When the Dollard was not there yet, there was a large farm in the neighbourhood of Termunten. One morning the farmer drew water from the well for his cattle.

To his utter amazement, he saw a herring swimming in the bucket. He kept on scratching his head over this matter. Finally he concluded that the fish must have swum through the earth into the well. That could only mean that the sea was seeping under the land. One autumn storm, and all the land would be swept away by the sea!

The entire summer the farmer walked around with this secret. The man completely lost his sense of humour. A snap and a snarl was all he was good for.

He sold the farm and moved to another place, on higher ground. He could not find any peace of mind, though. He could not sleep at night. In the daytime, he sat in his yard for hours, just staring.

As the first autumn storm came, the inevitable happened.

That same stormy night the farmer was found dead in his barn.