第6章 Why the Sea Is Salt 为什么海水是咸的

(CONCLUDED)

When the people went by the house to church, the next day, they could hardly believe their eyes. There was glass in the windows instead of a wooden shutter, and the poor man and his wife, dressed in nice new clothes, were seen devoutly kneeling in the church.

"There is something very strange in all this," said everyone. "Something very strange indeed," said the rich man, when three days afterwards he received an invitation from his once poor brother to a grand feast. And what a feast it was! The table was covered with a cloth as white as snow, and the dishes were all of silver or gold. The rich man could not, in his great house, and with all his wealth, set out such a table.

"Where did you get all these things?" exclaimed he. His brother told him all about the bargain he had made with the dwarfs, and putting the mill on the table, ground out boots and shoes, coats and cloaks, stockings, gowns, and blankets, and bade his wife give them to the poor people that had gathered about the house to get a sight of the grand feast the poor brother had made for the rich one.

The rich man, was very envious of his brother's good fortune, and wanted to borrow the mill, intending—for he was not an honest man—never to return it again. His brother would not lend it, for the old man with the white beard had told him never to sell or lend it to anyone.

Some years went on, and, at last, the possessor of the mill built himself a grand castle on a rock by the sea, facing the west. Its windows, reflecting the golden sunset, could be seen far out from the shore. It became a noted landmark for sailors. Strangers from foreign parts often came to see this castle and the wonderful mill of which the most extraordinary tales were told.

At length, a great foreign merchant came, and when he had seen the mill, inquired whether it would grind salt. Being told that it would, he wanted to buy it; for he traded in salt, and thought that if he owned it he could supply all his customers without taking long and dangerous voyages.

The man would not sell it, of course. He was so rich now that he did not want to use it for himself; but every Christmas he ground out food and clothes and coal for the poor, and nice presents for the little children. So he rejected all the offers of the rich merchant. The merchant, however, determined to have it; he bribed one of the man's servants to let him go into the castle at night, and he stole the mill and sailed away with it in triumph.

He had scarcely got out to sea, before he determined to set the mill to work. "Now, mill, grind salt," said he; "grind salt with all your might! —salt, salt, and nothing but salt!" The mill began to grind and the sailors to fill the sacks; but these were soon full, and in spite of all that could be done, it began to fill the ship.

The dishonest merchant was now very much frightened. What was to be done? The mill would not stop grinding; and at last the ship was overloaded, and down it went, making a great whirlpool where it sank. The ship soon went to pieces; but the mill stands on the bottom of the sea, and keeps grinding out "salt, salt, nothing but salt!" That is the reason, say the peasants of Denmark and Norway, why the sea is salt.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

（完结篇）

第二天，当人们经过穷人家去教堂的时候，他们简直无法相信自己的眼睛。窗户上的木制百叶被玻璃替换了，那个穷人和他的妻子穿上了崭新的好衣服，正虔诚地跪在教堂里。

“这可有点奇怪啊。”大家都说。“这可真是奇怪。”那个穷人的有钱哥哥说。三天过后，他收到了曾贫困潦倒的弟弟寄来的邀请函。这可真是盛宴啊！餐桌上铺着雪白的桌布，餐具都是用金银制成的。那个富人即便拥有漂亮的房子和大量资产，也没法在自己家里布置这样富丽堂皇的餐桌。

“你是从哪里得到这些东西的？”他大叫道。他弟弟把自己同小矮人做的那笔交易告诉了他，他把手磨放在了桌子上，用它磨出靴子、鞋子、大衣、斗篷、袜子、长袍和毛毯，并让他妻子把这些东西送给聚集在房子周围的穷人，这些穷人围在房子周围，想要亲眼看见穷弟弟为富哥哥举办的盛宴。

那个富人非常嫉妒他弟弟的好运气，他想要借那手磨，事实上他是存心的——因为他并不是一个诚实的人——他根本就没想过要还。他弟弟不愿借给他，因为那个白胡子老人告诉过他弟弟，绝不能把它卖给或者借给任何人。

就这样过去很多年，最后，那个拥有手磨的人在大海边的一块岩石上给自己建造了一座宏伟的城堡，它面朝西方。城堡上面的窗户映射着金灿灿的落日余晖，人们在很远就能看到。它成了水手们的航标。来自其他地方的陌生人经常来到这座城堡，聆听有关美妙的手磨那非凡的童话故事。

最后，一个有名的外国商人来到这里，当他看到手磨的时候，他问手磨主人，这个东西能不能磨出盐粒。主人告诉他可以做到，于是，他打算买下这个手磨。因为他是盐商，他盘算着，如果他拥有手磨，他就不用冒着远途航行的风险为他的顾客提供盐了。当然，手磨的主人不会卖掉它的。他现在已经很富有了，他不想一直把手磨据为己用。每当圣诞节来临之际，他都会用手磨磨出食物、衣服、外套，分发给穷人们，并且给孩子们送去精美的礼物。所以，他拒绝了富商的所有建议。然而，那个富商已经下定决心要得到它。于是，他贿赂了他哥哥的一名仆人，仆人在晚上悄悄进入城堡，偷走了手磨，盐商带着凯旋的心情离开了这里。

他几乎不出海了，当他打算让手磨开始工作。“现在，手磨给我磨出盐来，”他说，“用你全部的力量给我磨出盐来！——盐，盐，我只要盐！”于是，手磨拼命磨出盐，富商的水手们开始用麻布袋装盐。很快，这些布袋就被填满了，由于没有别的地方放盐，持续磨出来的盐填满了富商的船。

手磨不停地磨盐，那个狡诈的商人害怕极了，现在该怎么办？最终，富商的船超过了负荷量，开始下沉，并且在它沉没的地方产生了一个巨大的旋涡。很快，富商的船就支离破碎了，但是，手磨却矗立在大海的底部，它仍旧在继续磨盐。“盐，盐，我只要盐！”这就是丹麦和挪威的农民所说的大海为什么那么咸的原因。