大象传媒

Adapted and read by Robin Simpson

Have you ever accidentally drunk sea water? You have?! Salty, isn't it?聽Do you know why it's salty? You don't?! Well, let me tell you a story. It's called: 'Why the Sea is Salty'.聽

Once upon a very long time ago, there was a boy. He lived with his old grandmother in a house by the sea. One day the boy said to his grandmother:聽"Grandmother?"聽"Yes, dear?"聽"I'd like to leave home and seek my fortune."聽"Ooh, that's nice dear."

His grandmother opened an old chest that she kept under her bed. "Then I should give you this." And she brought out a coffee mill. You know - for grinding coffee? You put the coffee beans in the top, turn the handle and ground coffee comes out the bottom. "But I don't like coffee", said the boy. "Oh, this isn't any old coffee mill", said his grandmother.

She spoke some magic words: "Magic mill, make me some ... bread". The mill started grinding. All by itself! Grind, grind, grind! And there was a lovely loaf of bread. It smelled delicious! Grandmother said: "Magic mill, make me no more". And the mill stopped grinding. "Wow!" said the boy. "I know!" said Grandmother, "with this mill you'll never go hungry. Ask it to make whatever you like, but remember, you must tell it to stop or it'll keep on grinding!"

The boy left home with the magic mill in his backpack. He soon found himself down at the harbour where there were many ships sailing for distant lands. He approached a captain. "I'd like to come on board as a cabin boy," he said. "What a coincidence, I'm looking for one!" the captain replied. So off they sailed.

The boy worked hard all day, scrubbing the deck, carrying messages, climbing the rigging and standing watch. In the evening he would sit, eating dinner, with the sailors. One night he pulled out the magic mill. "Look at this, lads! Magic mill, make me some... soup." The mill started to grind. Grind, grind, grind! And there was a lovely bowl of soup. The sailors were amazed. They asked if they could all have some soup. So the boy didn't ask the mill to stop. He let it make bowl after bowl. And when every sailor had some soup the boy said: "Magic mill, make me no more." The mill stopped grinding. One sailor asked: "Can it make anything?" "Oh, yeah!" said the boy. So the sailors started shouting suggestions: "Beef stew! Chocolate! Cream! Yorkshire pudding!" And whatever they asked for, the mill made it.

Now, it just so happens that the captain had heard the commotion and he was listening at the door. He was a greedy man and he wanted the magic mill all for himself. The next morning he approached the boy on the deck. "Show me your magic mill!" Reluctantly, the boy pulled it from his backpack. The captain grabbed it and pushed the boy over the rail, into the sea. "Aaaarrrrgggghhh!"

Smiling, the captain took the mill back to his cabin where his morning porridge was waiting. He liked salty porridge. He'd heard the magic words to make the mill start grinding: "Magic mill, make me some... salt." The mill started to grind. Grind, grind, grind. The problem was that, with all the shouting from the sailors, the Captain had not heard the words to make the mill stop. The mill made more and more salt. "Stop, you useless thing!" he said. But they weren't the magic words. "Cut it out, will you!" They weren't the magic words. "Enough, please." But they weren't the magic words.聽"Help me!" Were they the magic words? No, they were not!

The mill made more and more salt. Soon the whole cabin was full of salt. It burst through the cabin door. It filled up the deck. Sailors screamed, jumped into the sea.

Eventually, the whole ship was so full of salt it sank beneath the waves taking the mill with it.聽It's there still. Grinding out salt at the bottom of the sea. And that is why the sea is salty.