Why the Sea Is Salt is a classic fairy tale included in Andrew Lang’s The Blue Fairy Book, published in 1889. The story follows two brothers whose contrasting fortunes lead to a remarkable discovery: a magical hand-mill capable of producing almost anything its owner requests.
When the poorer brother receives the mill, his life changes dramatically. He can suddenly provide food, drink and other necessities without struggling to earn them. However, his unexpected prosperity awakens his wealthy brother’s jealousy, setting off a chain of events that eventually brings the magical object to a ship’s captain.
The captain wants the mill for its ability to produce salt, but he makes a costly mistake by failing to learn how to stop it. His ship sinks beneath the growing mountain of salt, leaving the mill at the bottom of the sea.
This imaginative explanation gives the tale its memorable ending. It also explores greed, jealousy and the dangers of acquiring something powerful without understanding how to control it.
The Poor Brother’s Christmas Eve Problem
Once upon a time, long ago, two brothers lived in the same country. One was rich, while the other was poor.
The wealthy brother had enough money and possessions to live comfortably. His poorer relative, however, struggled to provide for himself and his wife.
When Christmas Eve arrived, the poor man discovered that his household had neither meat nor bread. With Christmas Day approaching, he had nothing to prepare for the celebration.
Desperate for help, he visited his wealthy brother and begged him to provide something for the festive meal.
The request irritated the rich man. He had helped his brother before and was tired of being asked for assistance. Nevertheless, he offered him a whole ham, provided he agreed to carry out a particular task.
The poor man accepted immediately. He was grateful for the promise of food and assured his brother that he would fulfil the request.
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The rich man handed him the ham and instructed him to take it straight to Dead Man’s Hall.
Although the destination sounded mysterious, the poor man kept his promise. He took the ham and began his journey, travelling throughout the day until evening approached.
Eventually, he reached a place illuminated by a bright light. An old man with a long white beard stood outside, chopping Yule logs in an outhouse.
The traveller greeted him and explained that he was looking for Dead Man’s Hall. He wanted to know whether he had followed the correct road.
The old man confirmed that he had reached the right place. He then gave the traveller advice that would transform his circumstances.
The Mysterious Hand-Mill
The old man explained that everyone inside Dead Man’s Hall would want to buy the ham because meat was scarce there. However, the traveller must not sell it unless he received a particular object in exchange.
Behind the door stood a hand-mill. The old man instructed him to demand that machine as payment for the ham.
He also promised to teach the traveller how to stop the mill once he had obtained it. The machine, he explained, was useful for almost everything.
The poor man thanked the old stranger and knocked on the door.
As soon as he entered, people gathered around him, eager to purchase the ham. They competed with one another, each offering a better bargain than the last.
The traveller explained that he and his wife should have kept the meat for their Christmas dinner. Nevertheless, he was willing to sell it because everyone wanted it so badly.
He would accept only one form of payment: the hand-mill behind the door.
At first, the people refused. They bargained and tried to persuade him to change his mind, but he remained firm.
Eventually, they agreed to his condition and handed over the machine.
The traveller left Dead Man’s Hall with the hand-mill and returned to the old man outside. He asked how to stop it, remembering the promise he had received.
The old man taught him the necessary instructions. Once he understood how to control the machine, the traveller thanked him and hurried home.
His journey had taken so long that he arrived after midnight on Christmas Eve.
A Magical Christmas Feast
When the poor man returned, his wife complained that she had waited for hours. She had not even gathered enough firewood to prepare their Christmas porridge.
Her husband assured her that he had been attending to something important. He then placed the hand-mill on the table and prepared to demonstrate its power.
First, he commanded it to produce light. The mill obeyed.
Next, he ordered it to grind out a tablecloth. It did exactly as he requested.
He continued by asking for meat, beer and everything else needed for a good Christmas Eve supper.
The hand-mill produced each item.
His wife watched in amazement as their previously empty home filled with food and other necessities. She wanted to know where her husband had obtained such a remarkable machine, but he refused to reveal the details of his journey.
Instead, he showed her that they no longer needed to worry about their immediate food supply.
The mill continued producing meat, drink and other good things throughout the Christmas season. On the third day, the poor man invited his friends to a feast.
His household had changed from one of scarcity to one of abundance. The man who had recently begged his brother for a single ham could now entertain guests as though he were a wealthy nobleman.
His success did not remain a secret for long.
The Rich Brother Becomes Jealous
When the wealthy brother saw the feast and the abundance in his relative’s house, he became angry and envious.
He could not understand how a man who had possessed almost nothing on Christmas Eve could suddenly afford to entertain so many guests.
He demanded to know where the riches had come from.
The owner of the mill initially replied that he had obtained them from behind the door. He did not want to reveal the secret.
Later in the evening, however, he drank more than he should have and found it difficult to keep the truth to himself.
He brought out the hand-mill and demonstrated how it could produce different things. The rich brother watched closely and became determined to acquire it.
After considerable persuasion, he convinced his poorer relative to sell it to him for three hundred dollars.
There was one condition. The poor brother would keep the mill until the haymaking season had ended.
This arrangement allowed him to continue enjoying its benefits. During the remaining weeks, he used the machine to produce meat, drink and other provisions.
When the hay harvest finally arrived, the wealthy brother collected his purchase.
Unfortunately, the seller had deliberately withheld one crucial piece of information. Although the rich man knew how to make the mill work, he had not learned how to stop it.
His desire to possess the source of his brother’s wealth had blinded him to the importance of understanding the machine.
The Hand-Mill Floods the House
The wealthy brother took the mill home in the evening. The following morning, he told his wife to go outside and spread the hay after the mowers while he attended to the household.
As dinner time approached, he placed the machine on the kitchen table.
He commanded it to grind herrings and milk porridge, expecting to enjoy a plentiful meal.
The hand-mill immediately began working. At first, dishes and tubs filled with food. Soon, however, the supply exceeded what the household could contain.
The porridge spread across the kitchen floor, while herrings and other food continued pouring out.
The rich man quickly realised that he had lost control of his purchase.
He twisted and turned the mill, trying everything he could think of to make it stop. Nothing worked.
The food continued accumulating until the porridge rose dangerously high. Fearing that he might drown in it, he struggled towards the parlour door.
Unfortunately, the next room was filling as well. He had to force his way through the rising flood to reach the door-latch.
When he finally opened the door, he rushed outside.
The food followed him, streaming out of the house and spreading across the farm and surrounding fields.
The wealthy man’s attempt to produce a plentiful meal had become a disaster. His house and land were overwhelmed by the very things he had commanded the mill to create.
The Rich Brother Begs for Help
Outside, the rich man’s wife was working with the women and mowers who were spreading the hay.
She began to wonder why her husband had not called everyone home for dinner. Thinking that he might need help preparing the meal, she suggested that they return to the house.
As they approached, they encountered a strange and alarming sight.
Herrings, porridge and bread were pouring across the land. The wealthy man himself was running ahead of the flood, desperately trying to escape the mess.
As he passed the workers, he warned them to take care lest they drown in the porridge.
He continued towards his poorer brother’s home and begged him to take back the hand-mill immediately.
He explained that if the machine continued grinding for another hour, the entire district might be overwhelmed by herrings and porridge.
The owner refused to accept the mill without receiving his money back. Since the wealthy man had paid three hundred dollars for it, he would have to pay the same amount again to recover it.
With no alternative, the rich brother returned the money.
The poor man regained possession of both the mill and his payment. The immediate crisis could finally be brought under control, and his brother learned a painful lesson about buying something without understanding its limitations.
A Golden Farmhouse Beside the Sea
With the hand-mill back in his possession, the poor brother’s fortune continued to grow.
He eventually acquired a farmhouse finer than the one belonging to his wealthy brother. The mill produced so much money that he covered his farmhouse with plates of gold.
The building stood close to the sea, and its golden surface shone brightly across the water.
Everyone who sailed past wanted to visit the remarkable farmhouse and see the magical hand-mill. Stories about the machine spread widely, and its reputation attracted visitors from far away.
One day, a ship’s captain arrived because he wanted to see the mill for himself.
He asked whether it could produce salt.
The owner confirmed that it could. The captain immediately became interested.
Obtaining salt required sailors to travel across dangerous waters to collect their cargoes. The captain believed that possessing a machine capable of producing salt would save him from making those difficult journeys.
He therefore asked the owner to sell it to him.
At first, the owner refused to part with such a valuable possession. The mill had transformed his life, and he had already experienced the trouble it could cause when someone failed to control it properly.
The captain continued pleading until the owner finally agreed to sell it for many thousands of dollars.
Overjoyed by the purchase, the captain lifted the hand-mill onto his back and hurried towards his ship. He was so eager to secure it that he failed to ask how to stop it from grinding.
His haste would soon cost him everything.
Why the Sea Is Salt
Once the captain had sailed some distance from the shore, he carried the hand-mill onto the deck.
He ordered it to grind salt quickly and efficiently.
The machine obeyed. Salt poured from it in a seemingly endless stream, spreading across the deck like water.
At first, the captain must have been pleased with the result. He had acquired a machine that could provide the cargo he wanted without the need for distant voyages.
However, the salt continued to accumulate.
When the ship had filled with salt, the captain attempted to stop the mill. He turned it in different directions and tried repeatedly to make it cease working.
Nothing succeeded.
The machine continued grinding, and the growing mound of salt became heavier and higher.
The captain could not control it, and the vessel eventually sank beneath the weight.
The hand-mill disappeared into the depths of the sea.
But the tale does not end with the shipwreck.
According to the story, the mill remains at the bottom of the sea, grinding salt day after day without anyone there to stop it.
This endless production of salt provides the magical explanation for the sea’s saltiness.
The captain’s greed and haste had turned a promising purchase into a catastrophe. Unlike the poor brother, who had learned how to control the machine, the captain had been so eager to own it that he neglected to discover how it worked.
The sea, in the tale’s imaginative conclusion, remains salty because the mill continues its work beneath the waves.
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Moral Lesson
The story warns against greed, jealousy and the desire to possess something simply because another person has benefited from it. The wealthy brother envies his poorer relative and buys the hand-mill without learning how to control it. The captain makes a similar mistake when he purchases the machine without asking how to stop it.
The tale also highlights the importance of understanding the responsibilities that come with power. An extraordinary ability or possession can become dangerous when its owner does not know how to manage it.
The story provides a folkloric explanation for the saltiness of the sea. It is a magical tale, not a scientific account of ocean salinity.
Knowledge Check
1. Why did the poor brother visit his wealthy brother on Christmas Eve?
He had no meat or bread at home and needed food for Christmas Day.
2. What did the poor brother receive in exchange for the ham?
He received a magical hand-mill from the people at Dead Man’s Hall.
3. How did the hand-mill transform the poor brother’s life?
It produced food, drink and other necessities, allowing him to become wealthy and host a feast for his friends.
4. Why did the rich brother lose control of the hand-mill?
He bought the machine without learning how to stop it, so it continued grinding herrings and porridge until the food flooded his house and land.
5. Why did the ship’s captain want to buy the hand-mill?
He wanted it to produce salt so he would no longer need to travel across dangerous waters to obtain salt cargoes.
6. According to the tale, why is the sea salty?
The hand-mill sank with the captain’s ship and continues grinding salt at the bottom of the sea.
Source
The Blue Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, first published in 1889. “Why the Sea Is Salt,” attributed to Asbjørnsen and Moe in the collection.
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