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013 - Why the Sea is Salt · Blue Fairy Book

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  Speaker 1: Why the Sea Is Salt of The Blue Fairy Book.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Julia Clausen. The Blue
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  Speaker 1: Fairy Book by Andrew Lang Why the Sea Is Salt.
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  Speaker 1: Once upon a time, long long ago, there were two brothers,
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  Speaker 1: the one rich and the other poor. When Christmas Eve came,
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  Speaker 1: the poor one had not a bite in the house,
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  Speaker 1: either of meat or bread. So he went to his
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  Speaker 1: brother and begged him in God's name to give him
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  Speaker 1: something for Christmas Day. It was, by no means the
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  Speaker 1: first time that the brother had been forced to give
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  Speaker 1: something to him, and he was not better pleased at
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  Speaker 1: being asked now than he generally was. If you will
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  Speaker 1: do what I ask you, you shall have a whole ham,
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  Speaker 1: said he. The poor one immediately thanked him and promised this. Well,
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  Speaker 1: here is the ham, and now you must go straight
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  Speaker 1: to dead Man's Hall, said the rich brother, throwing the
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  Speaker 1: ham to him. Well, I will do what I have promised,
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  Speaker 1: said the other, and he took the ham and set off.
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  Speaker 1: He went on and on for the live long day,
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  Speaker 1: and at nightfall he came to a place where there
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  Speaker 1: was a bright light. I have no doubt this is
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  Speaker 1: the place, thought the man with the ham. An old
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  Speaker 1: man with a long white beard was standing in the
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  Speaker 1: outhouse chopping yule logs. Good evening, said the man with
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  Speaker 1: the ham. Good evening to you. Where are you going
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  Speaker 1: at this late hour? Said the man. I am going
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  Speaker 1: to dead Man's Hall, if only I am on the
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  Speaker 1: right track, answered the poor man. Oh, yes, you are
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  Speaker 1: right enough, for it is here, said the old man.
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  Speaker 1: When you get inside, they will all want to buy
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  Speaker 1: your ham, for they don't get much meat to eat there.
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  Speaker 1: But you must not sell it unless you can get
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  Speaker 1: the hand mill which stands behind the door for it.
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  Speaker 1: When you come out again, I will teach you how
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  Speaker 1: to stop the hand mill, which is useful for almost everything.
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  Speaker 1: So the man with a ham thanked the other for
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  Speaker 1: his good advice, and rapped at the door. When he
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  Speaker 1: got in, everything happened just as the old man had
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  Speaker 1: said it would. All the people great and small came
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  Speaker 1: round him like ants on an ant hill, and each
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  Speaker 1: tried to outbid the other for the ham. By rights,
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  Speaker 1: my old woman and I ought to have it for
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  Speaker 1: our Christmas dinner. But since you have set your hearts
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  Speaker 1: upon it, I must give it up to you, said
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  Speaker 1: the man. But if I sell it, I will have
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  Speaker 1: the hand mill, which is standing there behind the door.
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  Speaker 1: At first they would not hear of this, and haggled
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  Speaker 1: and bargained with the man, but he stuck to what
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  Speaker 1: he had said, and the people were forced to give
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  Speaker 1: him the hand mill. When the man came out again
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  Speaker 1: into the yard, he asked the old wood cutter how
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  Speaker 1: he was to stop the hand mill, and when he
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  Speaker 1: had learned that, he thanked him and set off home
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  Speaker 1: with all the speed he could, but did not get
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  Speaker 1: there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve.
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  Speaker 1: Where in the world have you been, said the old woman. Here,
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  Speaker 1: I have sat waiting hour after hour, and have not
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  Speaker 1: even two sticks to lay across each other under the
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  Speaker 1: Christmas porridge. Pot Oh, I could not come before. I
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  Speaker 1: had something of importance to see about, and a long
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  Speaker 1: way to go, too. But now you shall just see,
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  Speaker 1: said the man. And then he set the hand mill
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  Speaker 1: on the table and bade it first grind light, then
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  Speaker 1: a tablecloth, and then meat and beer and everything else
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  Speaker 1: that was good for a Christmas Eve's supper, and the
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  Speaker 1: mill ground all that he ordered. Bless me, said the
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  Speaker 1: old woman, as one thing after another appeared, and she
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  Speaker 1: wanted to know where her husband had got the mill from,
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  Speaker 1: But he would not tell her that never mind where
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  Speaker 1: I got it. You can see that it is a
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  Speaker 1: good one, and the water that turns it will never freeze,
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  Speaker 1: said the man. So he ground meat and drink and
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of good things to last all Christmas tide,
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  Speaker 1: and on the third day he invited all his friends
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  Speaker 1: to come to a feast. Now, when the rich brother
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  Speaker 1: saw all that there was at the banquet and in
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  Speaker 1: the house, he was both vexed and angry, for he
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  Speaker 1: grudged everything his brother had. On Christmas Eve. He was
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  Speaker 1: so poor that he came to me and begged for
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  Speaker 1: a trifle. For God's sake, and now he gives a
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  Speaker 1: feast as if he were both a count and a king,
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  Speaker 1: thought he. But for Heaven's sake, tell me where you
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  Speaker 1: got your riches from, said he to his brother from
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  Speaker 1: behind the door, said he who owned the mill. For
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  Speaker 1: he did not choose to satisfy his brother on that point.
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  Speaker 1: But later in the evening, when he had taken a
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  Speaker 1: drop too much, he could not refrain from telling how
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  Speaker 1: he had come by the hand mill. There you see
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  Speaker 1: what has brought me all my wealth, said he, and
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  Speaker 1: brought out the mill and made it grind first one
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  Speaker 1: thing and then another. When the brother saw that, he
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  Speaker 1: insisted on having the mill, and after a great deal
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  Speaker 1: of persuasion, got it. But he had to give three
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars for it, and the poor brother was to
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  Speaker 1: keep it till the haymaking was over, for he thought,
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  Speaker 1: if I keep it as long as that I can
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  Speaker 1: make it grind meat and drink, that will last many
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  Speaker 1: a long year. During that time, you may imagine that
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  Speaker 1: the mill did not grow rusty. And when hay harvest came,
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  Speaker 1: the rich brother got it, but the other had taken
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  Speaker 1: good care not to teach him how to stop it.
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  Speaker 1: It was evening when the rich man got the mill home,
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  Speaker 1: and in the morning he bade the old woman go
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  Speaker 1: out and spread the hay after the mowers, and he
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  Speaker 1: would attend to the house himself that day, he said. So,
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  Speaker 1: when dinner time drew near, he set the mill on
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen table and said, grind herrings and milk pottage,
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  Speaker 1: and do it both quickly and well. So the mill
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  Speaker 1: began to grind herrings and milk pottage, And first all
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  Speaker 1: the dishes and tubs were filled, and then it came
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  Speaker 1: out all over the kitchen floor. The man twisted and
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  Speaker 1: turned it, and did all he could to make the
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  Speaker 1: mill stop, But howsoever he turned it and screwed it,
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  Speaker 1: the mill went on grinding, and in a short time
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  Speaker 1: the pottage rose so high that the man was like
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  Speaker 1: to be drowned. So he threw open the parlor door.
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  Speaker 1: But it was not long before the mill had ground
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  Speaker 1: the parlor full too, And it was with difficulty and
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  Speaker 1: danger that the man could go through the stream of
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  Speaker 1: pottage and get hold of the door latch. When he
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  Speaker 1: got the door open, he did not stay long in
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  Speaker 1: the room, but ran out, and the herrings and pottage
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  Speaker 1: came after him, and it streamed out over both farm
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  Speaker 1: and field. Now the old woman, who was out spreading
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  Speaker 1: the hay, began to think dinner was long in coming,
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  Speaker 1: and said to the woman and the mowers, though the
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  Speaker 1: master does not call us home, we may as well go.
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  Speaker 1: It may be that he finds he is not good
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  Speaker 1: at making pottage, and I should do well to help
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  Speaker 1: him so they began to straggle homeward. But when they
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  Speaker 1: had got a little way up the hill, they met
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  Speaker 1: the herrings and pottage and bread, all pouring forth and
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  Speaker 1: winding about one over the other, and the man himself
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  Speaker 1: in front of them flood would to Heaven that each
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  Speaker 1: of you had a hundred stomachs. Take care that you
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  Speaker 1: are not drowned in the pottage, he cried as he
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  Speaker 1: went by them, as if mischief were at his heels.
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  Speaker 1: Down to where his brother dwelt. Then he begged him,
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  Speaker 1: for God's sake to take the mill back again, and
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  Speaker 1: that in an instant, for said he, if it grind
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  Speaker 1: one hour more, the whole district will be destroyed by
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  Speaker 1: herringson pottage. But the brother would not take it until
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  Speaker 1: the other paid him three hundred dollars, and that he
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  Speaker 1: was obliged to do. Now the poor brother had both
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  Speaker 1: the money and the mill again. So it was not
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  Speaker 1: long before he had a farmhouse much finer than that
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  Speaker 1: in which his brother lived. But the mill ground him
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  Speaker 1: so much money that he covered it with plates of gold.
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  Speaker 1: And the farmhouse lay close by the seashore, so it
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  Speaker 1: shone and glittered far out to sea. Everyone who sailed
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  Speaker 1: by there now had to be put in to visit
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  Speaker 1: the rich man in the gold farmhouse. And everyone wanted
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  Speaker 1: to see the wonderful mill, for the report of it
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  Speaker 1: spread far and wide, and there was no one who
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  Speaker 1: had not heard tell of it. After a long long
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  Speaker 1: time came also a skipper who wished to see the mill.
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  Speaker 1: He asked if it could make salt. Yes, it could
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  Speaker 1: make salt, said he who owned it. And when the
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  Speaker 1: skipper heard that, he wished with all his might and
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  Speaker 1: main to have the mill. Let it cost what it might,
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  Speaker 1: for he thought if he had it, he would get
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  Speaker 1: off having to sail far away over the perilious sea
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  Speaker 1: for freights of salt. At first the man would not
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  Speaker 1: hear of parting with it, but the skipper begged and prayed,
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  Speaker 1: and at last the man sold it to him and
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  Speaker 1: got many many thousand dollars for it. When the skipper
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  Speaker 1: had got the mill on his back, he did not
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  Speaker 1: stay there long, for he was so afraid that the
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  Speaker 1: man would change his mind, and he had no time
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  Speaker 1: to ask how he was to stop the grinding, but
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  Speaker 1: got on board his ship as fast as he could.
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  Speaker 1: When he had gone a little way out to sea.
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  Speaker 1: He took the mill on deck. Grind salt, and grind
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  Speaker 1: both quickly and well, said the skipper. So the mill
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  Speaker 1: began to grind salt till it spouted out like water.
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  Speaker 1: And when the skipper had got the ship filled, he
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  Speaker 1: wanted to stop the mill. But whichsoever way he turned it,
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  Speaker 1: and how much soever he tried, it went on grinding,
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  Speaker 1: and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, until
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  Speaker 1: at last the ship sank. There lies the mill at
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of the sea, and still day by day
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  Speaker 1: it grinds on. And that is why the sea is salt.