The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

When Boniface [1] arrived in Dokkum with his followers, he was very thirsty. He asked for something to drink, but nobody would give him any water. When his horse scraped the ground with his hoof, suddenly water emerged from the earth. The horse had been able to smell the water. Then they were all able to drink for a while.

Livestock is always attracted to water. This all happened at the location where today the Bonifatius fountain can be found.

On another occasion Boniface and his followers came to Dokkum, and they were all very hungry. When Boniface went to the baker for some bread, he refused to give him any. The baker claimed that he did not have any bread.

Then Boniface asked him, "What do you have in the oven then?" He most certainly smelled bread.

The baker answered, "Stones."

Later on, when the baker wanted to take the bread out of the oven, it appeared to be stones. The bread had turned into stone.

[1] Boniface or Bonifatius (672-754) was a British missionary who tried to convert the Frisians to Christianity. He was killed by some Frisians near Dokkum in 754.

These two legends can be catalogued as SINLEG 0416, Heiliger lässt Brunnen entspringen (saint makes a well rise) and VDK 0751E*, De stenen broden (the stone bread), today also known as ATU 751G*, Bread Turned to Stone. The legends were told to collector A. A. Jaarsma on June 2, 1965, by Mrs. Geeske Kobus-Van der Zee from Nijega (Friesland). The tales have not been published so far (Jaarsma Collection, report 385, tales no. 8 and 9; archive and Dutch Folktale Database, Meertens Instituut, Amsterdam).