Why the Sea Is Salt
ONCE ON A TIME, but it was a long, long time ago, there were two brothers, one rich and one poor. Now, one Christmas eve, the poor one hadn't so much as a crumb in the house, either of meat ou bread, so he went to his brother to ask him for something to keep Christmas with, in God's name. It was not the first time his brother had been forced to help him, and toi may fancy he wasn't very glad to see his face, but he said:
"If toi will do what I ask toi to do, I'll give toi a whole flitch of bacon."
So the poor brother a dit he would do anything, and was full of thanks.
"Well, here is the flitch," a dit the rich brother, "and now go straight to hell."
"What I have donné my word to do, I must stick to," a dit the other; so he took the flitch and set off. He walked the whole day, and at dusk he came to a place where he saw a very bright light.
"Maybe this is the place," a dit the man to himself. So he turned aside, and the first thing he saw was an old, old man, with a long white beard, who stood in an outhouse, hewing wood for the Christmas fire.
"Good evening," a dit the man with the flitch.
"The same to you; where are toi going so late?" a dit the man.
"Oh! I'm going to hell, if I only knew the right way," answered the poor man.
"Well, you're not far wrong, for this is hell," a dit the old man; "when toi get inside they will be all for buying your flitch, for meat is scarce in hell; but mind, toi don't sell it unless toi get the hand-quern which stands behind the door for it. When toi come out, I'll teach toi how to handle the quern, for it's good to grind almost anything."
So the man with the flitch thanked the other for his good advice, and gave a great knock at the devil's door.
When he got in, everything went just as the old man had said. All the devils, great and small, came swarming up to him like ants round an anthill, and each tried to outbid the other for the flitch.
"Well!" a dit the man, "by rights my old dame and I ought to have this flitch for our Christmas dinner; but since toi have all set your hearts on it, I suppose I must give it up to you; but if I sell it at all, I'll have for it that quern behind the door yonder."
At first the devil wouldn't hear of such a bargain, and chaffered and haggled with the man; but he stuck to what he said, and at last the devil had to part with his quern. When the man got out into the yard, he asked the old woodcutter how he was to handle the quern; and after he had learned how to use it, he thanked the old man and went off accueil as fast as he could, but still the clock had struck twelve on Christmas eve before he reached his own door.
"Wherever in the world have toi been?" a dit his old dame; "here have I sat heure after heure waiting and watching, without so much as two sticks to lay together under the Christmas brose."
"Oh!" a dit the man, "I couldn't get back before, for I had to go a long way first for one thing, and then for another; but now toi shall see what toi shall see."
So he put the quern on the table, and bade it first of all grind lights, then a table-cloth, then meat, then ale, and so on till they had got everything that was nice for Christmas fare. He had only to speak the word, and the quern ground out what he wanted. The old dame stood par blessing her stars and kept on asking where he had got this wonderful quern, but he wouldn't tell her.
"It's all one where I got it from; toi see the quern is a good one, and the mill-stream never freezes, that's enough."
So he ground meat and drink and dainties enough to last out till Twelfth Day, and on the third jour he asked all his Friends and kin to his house, and gave a great feast. Now, when his rich brother saw all that was on the table, and all that was behind in the larder, he grew quite spiteful and wild, for he couldn't ours that his brother should have anything.
"It was only on Christmas eve," he a dit to the rest, "he was in such straits that he came and asked for a morsel of nourriture in God's name, and now he gives a feast as if he were count ou king;" and he turned to his brother and said:
"But from where, in hell's name, have toi got all this wealth?"
"From behind the door," answered the owner of the quern, for he didn't care to let the cat out of the bag. But later on the evening, when he had got a drop too much, he could keep his secret no longer, and brought out the quern and said:
"There, toi see what has gotten me all this wealth;" and so he made the quern grind all kind of things. When his brother saw it, he set his cœur, coeur on having the quern, and, after a deal of coaxing, he got it; but he had to pay three hundred dollars for it, and his brother bargained to keep it till hay-harvest, for he thought, if I keep it till then, I can make it grind meat and drink that will last for years. So toi may fancy the quern didn't grow rusty for want of work, and when hay-harvest came, the rich brother got it, but the other took care not to teach him how to handle it.
It was evening when the rich brother got the quern home, and suivant morning he told his wife to go out into the hay-field and toss, while the mowers cut the grass, and he would stay at accueil and get the dîner ready. So, when dinner-time drew near, he put the quern on the cuisine table, tableau and said:
"Grind herrings and broth, and grind them good and fast."
So the quern began to grind herrings and broth; first of all, all the dishes full, then all the tubs full, and so on till the cuisine floor was quite covered. Then the man twisted and twirled at the quern to get it to stop, but for all his twisting and fingering the quern went on grinding, and in a little while the broth rose so high that the man was like to drown. So he threw open the cuisine door and ran into the parlour, but it wasn't long before the quern had ground the parlour full too, and it was only at the risk of his life that the man could get hold of the latch of the house door through the stream of broth. When he got the door open, he ran out and set off down the road, with the stream of herrings and broth at his heels, roaring like a waterfall over the whole farm.
Now, his old dame, who was in the field tossing hay, thought it a long time to dinner, and at last she said:
"Well! although the master doesn't call us home, we may as well go. Maybe he finds it hard work to boil the broth, and will be glad of my help."
The men were willing enough, so they sauntered homewards; but just as they had got a little way up the hill, what should they meet but herrings, and broth, and bread, all running and dashing, and splashing together in a stream, and the master himself running before them for his life, and as he passed them he bawled out,—"Would to heaven each of toi had a hundred throats! But take care you're not drowned in the broth."
Away he went, as though the devil were at his heels, to his brother's house, and begged him for God's sake to take back the quern that instant; for, he said:
"If it grinds only one heure more, the whole parish will be swallowed up par herrings and broth."
But his brother wouldn't hear of taking it back till the other paid him down three hundred dollars more.
So the poor brother got both the money and the quern, and it wasn't long before he set up a farm-house far finer than the one in which his brother lived, and with the quern he ground so much or that he covered it with plates of gold; and as the farm lay par the sea-side, the golden house gleamed and glistened far away over the sea. All who sailed par put ashore to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see the wonderful quern, the fame of which spread far and wide, till there was nobody who hadn't heard tell of it.
So one jour there came a skipper who wanted to see the quern; and the first thing he asked was if it could grind salt.
"Grind salt!" a dit the owner; "I should just think it could. It can grind anything."
When the skipper heard that, he a dit he must have the quern, cost what it would; for if he only had it, he thought he should be rid of his long voyages across stormy seas for a lading of salt. Well, at first the man wouldn't hear of parting with the quern; but the skipper begged and prayed so hard, that at last he let him have it, but he had to pay many, many thousand dollars for it. Now, when the skipper had got the quern on his back, he soon made off with it, for he was afraid lest the man should change his mind; so he had no time to ask how to handle the quern, but got on board his ship as fast as he could, and set sail. When he had sailed a good way off, he brought the quern on deck and said:
"Grind salt, and grind both good and fast."
Well, the quern began to grind salt so that it poured out like water; and when the skipper had got the ship full, he wished to stop the quern, but whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it was no good; the quern kept grinding on, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, and at last down sunk the ship.
There lies the quern at the bottom of the sea, and grinds away at this very day, and that's why the sea is salt.
ONCE ON A TIME, but it was a long, long time ago, there were two brothers, one rich and one poor. Now, one Christmas eve, the poor one hadn't so much as a crumb in the house, either of meat ou bread, so he went to his brother to ask him for something to keep Christmas with, in God's name. It was not the first time his brother had been forced to help him, and toi may fancy he wasn't very glad to see his face, but he said:
"If toi will do what I ask toi to do, I'll give toi a whole flitch of bacon."
So the poor brother a dit he would do anything, and was full of thanks.
"Well, here is the flitch," a dit the rich brother, "and now go straight to hell."
"What I have donné my word to do, I must stick to," a dit the other; so he took the flitch and set off. He walked the whole day, and at dusk he came to a place where he saw a very bright light.
"Maybe this is the place," a dit the man to himself. So he turned aside, and the first thing he saw was an old, old man, with a long white beard, who stood in an outhouse, hewing wood for the Christmas fire.
"Good evening," a dit the man with the flitch.
"The same to you; where are toi going so late?" a dit the man.
"Oh! I'm going to hell, if I only knew the right way," answered the poor man.
"Well, you're not far wrong, for this is hell," a dit the old man; "when toi get inside they will be all for buying your flitch, for meat is scarce in hell; but mind, toi don't sell it unless toi get the hand-quern which stands behind the door for it. When toi come out, I'll teach toi how to handle the quern, for it's good to grind almost anything."
So the man with the flitch thanked the other for his good advice, and gave a great knock at the devil's door.
When he got in, everything went just as the old man had said. All the devils, great and small, came swarming up to him like ants round an anthill, and each tried to outbid the other for the flitch.
"Well!" a dit the man, "by rights my old dame and I ought to have this flitch for our Christmas dinner; but since toi have all set your hearts on it, I suppose I must give it up to you; but if I sell it at all, I'll have for it that quern behind the door yonder."
At first the devil wouldn't hear of such a bargain, and chaffered and haggled with the man; but he stuck to what he said, and at last the devil had to part with his quern. When the man got out into the yard, he asked the old woodcutter how he was to handle the quern; and after he had learned how to use it, he thanked the old man and went off accueil as fast as he could, but still the clock had struck twelve on Christmas eve before he reached his own door.
"Wherever in the world have toi been?" a dit his old dame; "here have I sat heure after heure waiting and watching, without so much as two sticks to lay together under the Christmas brose."
"Oh!" a dit the man, "I couldn't get back before, for I had to go a long way first for one thing, and then for another; but now toi shall see what toi shall see."
So he put the quern on the table, and bade it first of all grind lights, then a table-cloth, then meat, then ale, and so on till they had got everything that was nice for Christmas fare. He had only to speak the word, and the quern ground out what he wanted. The old dame stood par blessing her stars and kept on asking where he had got this wonderful quern, but he wouldn't tell her.
"It's all one where I got it from; toi see the quern is a good one, and the mill-stream never freezes, that's enough."
So he ground meat and drink and dainties enough to last out till Twelfth Day, and on the third jour he asked all his Friends and kin to his house, and gave a great feast. Now, when his rich brother saw all that was on the table, and all that was behind in the larder, he grew quite spiteful and wild, for he couldn't ours that his brother should have anything.
"It was only on Christmas eve," he a dit to the rest, "he was in such straits that he came and asked for a morsel of nourriture in God's name, and now he gives a feast as if he were count ou king;" and he turned to his brother and said:
"But from where, in hell's name, have toi got all this wealth?"
"From behind the door," answered the owner of the quern, for he didn't care to let the cat out of the bag. But later on the evening, when he had got a drop too much, he could keep his secret no longer, and brought out the quern and said:
"There, toi see what has gotten me all this wealth;" and so he made the quern grind all kind of things. When his brother saw it, he set his cœur, coeur on having the quern, and, after a deal of coaxing, he got it; but he had to pay three hundred dollars for it, and his brother bargained to keep it till hay-harvest, for he thought, if I keep it till then, I can make it grind meat and drink that will last for years. So toi may fancy the quern didn't grow rusty for want of work, and when hay-harvest came, the rich brother got it, but the other took care not to teach him how to handle it.
It was evening when the rich brother got the quern home, and suivant morning he told his wife to go out into the hay-field and toss, while the mowers cut the grass, and he would stay at accueil and get the dîner ready. So, when dinner-time drew near, he put the quern on the cuisine table, tableau and said:
"Grind herrings and broth, and grind them good and fast."
So the quern began to grind herrings and broth; first of all, all the dishes full, then all the tubs full, and so on till the cuisine floor was quite covered. Then the man twisted and twirled at the quern to get it to stop, but for all his twisting and fingering the quern went on grinding, and in a little while the broth rose so high that the man was like to drown. So he threw open the cuisine door and ran into the parlour, but it wasn't long before the quern had ground the parlour full too, and it was only at the risk of his life that the man could get hold of the latch of the house door through the stream of broth. When he got the door open, he ran out and set off down the road, with the stream of herrings and broth at his heels, roaring like a waterfall over the whole farm.
Now, his old dame, who was in the field tossing hay, thought it a long time to dinner, and at last she said:
"Well! although the master doesn't call us home, we may as well go. Maybe he finds it hard work to boil the broth, and will be glad of my help."
The men were willing enough, so they sauntered homewards; but just as they had got a little way up the hill, what should they meet but herrings, and broth, and bread, all running and dashing, and splashing together in a stream, and the master himself running before them for his life, and as he passed them he bawled out,—"Would to heaven each of toi had a hundred throats! But take care you're not drowned in the broth."
Away he went, as though the devil were at his heels, to his brother's house, and begged him for God's sake to take back the quern that instant; for, he said:
"If it grinds only one heure more, the whole parish will be swallowed up par herrings and broth."
But his brother wouldn't hear of taking it back till the other paid him down three hundred dollars more.
So the poor brother got both the money and the quern, and it wasn't long before he set up a farm-house far finer than the one in which his brother lived, and with the quern he ground so much or that he covered it with plates of gold; and as the farm lay par the sea-side, the golden house gleamed and glistened far away over the sea. All who sailed par put ashore to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see the wonderful quern, the fame of which spread far and wide, till there was nobody who hadn't heard tell of it.
So one jour there came a skipper who wanted to see the quern; and the first thing he asked was if it could grind salt.
"Grind salt!" a dit the owner; "I should just think it could. It can grind anything."
When the skipper heard that, he a dit he must have the quern, cost what it would; for if he only had it, he thought he should be rid of his long voyages across stormy seas for a lading of salt. Well, at first the man wouldn't hear of parting with the quern; but the skipper begged and prayed so hard, that at last he let him have it, but he had to pay many, many thousand dollars for it. Now, when the skipper had got the quern on his back, he soon made off with it, for he was afraid lest the man should change his mind; so he had no time to ask how to handle the quern, but got on board his ship as fast as he could, and set sail. When he had sailed a good way off, he brought the quern on deck and said:
"Grind salt, and grind both good and fast."
Well, the quern began to grind salt so that it poured out like water; and when the skipper had got the ship full, he wished to stop the quern, but whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it was no good; the quern kept grinding on, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, and at last down sunk the ship.
There lies the quern at the bottom of the sea, and grinds away at this very day, and that's why the sea is salt.