The Tale of the Salt Woman, a fairy tale for enlightenment

Sailors sing of desire and longing for the sea, and the crone takes notice. “There once was a woman who knew best how to long for the sea,” she says, and sits to tell the tale of an impossible visitor to a tavern long, long ago. Listen.

It’s up to you to find what meaning you will.

 

 

There once was a barmaid who worked in a tavern by the sea so that she could feel a part of the world’s stories.

Ships made reckless port there in a harbor nestled betwixt misted cliffs and sharp rocks. Sailors regularly spilled onto the pier from exotic lands, but one day a woman arrived at the tavern from nowhere.

She was made of salt and wearing a cloak with a hood. She smiled the most mysterious smile.

“How did you get a salt body?” asked the fascinated barmaid.

“I do not know how I came to be,” said the salt woman with wondrous accuracy. “But I am a teller of unknowing tales and will enlighten your patrons in exchange for smoked cod and ale.”

The barkeep and sailors laughed, but the salt woman’s unusual beauty tempted them to listen. As it turned out, they were smitten by her strange stories which always ended in mystery. Sailors soon found themselves helplessly composing bits of poetry on rags and stuffing them into empty mugs for her to find.

“You are the moon fallen to the sea,” many notes read, for her face was round and bright within her dark and hooded cloak.

The barmaid fell in love with the salt woman as well, but in a deeper sort of way. She noticed the steady, inviting pull of the salt woman’s gaze and, over time, developed an inexplicable and soulful longing. This is when it dawned on the barmaid that she no longer desired the brash knowing which wagged from the tongues of sailors. For the salt woman claimed to know nothing at all for certain, and how much better would it be to understand the look of wonder which incessantly played across that moon of a salt face?

One day a cruel pirate fell in love with the salt woman. He stole her away to his ship and quickly set sail, leaving his crew behind so he could have the salt woman all to himself. It did not go well. For the salt woman spent her days and nights attempting to jump overboard.

She would not be possessed.

This enraged the pirate. “Stop it this minute!” he shouted, tying her to the helm with ingenious knots.

Soon thereafter, a great storm battered the ship and washed the pirate overboard to drown. The salt woman prayed the ship would go under as did he. She preferred not to live life tied to a helm, but the ship sailed on upon the heaving sea.

Wind took the creaking ship wherever it liked. One morn the salt woman woke and lifted her moon face to see the harbor from which she’d been stolen, the one with the tavern. And she marveled at the skill it would require to make safe port.

A commotion did arise. Sailors shouted upon sight of the pirate’s ship with its tattered sails. The barmaid ran for the pier ahead of them all, waving her arms and screaming a warning. But the ship did not turn as it should.

“No!” the barmaid cried out in anguish.

The salt woman looked back over her shoulder and, with a mysterious smile, lifted a pale hand in farewell as the ship broke apart against the sharp rocks and misted cliffs. 

The barmaid witnessed the salt woman dissolve into the sea.

This is where the story of the stolen salt woman ends. Do not weep, for she was not lost but forever in wonder…at first for how she came to be, and later at her immensity.

The sailors grieved but soon returned to their ale, forgetting the gift of the salt woman.

It was different for the barmaid. She refused to leave the pier. There she gazed at the sea for weeks, contemplating the mystery of it all. This filled the barmaid with a longing she couldn’t grasp. She felt overwhelming wonder.

Wonder is timeless and thus has power to summon seemingly impossible things.

 

 

Of a sudden, the sea swelled into a towering wave, and sailors wailed to see it coming for their ships at anchor. Yet the barmaid stood immovable upon the pier as the waters soared to crest high above her head.

After the wave had fallen and the sea breathed itself back in, the sailors rushed onto the pier to check on their ships.

There they found the barmaid stripped of her longing and transfigured by salt.  

Standing tall as a pillar and hearing the sailors gasp behind her, she turned to look over her shoulder—

With a mysterious smile.

 

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*featured image of pier by David Mark

*image of towering wave by Adam Azim