misled to believe that they can secure valuable soup for less-valuable ingredients.

It is not an appeal to their better nature--in many tellings the travelers have already tried that--but an appeal to their baser nature. For it to be a positive story, one must accept that the ends have somehow justified the means.

[sdwr]

That's a good point!