ESTONIAN TRADITIONAL STORY - ONCE UPON A TIME

The Estonian traditional story/sailor song in English language (translated by Helina Aaboja):

Once upon a time
herring lived on dry land.
He kept himself away from the water
and he was living like a cat.
Once the two-masted schooner
journeyed with cargo of salt .
At the time, salt was the expensive stuff
and a hundred guilders was paid for one wood barrel.
There was on board a herring,
who exterminated the mice and rats .
It was a sweet tooth herring -
it really liked granary bin of salt.
He chewed salt eagerly
with both sides of the mouth.
He did not notice ,
that he chewed hole to the boat .
Then the two-masted schooner
drowned with the cargo of salt.
Then the old Neptune was angry
and said, "Hey , herring ,
Because you eat the hole to the schooner
and brought a new boat to the bottom of sea ,
The punishment for you is
now to live in seawater .
You will be fished from the sea
and salted in the barrel! "
And from that time on, it is true ,
the sea water is salty.