Friesland had a world famous 11 Cities Skating Tour. Because of a permantly lack of winter and ice – the last one was on January 4th, 1997- you can also walk along the 11 cities. Doing so you see and hear more than skaters ever did.

So I stood in the harbor of Stavoren -with a man and a woman- looking up at the statue of a lady.

“Was she a mermaid?” the woman wondered aloud, studying the image. Her husband didn’t know and shrugged.

I had re-raid the saga that morning, so I said: “No madam, she was a rich merchant widow, who owned more ships than all the town’s merchants combined. She grew richer by the day. Yet she was not satisfied, so she sent one of her captains off to find her the most valuable treasure he could get.

In Danzig (Poland) the boatman found a cargo of grain, the best quality he had ever seen.

The Lady of Stavoren, however, was not only very disappointed, but she became furious as well and called out: “On which side of the ship did they load this stuff?” “On the starboard side”, said her captain in a trembling voice. “Then throw it into the sea on the port side!”, she ordered him.

A passerby, who heard this, strongly advised against this command; should she ever fall into begging herself, the grain would appear to her to be gold! As an answer she removed a ring from her finger and threw it into the sea with a great arc, adding, “Just as I will never see this gold ring again, I will never lapse into begging.”

One day one of her servants, preparing dinner, came to her with a caught fish. It had her gold ring in its stomach. From then on, her fate turned. The Lady of Stavoren ended up in great poverty. The harbor silted up. On arising sandbanks, gold-colored grain started growing, but its ears remained empty”.

Ending the story, I said in conclusion, “So, she was actually a very covetous woman.”

The woman walked toward her partner. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “I don’t know any others!”