And, as the farm lay by the seaside, the golden
house gleamed and glistened far away over the sea. All who sailed by put
ashore to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see the wonderful
mill the fame of which spread far and wide, till there was nobody who
hadn't heard of it.
So one day there came a skipper who wanted to see the mill, and the
first thing he asked was if it could grind salt.
"Grind salt!" said the owner, "I should just think it could. It can
grind anything."
When the skipper heard that, he said he must have the mill, for if he
only had it, he thought, he need not take his long voyages across stormy
seas for a lading of salt. He much preferred sitting at home with a pipe
and a glass. Well, the man let him have it, but the skipper was in such
a hurry to get away with it that he had no time to ask how to handle the
mill. He got on board his ship as fast as he could and set sail. When he
had sailed a good way off, he brought the mill on deck and said, "Grind
salt, and grind both good and fast."
And the mill began to grind salt so that it poured out like water, and
when the skipper had got the ship full he wished to stop the mill, but
whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it did no good;
the mill kept on grinding, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher,
and at last down sank the ship.
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