Why the Sea is Salt
Long ago, there lived two brothers.
The older brother was rich and successful, but mean and arrogant. The younger
brother was very poor, but kind and generous. One day the poor brother and his
wife found that they had nothing to eat in their house. They had no money
either, and nothing that they could sell. To make matters worse, the next day
was a holiday, a day of celebration.'Where are we going to get something to
eat? Tomorrow is a holiday. How will we celebrate?' asked the poor brother's
wife in tears.
The poor brother was in a fix. He
did not know what to do.
'Go to your brother and ask for his
help,' suggested the poor man's wife. 'He killed a cow yesterday - I saw him.
Surely he will not grudge us a little meat for the holiday?'
The poor man sighed. He did not like
to ask his brother for help, for he knew how mean and selfish his brother was.
But the next day was a holiday, and he really could not think how else to get
something to eat.
So the poor man put on his ragged
cloak and walked to his rich brother's house.
'What do you want?' asked the rich
brother as soon as he saw the poor man.
'Why do you come here?' cried the
rich man's wife. 'Tomorrow is a holiday, and we are busy preparing the feast.
Go away, we have no time for you!'
'Brother,' said the poor man, 'We
have nothing to eat in the house, no food to celebrate the holiday. Lend me a
little meat, so that I and my wife may also celebrate.'
'I knew it!' shrieked the rich man's
wife at her husband. 'I knew your brother would come begging one day. Throw him
out!'
The poor man ignored his brother's
wife. 'Please, brother,' he said, looking at the rich man.
'Oh very well,' grumbled the rich
man. 'Take this - and go to Hiysi!' And he threw a cow's hoof at the poor man.
The poor man thanked his brother,
and wrapping the cow's hoof in his tattered cloak began walking back to his
house. As he walked he thought, 'My brother did not give me the cow's hoof. He
has told me to take it to Hiysi. So this piece of meat is not mine to eat, but
Hiysi's. I must take it to Hiysi.'
Hiysi the Wood-Goblin lived deep in
the forest. So the poor man turned around and started walking towards the
forest. The forest was dark and gloomy, but the poor man was determined to
deliver the cow's hoof to Hiysi. So he walked and he walked through the trees.
After a while he met some
woodcutters.
'Where are you going, so deep in the
forest?' asked the woodcutters.
'To Hiysi the Wood-Goblin's,'
replied the poor man. 'I have this cow's hoof for him. Can you tell me how to
find his hut?'
'Keep walking straight ahead,' said
the woodcutters. 'Turn neither left nor right, and soon you will be at Hiysi's
hut. But listen carefully. Hiysi loves meat. He will offer you silver and gold
and precious stones in gratitude. Don't accept any of those. Ask instead for
his millstone. If he tries to offer you something else, refuse. Ask only for
his millstone.'
The poor man thanked the
woodcutters, and walked on. Very soon he saw a hut. He went inside, and there
sat Hiysi, the Wood-Goblin himself.
'Why have you come here?' asked
Hiysi.
'I have brought you a gift,' said
the poor man. 'A cow's hoof.' And he held out the piece of meat to Hiysi.
'Meat!' cried Hiysi in delight.
'Quick, give it to me! I haven't eaten meat for thirty years!' Hiysi grabbed
the hoof and ate it.
'Now I shall give you a gift in
return,' said the Wood-Goblin. 'Here, take some silver,' he said, pulling out a
handful of silver coins.
'No, I don't want any silver,' said
the poor man.
'Gold, then?' offered Hiysi, pulling
out two handfuls of gold coins.
'No. I don't want gold either,' said
the poor man.
'How about some precious stones?'
asked Hiysi. 'Diamonds, rubies, sapphires?'
'No, thank you, I don't want any of
those either,' said the poor man.
'Well, what do you want then?' asked
Hiysi.
'I want your millstone,' replied the
poor man.
'My millstone!' exclaimed Hiysi.
'No, you can't have that. But I can give you anything else you like.'
'That's very kind of you,' said the
poor man, 'but I only want your millstone.'
Hiysi did not know what to do. He
had eaten the cow's hoof, and could not let the poor man go without a gift in
return.
'Oh well,' he said at last. 'I
suppose I must let you have my millstone. Take it. But do you know how to use
it?'
'No,' said the poor man. 'Tell me.'
'Well,' explained Hiysi, 'this is a
magic millstone. It will give you whatever you wish for. Just make your wish
and say Grind, my millstone! When you have enough and want the millstone to
stop, just say Enough and have done! And it will stop. Now go!'
The poor man thanked Hiysi, and
wrapping the magic millstone in his tattered cloak, began walking back towards
his home.
He walked and he walked and he
walked, and at last reached his home. His wife was weeping, having given him up
for dead. 'Where have you been?' she cried. 'I thought I'd never see you
again!'
The poor man told his wife the tale
of his adventures. Then, setting the magic millstone on to the table, he said,
'Grind, my millstone! Give us a feast fit for a king.'
The millstone began to grind, and
there on the table poured the most wonderful dishes ever. The poor man and his
wife ate and ate till they could eat no more.
'Enough and have done!' commanded
the poor man, and the millstone stopped grinding.
The next day the poor man and his
wife celebrated the holiday happily. There was enough to eat, and new clothes
to wear. From then on they never lacked for anything. The millstone gave them a
fine new house, green fields full of crops, horses and cattle, and enough food
to eat and clothes to wear. Soon they had so much that they did not really need
to use the millstone any more.
The rich brother heard of the poor
man's change of fortune. 'How could my brother have become rich so suddenly?'
he wondered. 'I must find out.' So the rich brother went to the poor brother's
house.
'How have you become rich so
quickly?' he asked.
The poor brother told him everything
- about Hiysi and his gift of the magic millstones. 'I must get that millstone
for myself,' thought the rich brother. 'Show me the millstone,' he demanded.
The poor brother, not suspecting his
brother of any wickedness, did so. He put the millstone on the table and said,
'Grind, my millstone! Give us good things to eat.' At once the millstone began
turning and out poured the most delicious pies and cakes and breads on the
table.
The rich brother could not believe
his eyes. 'Sell me your millstone!' he begged of the poor brother.
'No,' said the poor man. 'The
millstone is not for sale.'
'Well then, lend it to me for a
bit,' said the rich brother. 'After all, it was I who gave you the cow's hoof
to carry to Hiysi!'
The poor brother thought for a bit.
What harm could there be in letting his brother have the millstone for a while?
'Very well, you may borrow it for a
day,' said the poor man.
The rich brother was delighted. He
grabbed the millstone and ran off with it, without asking how to make it stop.
He put the millstone into a boat, and rowed out to sea with it, where the
fishermen were hauling in their catch of fish.
'The fishermen are salting the fish
right now,' he thought. 'They will pay well for fine salt.' He was far out to
sea by now, far away from any land. There was no one to hear him as he said
'Grind, my millstone! Give me salt, as much as you can!'
The millstone began to turn and out
poured the finest, whitest salt imaginable. Soon the boat was full. The rich
man decided to stop the millstone. But he did not know how. 'Stop, my
millstone!' he cried. 'Stop grinding. I don't want any more salt.' But the
millstone kept turning, pouring out the finest whitest salt.
The rich man begged and pleaded with
the millstone to stop. But he did not know the magic words. So the millstone
kept turning and pouring out salt and more salt. The rich brother tried to
throw the millstone overboard, but he couldn't lift it. The boat was now so
full of salt that it began sinking.
'Help!' cried the rich man. But
there was no one there to hear him.
The millstone kept turning, pouring
out salt, and the boat kept sinking till it sank to the bottom of the sea with
the rich man and the millstone.
The rich man drowned for his greed.
But the magic millstone kept
turning, even at the bottom of the sea, pouring out the finest whitest salt. It
is turning there to this very day, making more and more salt.
And that, believe it or not, is why
the sea is salt.
source : by google