Lady of Stavoren

The Lady of Stavoren (Dutch: "Vrouwtje van Stavoren", Frisian: "Frouke fan Starum") is a folk tale from the Netherlands which originated in the 16th century.

The tale has inspired songs, plays, operas and films. Since 1969, a statue of the fabled Lady of Stavoren stands in the harbour of Stavoren, gazing out at the sea.

Now a village of just 1,000 inhabitants, Stavoren was once a wealthy port city in the Dutch province of Friesland but began to decline in the late Middle Ages after a sandbank formed outside the harbour, blocking ships from entering and exiting. Several stories have been told over the years to explain the forming of the sandbank, including the tale of the Lady of Stavoren.

The story involves a wealthy woman who wanted ever more riches. She sent a captain out to look for the greatest treasure in the world. When he returned with wheat, saying wheat is "the most precious thing in the world," it can feed the hungry, the lady threw a ring off her finger into the water and threw all the wheat into the harbor in pride, seeking a much better treasure than that. Ultimately, the lady lost all her riches and ended up a beggar. In addition, she caused the ruination of the port and city.

The tale shares its basic motif with the story of the "Ring of Polycrates" found in Herodotus. [See generally, Herodotus' "Histories", ss. 3.39-60, 3.120-125, 3.142-149, relating to Samos.] Its Aarne-Thompson motif index number is 736A.

The tale

The Lady of Stavoren was a rich widow who owned the largest, grandest house in Stavoren. But she was very stingy; if anybody asked for help she would refuse. Although she possessed many jewels and heaps of gold and silver, she always wanted more. In order to impress the townspeople, she hired a ship captain to sail around the world and find and bring her the greatest treasure in the world.

The captain searched for many years, and finally found it when he heard an old farmer say that wheat is the greatest treasure in the world because it can feed the hungry. He bought the wheat from the farmer and sailed back to Stavoren and showed the Lady what her fortune had purchased. The lady was furious. The lady then ordered the wheat to be dumped into the port. Someone (in some variations a beggar) threw a curse at her that if she wasted the wheat, she would become a beggar herself. In other variations the captain suggested she was making a big mistake.

The lady took a ruby, diamond or gold ring off her finger and threw it into the sea, arguing that becoming poor was as likely as her ring coming back to her.

In some versions of the legend, the moment the wheat touched the water, the beggar vanished.

That night the lady threw a banquet. A large fish was served. When the fish was cut open, the lady's ring was inside of it. After that day, the lady fired the captain and hired several new ones. She loaded every last bit of her treasure onto the ships to find a better treasure.

After that, in some legends things took a turn for the worse for the lady. A storm sunk all of the lady's ships. She had to sell her house and furniture. The lady wound up a beggar, begging for bread crusts, and the sandbank formed to punish the townspeople for laughing at the beggar.

Some forms of the tale say the wheat magically clogged up the harbor and made it turn to silt. The ships could not get in any more and consequently, the port became useless and the whole region grew poor. [Meder, Theo.]

Now, the sea-weed on the sandbank reminds the people of wheat. That is all that remains of The Lady of Stavoren's treasure. [ [http://www.verhalenbank.nl/detail_volksverhalen.php?id=CJ062307 "Het vrouwtje van Stavoren"] at the Meertens Institute (Dutch language site)]

Alternate names

"The Most Precious Thing in the World", "The Proud Lady of Stavoren", "When Wheat Worked Woe".

References

External links

* [http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/017.html The Lady of Stavoren, A Dutch Legend, told by Aaron Shepard]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/english/talesfromeurope_autumn05_programme04.shtml English: Tales from Europe, The Lady of Stavoren, on BBC School Radio]
* [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP7664-0009-112 The Proud Lady of Stavoren, by Elizabeth Akers Allen, on Cornell University Library]
* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/books/dutch/griffis/wheatwoe.html Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks - When Wheat Worked Woe] , told by William Elliot Griffis in 1918
* [http://members.chello.nl/m.jong9/map12/hansbrinker.html Lady of Stavoren] , told by Theo Meder. Meertens Instituut, Amsterdam. File retrieved 3-11-2007.