Jul 12·edited Jul 12Liked by Étienne Fortier-Dubois
In Orkney, we have a version of the Sampo: a giant quern called Grotti, ground by giants Fenia and Menia, which could grind whatever you wanted. Through a series of misadventures it ended up at the bottom of Scapa Flow grinding out salt, and that's why the sea is salt and why there's a whirlpool there. I think we got this story from Scandinavian folklore as bits of it are in the Eddas.
In Orkney, we have a version of the Sampo: a giant quern called Grotti, ground by giants Fenia and Menia, which could grind whatever you wanted. Through a series of misadventures it ended up at the bottom of Scapa Flow grinding out salt, and that's why the sea is salt and why there's a whirlpool there. I think we got this story from Scandinavian folklore as bits of it are in the Eddas.
Cool! Yeah apparently the people cataloguing myths and tales have a special category for salt-producing things that explain the saltiness of the sea
One misding on the list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wishing-Table,_the_Gold-Ass,_and_the_Cudgel_in_the_Sack
This was so interesting, thank you very much!