It all happened during the Saint Elisabeth's Flood, November 18,1421. The waves washed over the low lands in a fury, and everywhere dikes were swept away as if they were made of paper. People and cattle drowned and died a miserable death. Cries of despair were heard all over the land.

But what does the sea care for lamentations? The water ran through the huge holes in the dikes and swept away all that it encountered. The people in no less than seventy-two villages near the city of Dordrecht drowned. The fertile soil changed into a vast stretch of salt water. Where once the area had been vital and productive, there now remained the Biesbosch, with its creeks and its inlets.

Certainly this is what happened during the days of the Saint Elisabeth's Flood. Nothing remained of the seventy-two prospering villages. Houses and churches, people and cattle, were all swallowed up by the sea.

It so happened that in these days one miracle occurred.

One human life was spared.

As far as the eye could see, there was water – there were waves everywhere. All that once lived, had gone under; but see, what was floating over there? That tiny dot over there, that object that rocked on the waves? Was it a cradle?

By all means, it was a cradle, and there was a tiny, rosy child lying in it. It sucked its little thumb, and its blue eyes looked at the grey sky in an innocent way.

How was it possible that the cradle didn't turn over? How could it be that the waves did not wash it away?

The answer was a cat on the hood of the cradle, jumping from left to right and back again, thus keeping the strange vessel in balance.

Where did the cradle come from, and whatever happened to the child?

Nobody knows, but up until today, the very spot where the cradle came ashore is called Kinderdijk – Childrensdike.