The Quiet Side
Across a stream, the old half of the salt pans has gone back to the birds; Polly stands among little egrets and learns the salt workers' winter saying.
Before you read
Before you read
A small stream divides the salt pans. On the other side is the old part. No one makes salt there now. Low plants grow in the old pools. Rows of old stone houses stand by the canals.
Now the birds live here. Polly walked into a shallow pool. White egrets with long black legs stood around her. Polly stood very still. Nearly three hundred kinds of birds come to these pans.
In an old house there is a small museum. Polly saw old wooden rakes, baskets and scoops.
The salt workers say, salt is made in winter. In winter they fix the walls and the channels. Then summer can bring the salt. Polly thought it was a very patient farm.
That's the story.
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