Our legends of November-Poland Legend

 

WHY IS THE BALTIC SEA SALTY?

In the old days Sweden, and in fact the whole Scandinavia, was an arid, unhospitable land. Only the sea created some opportunity for its inhabitants. They ventured further and further, first just plundering, later turning to trade.

One of the youngest sailors was Olaf. He had just set off on his very first cruise – to the other side of the Baltic Sea, all the way to Gdańsk. Everything was different here – people, churches, houses, even food.

Olaf and other sailors stayed in an inn, whose owner and her daughter would always cook delicious meals. Both women were very busy in the kitchen all the time. The landlady put new pots onto the stove, and – as Olaf once noticed – she constantly reached for a pot of salt. Olaf felt very surprised, because salt used to be really expensive in those days.

Suddenly he saw the landlady’s daughter, who spread a white cloth on a table, took out something that looked like a small windmill and said, “Help me, little mill, and with salt it fill”. The tiny blades started turning rapidly and a moment later white powder appeared on the cloth.
Olaf could not take his eyes off of this magic toy. In his mind he constantly repeated the words of the spell, even though he did not understand them at all. After all, he didn’t speak any Polish. He had already made up his mind to steal the windmill.

In the evening, when the sailors were about to return to their ship, Olaf pretended to feel ill. “Leave me behind”  he told his colleagues. ”Maybe I will get better soon”. They put him on a bench. Nastka, the landlady’s daughter, wrapped him up with shipskin and the landlady made him some hot herbal brew. Olaf felt a bit uneasy about hurting these nice women, who took such good care of him, but his greed was too strong to overcome.

As soon as it got dark, Olaf took the windmill from the shelf. When everyone had gone to sleep, he stealthily crept out of the inn, the windmill wrapped in his shirt. He run to the harbour, where his ship was docked.

When the ship was already at sea, Olaf sat in the corner and took out his treasure. The petty officer came and was really angry that Olaf was a thief and had done such a bad thing to the nice people in Gdańsk. The boy was determined to show him what the toy could do. He spread a piece of linen on the floor and uttered the spell. The blades started turning, slowly at first, but soon white salt appeared. When there was a lot of it on the linen, the officer said, “Oh, all right, stop it now”.

At that precise moment Olaf realised he did not know the counterspell! He tried random words, begged the windmill – all in vain! Salt kept coming out. Soon the whole deck was covered by the white powder.

The ship got heavier and heavier. Eventually it started sinking. All men jumped in the lifeboats. Olaf was the last to leave the ship, as he was still trying to stop the windmill.
”What will happen to us?” the sailors worried, “we are still so far from the nearest land! We have no food left.” The officer sighed and said, “Well, at least we have water to drink”. He reached overboard and took a handful of water. He drank, but suddenly winced with disgust. The water was now ... salty.