In a society dominated by the fathers, we find interesting associations between salt and the nature of femaleness. A Grimm's fairy tale, "The Goose-Girl at the Well," describes a king who flies into such a rage when his youngest daughter tells him she loves him like salt that he banishes her into the forest.

Why was the King angry? The princess who refuses to make a conventional sentimental assertion of her love for her father and gets punished for it is common in European folklore; this motif is the basis of "King Lear," with its contrast between Goneril's and Regan's honeyed words and the plain savor of Cordelia's honesty. The motif also occurs in a traditional tale of India, where six older princesses love their father "like the sweetest sugar," but the youngest loves him like salt, and in his fury he orders that she be taken off to a dense jungle.

In all these cases the daughter recognizes that something about the question is wrong and does not want to speak; it is only after the King insists that she comes out with her uningratiating answer, and then he instantly falls into an unthinking rage. To understand why the idea of salt should so enrage him and why it should be the response of the daughter who is obviously the only sincere one, we must consider what salt is and what it means.