The herald., 1893-12-21
IA WONDERFUL QUERN
AioW THE NoRWEolANs EXPLAIN
WHY THE SEA IS SALT.


. the Rich One - The Old Sailor Who
j. Wanted the Quern to Grind Salt.
There IL an old fashioned Norwegian
folktale that accounts In very curious
way for the salt in the sea. According
10 the story, the waters Of the ocean were
not always salt. But long ago, before
Columbus sailed in his little caravels, be-
fore the Vikings crossed over to Iceland
and Martha's Vineyard, even before st.
Brendan rowed his boat made of skins
sewed together across from Ireland to
the mouth Of the Chesapeake, there were
two brothers living away up In the
northland. One was very rich, and the
other was very poor. One brother had
herds Of cattle and f0cks of fat noun
tain sheep, while the poor one had just
about nothing at all except wife and
ever so many children.
One Christmas eve there was nothing
IN tho house for them to eat, and the
poor mans wife said to her husband:
IF had rich brother as you have,
! would 20 and ask him for something
3or these poor children to eat. Tomor-
row will be Christmas day, and there is
not crust Of bread In the house."
80 he went to his brother and told him
how much they needed his help. The
rich man gave him q nice fitch Of bacon
and told him to go to An old magician
who lived somewhere in the mountains.
I do not know why be sent the poor man
TO tho magician, for the latter did not
bear very coca name in the neighbor-
hood, However, when he came to the
magician,s stEonghold everybody about
the piece wanted to buy his fitch of ha-
con-, He could mot understand why it
was, but 10 thearhtif there was SO much
demand Tor The 'bscon he would at least
make tho best tDRgasn he could for it.
'WAjl,~ be sSid, ~ ought by rights to
take III hacondhcms to my good dame
kox or Ain3r tonsrow, but since you
all seem tehsve sct your hearts on 1t I
bupposs ,x6u must have It. II sell 1t,
howsvssN u wsatas good price for it."
4 Thsy UHsred him good round sum,
but thai would not do.
"I will let you haue it." he said, 'if
you wi1l give me that quern yonder be-
Qlno Uoo- ooOLs
A quern Is ono Of the things that it
would be very hard to find nowadays be-
cause 6hey have gone out Of fashion, but
If you viii look tnthe dictionary, as I did
when first heard this story, you will
see that quern Is mill for grinding
corn by hand, and 'thstit consists Of two
large stones, an upper and lower one,
the upper one'hsving handle by which
it may be turned around on the lower
stone, grinding the corn or grain between
them.
The old magician atfirst laughed out
right at the idea Of any ones thinking
that he would part with his quern, but
the owner of the bacon insisted that he
would be satisfied with nothing less than
that, SO he finally got it.
When he reached his own door, the
. clock was striking ID and his wife was
waiting for him, ready to scold him for
staying 30 long.
"What in the world kept you so long?"
she asked "And what are we going to
do with that old quern when we have no
corn to grindY
Then no told her OF his trading the ba-
con for the quern. She was dreadfully
put out about it,, and especially at the
loss of the bacon, which would have
mado them a good hot dinner and then
w have lasted them q week, sliced
co...
"Just wait minute" said her hus-
band, before you begin to complain,
and see if did not do right this time"
And putting the quern on the table he
told it to grind enough good things to
make first rate dinner for 12 hungry
mouths. His wife could hardly believe
her eyes as she stood there and watched
the quern grinding out dainties enough
to last week.
The rich brother chanced to hear how
well his poor brothers family was liv-
ing, and when he came and saw what an
elegant table they kept lie was envious
and wanted to know where they got the
money to buy the things. For long
time they kept the secret Of the old
quern, but somehow it got out at last.
They were SO proud of it that they could
not help telling all about it, and the rich
brother insisted ON buying the quern.
Finally they let him have it for $500.
1t kept on grinding for its new owner,
but he was afraid of it, never feeling
sure Of what it would do next, so he
made his brother take it back at the
same price. The poor man was glad to
get 1t back again. and 1t ground out tln-
told riches for himself and his family.
They had everything they desired, among
other things a golden house to live in,
and the people came from every land to
see the magnificence of the family that
owned the wonderful quern.
One day stranger, an old seaman who
had been all around the then known
world, came to see the quern, and want
ed it to grind salt.
1t is supposed that the owner of the
quern was rich enough by this time, for
he let it 60 for moderate sum, and
fearing that he might repent of having
sold it tho old sailor put to sea at
once with his prize, anxious to know
how it would work. When he had sailed
so far out that no one could reach him,
he said to the quern:
"Grind salt, and grind both fast and
good"
No sooner had he'given the order than
the quern began to grind heaps and
heaps of salt all over the deck until the
ship was ready to sink to the bottom OF
tile sea. Scared half to death. the Old