Once upon a time in a land faraway,
Sat a king without queen,
With three daughters to raise.

One day this king of land faraway,
Asked all of his daughters,
A question, he did say.

“How do you love me, my girls lovely?,
For I miss your mother,
And the way she loved me.”

The oldest, a dumb yet beautiful make,
Thought for a while,
Then said, “I love you like cake.”

The second, a knowing yet plain looker,
Thought for a moment,
Then said, “I love you like sugar.”

The youngest, pretty and smart without fault,
Thought for only a second,
Then said, “I love you like salt.”

This the king did ponder for a while,
His face was a cloud,
Then he did say, “Get out, you’re vile!

“You are no daughter of mine,
For salt is cheap,
Ordinary, not divine!”

The girl was cast out of her home,
And given to man,
Who married her to pay loan.

Within a three years the couple,
Did fall in love,
And had children, double.

Soon they were wealthy, healthy, and kind,
So generous,
And yet powerful as any royal you find.

So powerful they were that, knowing not who,
The king went to visit them,
Without the knowledge his daughter was this woman too.

At supper that night, sitting with them,
The king ate not a bite,
Until his daughter asked a question to him.

“So you will not eat food without salt,”
She began,
“Yet when I told you how I loved you I was at fault?”

The king saw this woman was his daughter as well,
Said he was sorry,
And lived with his daughter ‘til ill he fell.

On his deathbed, pitching with pain,
The king said,
“I have lived a life full of gain.

“Yet the thing I’ll love most until my heart will halt,
Is something,
Irreplaceable, something I now know as Love Salt.