Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks

Dutch Fairy Tales for Young
Folks

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Title: Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks

Author: William Elliot Griffis
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7871] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 28, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH
FAIRY TALES FOR YOUNG FOLKS ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: Flying out of the sky they came bringing cheeses]

DUTCH FAIRY TALES FOR
YOUNG FOLKS
By
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS
_Author of "The Firefly's Lovers," "The Unmannerly Tiger," "Brave
Little Holland," "Bonnie Scotland," etc._

CONTENTS
THE ENTANGLED MERMAID

THE BOY WHO WANTED MORE CHEESE
THE PRINCESS WITH TWENTY PETTICOATS
THE CAT AND THE CRADLE
PRINCE SPIN HEAD AND MISS SNOW WHITE
THE BOAR WITH THE GOLDEN BRISTLES
THE ICE KING AND HIS WONDERFUL GRANDCHILD
THE ELVES AND THEIR ANTICS
THE KABOUTERS AND THE BELLS
THE WOMAN WITH THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX
CHILDREN
THE ONI ON HIS TRAVELS
THE LEGEND OF THE WOODEN SHOE
THE CURLY-TAILED LION
BRABO AND THE GIANT
THE FARM THAT RAN AWAY AND CAME BACK
SANTA KLAAS AND BLACK PETE
THE GOBLINS TURNED TO STONE
THE MOULDY PENNY
THE GOLDEN HELMET
WHEN WHEAT WORKED WOE
WHY THE STORK LOVES HOLLAND

THE ENTANGLED MERMAID
Long ago, in Dutch Fairy Land, there lived a young mermaid who was
very proud of her good looks. She was one of a family of mere or lake
folks dwelling not far from the sea. Her home was a great pool of water
that was half salt and half fresh, for it lay around an island near the
mouth of a river. Part of the day, when the sea tides were out, she
splashed and played, dived and swam in the soft water of the inland
current. When the ocean heaved and the salt water rushed in, the
mermaid floated and frolicked and paddled to her heart's content. Her
father was a gray-bearded merryman and very proud of his handsome
daughter. He owned an island near the river mouth, where the young
mermaids held their picnics and parties and received the visits of young
merrymen.
Her mother and two aunts were merwomen. All of these were sober
folks and attended to the business which occupies all well brought up
mermaids and merrymen. This was to keep their pool clean and nice.
No frogs, toads or eels were allowed near, but in the work of daily
housecleaning, the storks and the mermaids were great friends.
All water-creatures that were not thought to be polite and well behaved
were expected to keep away. Even some silly birds, such as loons and
plovers and all screaming and fighting creatures with wings, were
warned off the premises, because they were not wanted. This family of
merry folks liked to have a nice, quiet time by themselves, without any
rude folks on legs, or with wings or fins from the outside. Indeed they
wished to make their pool a model, for all respectable mermaids and
merrymen, for ten leagues around. It was very funny to see the old
daddy merman, with a switch made of reeds, shooing off the saucy
birds, such as the sandpipers and screeching gulls. For the bullfrogs,
too big for the storks to swallow, and for impudent fishes, he had a
whip made of seaweed.
Of course, all the mermaids in good society were welcome, but young
mermen were allowed to call only once a month, during the week when

the moon was full. Then the evenings were usually clear, so that when
the party broke up, the mermen could see their way in the moonlight to
swim home safely with their mermaid friends. For, there were sea
monsters that loved to plague the merefolk, and even threatened to