The Tale of Salt

Long time ago, there was a king who had three daughters. He was very old and wanted to hand over his kingdom to his wisest daughter. One day, he called his daughters and said “I will give my entire kingdom to the one who brings me the most expensive gift.” This was a very difficult task for the daughters since king already had everything. The oldest daughter decided to give the most expensive jewelry to his father, the middle one gifted him a very expensive cloak and the youngest daughter brought a box full of salt. The king became very mad at the youngest daughter because he felt the gift of salt was an insult to him. He asked his youngest daughter to leave his kingdom. A few years later, an messenger told him that the king in neighboring kingdom had married a very wise princess and became very rich through her ideas. The princess had discovered the clever idea of producing salt from the sea. She let the seawater evaporate and sold the salt to all neighboring countries which did not lie near the sea. The king became curious and decided to visit the neighboring king. When he reached the other kingdom, he was very warmly received and he soon realized that the wise princess was his own youngest daughter. Both of them reconciled and a big celebration was arranged. The daughter wanted to share her wealth with his father. She announced that all traders who wished to purchase salt from her kingdom must travel through the kingdom of his father. In this way, the trade began to prosper on all streets where the merchants travelled. These streets were named as salt routes. To earn more money, the king increased the tariff for using the streets. People named salt “The White Gold” because wherever it went, it brought great prosperity.