The Mountain Village

A village high in the mountains relied on a single path to the valley below.

From the valley came salt. From salt came preserved meat. From preserved meat came winter survival.

One year, a rockslide blocked the path for three months.

The village didn't starve from lack of food. They starved from lack of salt, which meant they couldn't preserve the food they had.

A traveler asked why they hadn't stored more salt.

"We stored plenty of grain," they said. They hadn't thought to map what grain depended on.