A king asks his three daughters how much they love him. Two give satisfactory answers, but the third said she loves him as much as water and salt. He immediately orders an execution, but the other sisters get the executioner to swap her life for a dog's and they smear her clothes in blood and bring it to the king. The daughter that was supposed to be dead is found in the woods by a magician and the king's son falls in love with her. The magician tells the son that to marry her the son must kill him the day before the marriage, invite three kings, and order the servants to pass water and salt to all guests except the king. The day before the wedding they killed the magician and quartered him, and put a quarter in each of four rooms, and sprinkled his blood in all the rooms and on the stairway, and the blood and flesh became gold and precious stones. At the banquet after the wedding the daughter supposed to be dead was sitting by the king and he isn't eating because he doesn't feel well but the real reason is because he wasn't given salt for his meat or water to drink. The girl reveals to him that she is his daughter and they rejoice.
I thought this story was strange, but liked that the king learned from his child. I want to redo this story in a modern day situation where a kid says something that a parent thinks is really silly but then turns out to be very true!
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| Father and Son Playing sourced via Pixabay |
Water and Salt by Thomas Frederick Crain
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