The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

Dring exams, one of the assignments for Dutch was, "Write an essay on the subject 'What is guts?' " Someone turned in three empty sheets of paper, and at the bottom of the last page he had written, ''This is guts." An old friend of the storyteller claimed she knew someone who had actually done this.

This contemporary legend belongs to the folktale type BRUN 10235, "Define 'Courage'." The story was told on June 25,1998, to Wendy de Visser by Stefanie Wels from Amsterdam (North Holland). The translation is based on T. Meder, De magische vlucht (Amsterdam, 2000), p. 189.