Today, Westenschouwen is nothing more than a few houses near the small town of Burgh in Zeeland, but in the old days it was an important seaport town. Once there was a Roman settlement there – ancient coins and artifacts have been found. The Danes and the Norsemen had paid the town a visit as well. This is why a burgh or stonghold was erected. The town arms of Burgh still remind us of that. In the golden age of Westenschouwen, which lasted until the second half of the middle ages, the following events took place – the facts linger on in faint memories though, so that I can recount the story only briefly.

One day the fishermen of Westenschouwen caught a creature, "half human, half fish," in their nets. They brought the "beast" ashore. The creature was covered with seaweed and cried her eyes out. The whole day, until dark, people came to gaze at the creature.

All of a sudden, a male voice rose from the sea. It was the merman calling his wife – he wanted her back. His plea was heard several times, but the fishermen refused to return their catch. Then the voice of the merman sounded again and he prophesized:

Westenschouwen, Westenschouwen,

You'll regret this all your life,

That you have robbed me of my wife.

The town will drown and lose its power,

The only remains will be the tower.

And that's exactly what happened: The town went down into the sea and only the tower remained visible above the water.

Now, I must add that the tower was torn down in the middle of the nineteenth century and that the stones were used to build Mr. Speelman's barn in the middle of the small town of Burgh.