Story time:

How the sea became salty

Once upon a time, there were two brothers. One was rich and the other was poor. One day, the poor man who was starving went begging for some food, to his rich brother's house.

"If you go to the house of the goblins, you may get some food," said the brother. The poor man agreed and promised to go. "Take this then," said the rich man and threw a piece of meat at him. The poor man took the meat and started off to the goblins' house to honour his promise.

He walked for miles until it was dark. At last, he could see a bright light shining ahead. "This might be the place," he thought and went in. An old man was there cutting firewood.

"Good evening," greeted the poor man.

"The same to you," said the old man.

"Do the goblins live here?" asked the poor brother.

"They do indeed," replied the wood cutter. "Ask them to give you the little mill behind the door in exchange for the meat. Then, throw the meat among them. They will fight for it, and you can run away with the mill. It is worth more than the meat, and I will show you how to use it".

The poor man agreed to do as he was told, and knocked on the door. A big goblin opened it. All the goblins smelled the meat and gathered around him, but he held tightly to the small piece of meat and said, "Give me the little mill behind the door and I will give you the meat".

"Yes! Yes!" they all cried happily; and the biggest goblin brought out the mill.

"Now, then, here is the meat," said the poor man, and threw the meat among them.

Then, there was a big fight for the piece of meat and the man ran out with the mill. The wood cutter kept his word and taught him how to use it. The poor man took it home.

"Where in the world have you been?" asked his wife.

"Oh! I've been where I've been," said the man.

"What have you got for dinner?" she queried.

"Oh, you have the best things in the world to eat", answered the man.

Then he put the mill upon the table. "Now", he said to the mill, "grind lights for us". "Whir-r-r-r-" went the mill and out came some lamps, all lit up and glowing. "Hocus-pocus, stop!" said the man; for that was the way to stop the mill from doing what was asked of it.

"Now grind us some forks and knives, then grind us food for two," he said.

The mill obeyed, and soon they were having the best food in the world.

Everyday, the mill served the man from morning till night. It gave something nice and pretty for the couple every day.

One day, the wife asked, "shall we give a meal to our neighbours and to your brother as well?" The happy husband said, "why not, we'll give them dinner today". All the neighbours arrived in the evening, and so did his rich brother. The mill ground out a wonderful dinner for all of them.

When the rich brother saw this fine food, he was very curious. "From where did you get such nice food?" he asked. "Oh!", said the owner of the mill, "They came from behind the door!"

He was proud of the mill. So, he eventually brought it out. Naturally, the rich man wanted it. He begged for it and then, he fought for it. Finally, the poor brother said, "I will sell the mill, but you must pay me 300 pounds.". So, the rich brother paid the money and went off with the mill.

When the rich man got home, he called out to his wife. "Come over here, my dear wife. Today I'm going to prepare dinner for you, so you can rest and have some fun". The wife, who was tired of cooking, was delighted when she heard this.

"Well, then get ready some soup and fish," she said.

"Soon it'll be ready," replied the rich man. When the wife went away, he took the mill out.

"Grind soup and fish!" said he, "and grind them fast!" "Whir-r-r-r-" went the mill. And out poured soup and fish. First the dishes were filled, then the pans and then the tubs. "Stop, mill!" cried the rich man, but those were not the correct words to stop the mill. So it ground on and on, and out poured more and more soup and fish. Soon the kitchen was full, then the pantry, then the hall. Soup poured out of doors and fish flopped out of windows.

Out rushed the rich man and ran down the hill. And down poured the soup, at his heels as he ran. He saw that his wife was running too.

"Wife, wife!" he cried. "Call all the men and drink as much soup as you possibly can. Or else, the town will be drowned in soup! I'm running to bring my brother to stop the mill". His wife and the servants sat down by the stream of soup. They drank and drank, but the stream was still flowing.

The rich man ran to his brother and cried out. "Quick, quick! run and stop your mill. If you don't save us, the town will be drowned in soup". "Come in, brother", said the poor man. "Take a seat. Now tell me what's all this fuss about soup? Do you say the mill is working non-stop? Well, go home and stop it yourself. It is your mill now".

"Oh!" cried the rich man, "I'll pay you a thousand pounds to take it away. But please hurry!"

The poor man was very happy and he ran to the brother's house. He had to swim through the soup to the mill.

"Hocus-pocus, stop!" he whispered, and immediately, the mill stopped. Now the poor man had the mill and the money too, and the rich man was well punished for the way he had treated his brother all these years.

The days and the years went by. The mill served the poor man at its best. The owner had everything and he couldn't think of anything more for it to grind. So, it was finally put on the shelf behind the door, but people had heard of it all over the world.

One day, a merchant came to the town to see it. "Can the mill grind salt?" he asked.

"It can indeed," said the owner. "Let me show you".

He took the mill down from the shelf. Then he said, "Grind salt!" and out poured salt. Then he whispered "Hocus-pocus, stop!".

"Will you sell the mill?" asked the merchant. At first, the man said "No", but as he couldn't think of anything more for the mill to grind, he said, "Yes, for ten thousand pounds; not a penny less".

"That you will have," said the merchant and paid the money and took the mill. He was pleased too. Next morning, the merchant set sail. When he was far from land, he took the mill on deck. "Grind salt," he said, "and grind it fast". "Whir-r-r-r-r-r" went the mill and out poured salt. First, the bags were filled. Then, the boxes and then, the baskets. There was more than they could measure.

"Stop!" cried the merchant. Well, we all know that's not the right word. That did not stop the mill. So on ground the mill . The salt mounds grew bigger and bigger and lower and lower sank the ship. The merchant was very frightened. He thought the ship would sink to the bottom. So he took the mill, and threw it into the sea. It sank to the bottom, still whirring and grinding. Do you know, some say it is still grinding? Well, if you don't believe it, go and taste the water in the sea...

Janani Amarasekara