Why the Sea Is Salty Fairy Tale

Long ago, in the mountains of Norway, there lived two brothers. The elder was rich and stingy. His house was full of food: hams hung in his larder, there were cheeses on the shelves and barrels of ale in the cellar. The younger brother was poor, and often there was not even a crust of bread in his house.

Christmas came. The whole village was getting ready for the holiday, and delicious smells drifted from every house. Only the poor brother had nothing at all. He went to his elder brother and asked humbly, "Brother, don't let my children go hungry at Christmas. Please give me something."

The stingy brother frowned and brought a smoked ham out of his larder. "Here, take it. But don't ever let me see you again. If you take this ham, you must never come to my door after today," he said. The younger brother took the ham and walked sadly away.

As he went through the forest, he met an old man with a white beard who was chopping wood. "Happy Christmas, my son! Where are you going?" asked the old man. The young man told him everything.

The old man smiled. "Don't take this ham home. Take it to the stone house on the other side of the forest. Gnomes live there. They love meat, but they can't get any at Christmas. They will offer you lots of gold for the ham. But don't take the gold. Ask for the old hand mill that stands behind their door. I will tell you how to use it."

The young man reached the stone house. When the gnomes saw the ham, they were overjoyed and crowded round him. "Will you sell us the ham? We'll give you a sack of gold!" they cried. "No, I don't need gold. Give me the mill that stands behind the door," said the young man. The gnomes whispered together for a long time, but in the end they agreed.

The young man went back to the old man, who told him the secret of the mill. "Say what you want and add, 'Grind, little mill, grind!' and it will grind it out. To stop it, you must say, 'Stop, little mill, that's enough!' Never forget those words."

When he got home, the young man put the mill on the table and said, "Grind, little mill, grind a Christmas supper and candles!" The mill began to turn, and the table filled with meat and bread, pies and sweets. "Stop, little mill, that's enough!" The mill stopped. The children were delighted, and the whole family ate their fill.

From that day on, the young man had the mill grind him clothes, a cow and then a new house. He helped his neighbours too, grinding food for all the poor people in the village. Soon he was richer than his elder brother.

The stingy brother nearly burst with envy and found out his brother's secret. He wanted to buy the mill for a great deal of money, but the younger brother would not sell it. So the elder brother told a sea captain about the mill. One day the captain came and offered the young man a whole shipload of gold. "My ship carries salt, and I have to sail a long way to get it. With this mill, I won't have to any more," he said.

The young man thought about it and agreed. "I have enough of everything now. Let the mill be useful to others too." The captain grabbed the mill and was so delighted that he forgot to ask how to stop it.

The captain boarded his ship, sailed out to the open sea, set the mill on the deck and said, "Grind, little mill, grind salt! Faster, more!" The mill began to turn, and white salt came pouring out. Soon the whole deck was covered with salt.

"That's enough, stop!" said the captain. But the mill did not stop. "Halt! Quiet! Enough!" But the mill kept grinding. The salt spilled over the sides and buried the whole ship. At last the ship could not bear the weight, and it sank to the bottom of the sea with the mill still grinding.

They say that mill is still lying at the bottom of the sea, grinding salt, because no one ever said to it, "Stop, little mill, that's enough!" And that, the Norwegians say, is why the sea is salty. When they tell this tale to children, they add a piece of advice: never start something unless you know how to stop it.