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 quern, the fame of which spread far and wide, till there was
nobody who hadn't heard tell of it.

So one day there came a skipper who wanted to see the quern; 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 quern, cost what
it would; for if he only had it, he thought he should be rid of his long
voyages across stormy seas for a lading of salt. Well, at first the man
wouldn't hear of parting with the quern; but the skipper begged and
prayed so hard that at last he let him have it, but he had to pay many,
many thousand dollars for it. Now, when the skipper had got the quern on
his back, he soon made off with it, for he was afraid lest the man
should change his mind; so he had no time to ask how to handle the
quern, but got on board his ship as fast as he could, and set sail.
When he had sailed a good way off, he brought the quern on deck and
said:

"Grind salt, and grind both good and fast."

Well, the quern 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 quern,
but whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it was no
good; the quern kept grinding on, and the heap of salt grew higher and
higher, and at last down sunk the ship.