Why The Sea Is Salt — Obscure Fairy Tales

In a small village by the Northern Sea, there were two brothers who used to be very close. However, as they grew up and one of them acquired wealth while the other one did not, they became more distant. Still, the poor brother would not shy away from asking his rich sibling for help from time to time. They were still family afterall.

One day, on Christmas Eve, the poor brother had nothing to feed his family for Christmas dinner. Thus, he went to see his more fortunate sibling for help. The latter, tired of being begged for basic necessities, was not very happy to see his brother.

“I’ll give you this flitch of bacon if you promise to do something for me,” said the rich brother to the poor one.

“Of course, I’ll do anything you ask me to!”

The rich brother smirked and huffed, proud of his trick.

“Then, my good brother, go straight to hell,” said the wealthy sibling after giving the flitch of bacon away to his brother.

“Well, I must keep my word, as you kept yours,” said the begger, his voice breaking.

The poor brother thanked his sibling for the meat and marched the whole day towards his destination. His journey was quite unpleasant, but the man was determined to keep his word, as his honour was all he really owned. At dusk, he noticed a birght light in the distance. As he got closer, he saw an old man with a very long white beard chopping wood in front of a the light.

“Sir, is this hell?” asked the poor brother to the old man.

“Well, yes it is!” he responded. “But you must be careful if you are to enter here, as everyone will want your piece of meat. You see, meat is very scarce in hell, and the little devils will all want to buy that bacon off of you. You mustn”t settle for anything but the hand-quern behind the door.”

The young man thanked the bearded elder profusely, anxious to cross the light and fulfill his promise. Once on the other side, all the little devils walked towards him and offered their price for the flitch of bacon. The poor brother refused every offer and proclaimed he would only sell his bacon for the hand-quern behind the door.

Old Erik appeared, unhappy to hear such an offer. Still, he wanted that rare flitch of meat…

“Deal!” said Old Erik. “But you must leave here with your prize and never come back!”

Thus, the young man acquired the quern and left hell through the same ray of light he had entered it from. The old bearded man was still chopping wood outside.

“I see you got the quern,” smiled the old man. “Now, let me show you how to use it.”

So the old man showed the young one how to use the magical quern, grinding a few things for himself as a trade. Then, the young man rushed back home.

When he arrived, the clock had already rang midnight on Christmas Eve, and his wife was worried sick about him. He hugged her tight and showed her what he had acquired during his journey to hell.

“What good is a hand-quern if we have no food to grind?” she sighed, disappointed and hungry.

To the woman’s surprise, the husband proceeded to grind a Christmas dinner for himself and his wife. The young woman couldn’t believe her eyes and kissed her husband in happiness. The couple rejoiced in having more food than they could ever eat for the first time in their lives.

The next day, the man ground enough food and drinks to last them until the twelth day. On the third day, he invited all his friends and family for a feast. His brother, however, wasn’t too excited for his sibling’s newfound wealth. He only wanted to know his secret.

When asked, the host would only say luck had befallen him. Eager to discover the real reason behind the new developments, the rich brother waited until his sibling was well drunk before inquiring about it again. Finally, he learned about the existence of the special hand-quern.

“I will buy it form you,” said the rich brother.

The poor brother refused, stating the object wasn’t for sale. Still, the rich brother pushed until his sibling accepted to part with it. He got three hundred dollars for the item. Only, the poor brother would keep the hand-quern until hay-harvest.

Until that day, the poor brother ground staple foods religiously, hoping it would last his wife and himself years. Come hay-harvest, his rich sibling came to pick up the hand-quern. When he picked it up, he left so fast his brother had no chance to show him how to use it.

When the new owner got home, he sent his wife to supervise the workers in the field, promising he would prepare lunch for her in the meantime. And so, the yougn man started using the hand-quern.

“Grind herrings and broth, grind them good and fast,” he said.

As he ground the quern, herrings and broth came out of it generously and the young man was gathering the delicious food in a giant pot. However, although the pot was filling up, the hand-quern gave no indication of slowing down. The rich brother started to panic. How to stop the quern?

He tried manually preventing it from grinding by holding it still, but this was no use. The floor was now flooded with herrings and broth. As the young man panicked in place, he level of liquid surrounding him was rising dangerously fast. It soon reached his shoulders. The man swam as fast as he could towards the kitchen door, before opening it and letting the herrings soup flow through the house.

After taking a few breaths, the broth already reached his hips, he thus painfully walked to the entrance door of the house and opened it. The young man was immediately thrown out of the building with the flow of liquid. He got back up and started running, a tidal wave of herrings and broth on his heels.

In the field, the workers and their mistress noticed a strange sight in the distance. A thick flow of herrings and broth followed a man running for his life. Finally, they noticed who it was and picked him up on horseback so they could escape.

The rich man went straight to his brother’s house, begging him to take the hand-quern back.

“I’ll take it back for three hundred more dollars,” said the poor brother, wishing to punish his sibling for his actions.

“I’ll give you anything, just please take it back!”

So the poor brother got the hand-quern as well as another three hundred dollars for taking the object back. He ground all that he could eat and drink. Over the next few months, he also ground silver and gold, becoming richer by the day. In fact, he became so rich that he started covering the roof and sides of his house with plates of gold.

The young man and his wife became well known in the region as the couple with the hand-quern who made them rich. One day, a skipper came knocking, eager to see the legendary quern. After laying eyes on it, he offered a good price to the young couple to buy it from them.

“What do you need it for, may I ask?” said the young woman.

“To grind salt! I am tired of crossing the sea to gather salt to sell. With this quern, I’d save the journey!” the skipped responded.

Having already more than they could ever need, the young couple agreed to sell the hand-quern to the skipper. However, as soon as the money was exchanged, the skipper ran back to his boat with the quern, before getting the instructions on how to use it.

The skipper and his crew quietly set out to sea, afraid the young couple would change their mind and take the hand-quern back. Once far from the shore, the skipper started grinding salt.

“Grind salt, grind it food and fast,” he said.

Indeed, the quern starte dgrinding salt. However, it was grinding it so good and so fast the salt soon filled the upper deck. The crew tried shovelling it out into the sea, but there was simply too much of it. Soon enough, the salt submerged the boat and sank to the bottom of the ocean, the hand-quern on board.

The hand-quern is still at the bottom of the ocean today, grinding salt. And that is why the sea is salt.

The serie Obscure Fairy Tales encompasses an array of tales, myths and legends from around the world. To read more, visit this page dedicated to fiction writing.