The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

During a formal lecture, a university professor mentioned a certain detail and remarked, "I am not going into that any further, because it's trivial."

Then the professor, sunk deep in thought, left the classroom, returned half an hour later, and remarked, "I have looked it up, and it appears to be trivial indeed," and without further ado continued his lecture.

This absent-minded professor legend was sent to me on November 30, 1995, by e-mail; the storyteller was Freek Wiedijk from Utrecht. The translation is based on T. Meder, De magische vlucht (Amsterdam, 2000), pp. 193-104