Now long ago,the Irish Sea held only fresh water,in fact,it was the sweetest water you could ever hope to taste,and all the worlds great poets wrote sonnets in praise of it's medicinal properties.It was even said that it could restore youth to an old man,or grow hair on a stone if applied in liberal amounts and in the proper manner while blessing it in the name of Saint Patrick of course.
Now near by,or so i have been told,and this from some what reliable sources too,there lived two Irishmen named Pat and Mike,they were two God fearing Christian men,hard workers and as honest as the day is long,the both of them,although i have heard it said of them that they had developed a taste for the guiness in thier wild youth,however this is not considered much of a flaw,as most irishmen of the time probably did worse things in the normal course of the day,in fact i have it from good sources,that some irishmen had even considered joining the IRA or ,and i shudder at even the thought of it,joining the British army and becoming one of the Protestant faith!
Well,to get on with the telling of the tale,it seems that as these two honest and hard working irishmen were sitting down to tea one day and Mary,or was it Bridgit? served them up a boiled potatoe,"You know,Mike," says Pat,"This Potatoe taste a little flat,wouldent it be marvelouse to have a bit of salt to go on it?"Well now," says Mike to Pat,"You being such a fine specimen of Irish Manhood,supposing you just tell me where we are to come by a bit of salt to go on these fine Irish Potatoes,when you know that all the salt in the whole world is over in the great and lovely land of England? "Well Mike" says Pat I have invented a machine that makes salt,and this machine is going to make the both of us rich and landed gentlemen,all we have to do is make enough salt to supply the whole of Ireland with enough salt to go on thier Potatoes and sell it for a shilling a pound!
So off go these two enterprizing Irishmen,to Pats humble little cottage to see the marvelous salt making machine.
"How do you turn it on Pat?" says Mike "Well Mike,you just push that little red button on the side right there."Says Pat,So,being a little in his cups of Guiness,and having sampled a bit of poteen to boot on the way to Pats humble cottage,Mike reaches over and gently pushes the little red button on the side of Pats salt making machine,and it starts cranking out salt in great quantities,in fact,it cranks out so much salt that Pats humble little cottage is soon filled with the finest salt that you have ever tasted,it is on the floor,in the beds and even in Pats hair."Well Pat," says Mike,"how do you turn it off?" "Off?" says Pat, well I never thought to include an off switch Mike,so what do you propose we do now? for if we dont turn it off soon,the whole of Ireland will filled with salt!"Ah man your daft! thats no problem,lets just take this infernal machine to the cliffs and dump it into the Irish Sea!
And thats why the Irish Sea is salty to this very day!!