Folktale why the sea is salty

The older brother was rich and successful, but mean and arrogant. The younger brother was very poor, but kind and generous. One day the poor brother and his wife found that they had nothing to eat in their house. They had no money either, and nothing that they could sell. To make matters worse, the next day was a holiday, a day of celebration. Tomorrow is a holiday. How will we celebrate? The poor brother was in a fix.

He did not know what to do. Surely he will not grudge us a little meat for the holiday? The poor man sighed. He did not like to ask his brother for help, for he knew how mean and selfish his brother was.

But the next day was a holiday, and he really could not think how else to get something to eat. Go away, we have no time for you! Lend me a little meat, so that I and my wife may also celebrate. Throw him out! He has told me to take it to Hiysi. I must take it to Hiysi. Hiysi the Wood-Goblin lived deep in the forest. So the poor man turned around and started walking towards the forest. So he walked and he walked through the trees.

Can you tell me how to find his hut? But listen carefully. Hiysi loves meat. He will offer you silver and gold and precious stones in gratitude. Ask instead for his millstone. There is also a variation in which the older brother borrows the magic millstone to make it produce money, but when he cannot make it stop, dies, buried under the money. The narrative, in other words, can be read as a cautionary tale against excessive greed. Why Sea Water Tastes Salty. All : 7,, Today : 1, Fed up, they cursed the king and ground out an army to grind him to a pulp with the help of a sea king.

The sea king then took the giantesses and the magic millstone aboard his ship and asked them to grind salt—so much so that the ship sank, dumping all its salty cargo into the ocean. She would have been a nightmare of a mother-in-law. In a cruel twist, Aliwan was on board one of the ships that sank. Distraught, Marag-sa-tubig forgot to tell the monsoon god to turn off the tap and the storm continued, eventually causing the sea to sweep over the salt-producing cave, turning the seas salty forever.

Three friends hanging out, doing some body painting—what could possibly go wrong? Plenty, it turns out in this tale from the Gamalanga tribe in Australia. The only reason we have any fresh water today is thanks to the wallaby, who had removed some water in a cup for himself earlier.