Why the Sea Is Salty | African Folktale Meets Science

Unbelievable but true—this African tall tale carries a hint of science. Many folktales exaggerate life lessons, yet the story of Why the Sea Is Salty holds a surprising truth about ocean salt and the cycle of water on Earth.

African folktale Queen Fuma learns why the sea is salty through magic millstones and ocean salt myth.

The Folktale of Queen Fuma and the Magic Millstones

Queen Fuma ruled the sea, but her greed drove her to steal two magic millstones from her brother, Prince Noka, ruler of lakes and rivers. These were no ordinary stones—they could grind out anything their owner desired.

But Queen Fuma did not know how to use them. Frustrated, she wept: “If only I could move the stones, I would make my people rich and happy.”

Two mysterious women appeared, offering help. They touched the stones and they began to grind—gold, rest, and happiness poured out. Fuma, dazzled by the gold, demanded more and more until the helpers grew weary. When the queen refused to let them rest, the stones began to grind warriors instead of wealth. The warriors rose and destroyed Queen Fuma’s kingdom.

African myth shows woman grinding salt at the bottom of the sea after Queen Fuma’s fall.

One survivor, seeking power, took the stones aboard a ship, forcing a woman to keep grinding. “Rest? No!” he shouted. “Grind salt, if you can grind nothing else!”

She obeyed until the ship sank beneath the waves—and the stones sank too, still grinding salt to this day. That is why the sea is salty.

Shipwreck showing African folktale origin of sea salt with millstones grinding under the ocean.

Science Behind the Folklore

This African folktale captures a real scientific truth: seawater is salty because of minerals and salts washed from the land into the ocean. Over millions of years, rivers have carried dissolved sodium, chloride, and other ions from rocks and soils to the sea. When water evaporates, the salts remain—just like Queen Fuma’s eternal millstones grinding beneath the waves.

In a way, the folktale mirrors the hydrological and geochemical cycles—where nature, time, and chemistry shape Earth’s salty seas.

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