The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

WINTERSWIJK (GPD) [1] – A couple from Winterswijk had the dubious honour of owning a wandering comforter. Directly after they bought it, they spread the comforter out over the bed, but after a while, to the amazement of the woman, she found the warm asset on the floor. In fact, the comforter took a hike more than once.

When it was returned to the interior decorating shop, the comforter revealed its mystery: The down inside had not been cleaned well enough and still contained pieces of skin. It was an ideal dwelling-place for a huge number of maggots, who were always in for a snack and therefore continuously kept the comforter in motion.

[1] Winterswijk is a town in the province of Gelderland. GPD stands for "Geassocieerde Pers Diensten" (Associated Press Agencies).

This story was published in the local newspaper Leidsch Dagblad on January 6, 1986 and was later exposed as an urban legend and published by Peter Burger in De wraak van de kangoeroe (Amsterdam, 1993), pp. 143-144, upon which this translation is based. It is supposed to be one of the few urban legends that has its narrative centre in the Low Countries. The tale is a version of BRUN 02415, Contaminated Comforters.