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Folklore of the Low Countries
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Folklore of the Low Countries
Folklore of the Low Countries, often just referred to as Dutch folklore, includes the epics, legends, fairy tales and oral traditions of the people of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Traditionally this folklore is written or spoken in Dutch or in one of the regional languages of these countries.
The folklore of the Low Countries encompasses the folk traditions of the Benelux countries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This includes the folklore of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, Frisia, Luxembourg and Wallonia.
Many folk tales are derived from pre-Christian Gaulish and Germanic culture; as such, many are similar to French and German versions. In 1891, schoolteacher Jules Lemoine and folklorist Auguste Gittée published Folk Tales from the Walloon Country. They focused on strictly transcribing and translating tales from original Walloon manuscripts, mostly from Hainaut and Namur. In 1918 William Elliot Griffis published Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks: This was followed in 1919 by Belgian Fairy Tales. Also in 1918, Belgian writer Jean de Bosschère published Folk Tales of Flanders (published in English as Beasts and Men). The Belgian tale "Karl Katz" is similar to both the German folk tale "Peter Klaus" and Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle". Charles Deulin was a French writer, born near the Belgian border. He wrote stories based on the folk tales of the countryside. The Nettle Spinner is a Flemish fairy tale later included in Andrew Lang's 1890 The Red Fairy Book.
Among the stories are:
"The Little Dutch Boy" is commonly thought to be a Dutch legend or fairy tale, but is in fact a fictional story, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, written by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, and not known in the Netherlands as traditional folklore.
Some old stories reflect the Celtic belief in the sacredness of trees.[citation needed] The oak as a venerable tree is a theme seen in the stories. In The Princess with Twenty Petticoats, a wise old oak counsels the king; in The Legend of the Wooden Shoe, another consoles a carpenter.
Dutch folk tales from the Middle Ages are strong on tales about flooded cities and the sea. Legends surround the sunken cities lost to epic floods in the Netherlands: From Saint Elisabeth's Flood of 1421, comes the legend of Kinderdijk that a baby and a cat were found floating in a cradle after the city flooded, the cat keeping the cradle from tipping over. They were the only survivors of the flood. The town of Kinderdijk is named for the place where the cradle came ashore. The story is told in The Cat and the Cradle.
The Saeftinghe legend, says that once glorious city was flooded and ruined by sea waters due to the All Saints' flood, that was flooded in 1584, due to a mermaid being captured and mistreated, and mentions the bell tower still rings. This is much like the story The Mermaid of Westenschouwen (Westenschouwen) which also concerns the mistreated mermaid, followed by a curse and flood. In some flood legends, the church bells or clock bells of sunken cities still can be heard ringing underwater.
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Folklore of the Low Countries
Folklore of the Low Countries, often just referred to as Dutch folklore, includes the epics, legends, fairy tales and oral traditions of the people of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Traditionally this folklore is written or spoken in Dutch or in one of the regional languages of these countries.
The folklore of the Low Countries encompasses the folk traditions of the Benelux countries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This includes the folklore of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, Frisia, Luxembourg and Wallonia.
Many folk tales are derived from pre-Christian Gaulish and Germanic culture; as such, many are similar to French and German versions. In 1891, schoolteacher Jules Lemoine and folklorist Auguste Gittée published Folk Tales from the Walloon Country. They focused on strictly transcribing and translating tales from original Walloon manuscripts, mostly from Hainaut and Namur. In 1918 William Elliot Griffis published Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks: This was followed in 1919 by Belgian Fairy Tales. Also in 1918, Belgian writer Jean de Bosschère published Folk Tales of Flanders (published in English as Beasts and Men). The Belgian tale "Karl Katz" is similar to both the German folk tale "Peter Klaus" and Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle". Charles Deulin was a French writer, born near the Belgian border. He wrote stories based on the folk tales of the countryside. The Nettle Spinner is a Flemish fairy tale later included in Andrew Lang's 1890 The Red Fairy Book.
Among the stories are:
"The Little Dutch Boy" is commonly thought to be a Dutch legend or fairy tale, but is in fact a fictional story, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, written by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, and not known in the Netherlands as traditional folklore.
Some old stories reflect the Celtic belief in the sacredness of trees.[citation needed] The oak as a venerable tree is a theme seen in the stories. In The Princess with Twenty Petticoats, a wise old oak counsels the king; in The Legend of the Wooden Shoe, another consoles a carpenter.
Dutch folk tales from the Middle Ages are strong on tales about flooded cities and the sea. Legends surround the sunken cities lost to epic floods in the Netherlands: From Saint Elisabeth's Flood of 1421, comes the legend of Kinderdijk that a baby and a cat were found floating in a cradle after the city flooded, the cat keeping the cradle from tipping over. They were the only survivors of the flood. The town of Kinderdijk is named for the place where the cradle came ashore. The story is told in The Cat and the Cradle.
The Saeftinghe legend, says that once glorious city was flooded and ruined by sea waters due to the All Saints' flood, that was flooded in 1584, due to a mermaid being captured and mistreated, and mentions the bell tower still rings. This is much like the story The Mermaid of Westenschouwen (Westenschouwen) which also concerns the mistreated mermaid, followed by a curse and flood. In some flood legends, the church bells or clock bells of sunken cities still can be heard ringing underwater.
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