Less successful than
Sjuck, after repelling them thrice she was overpowered and thrown into
prison. While there she produced twins, thus proving herself a woman
no less than a warrior. "When the people of Holland glorify Kenau,"
says the proverb, "the Frisians praise their Bauck." Kenau we have met:
the heroic widow of Haarlem who during the siege led a band of three
hundred women and repelled the enemy on the walls again and again.
Near Roodkerk is a lake called the Boompoel, into which a coach
and four containing six inside passengers, all of them professional
exorcists, disappeared and was never seen again. The exorcists had come
to relieve the village of the ghost of a miser, and we must presume had
failed to quiet him. Near Bergum, at Buitenrust farm, is the scene of
another tragedy by drowning, for there died Juffer Lysse. This maiden,
disregarding too long her father's dying injunction to build a chapel,
was naturally overturned in her carriage and drowned. Ever since
has the wood been haunted, while the bind-weed, a haunting flower,
is in these parts known as the Juffer Lysse blom.
From these scraps of old lore--all taken from the little Leeuwarden
guide--it will be seen that Friesland is rich in romantic traditions
and well worthy the attention of any maker of sagas.
Pages:
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337