The flying dutchman (A Dutch Legend)

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (A Dutch Legend).

Once upon a time a Dutch ship left the East Indies and sailed for Holland. The Dutch had rich colonies in the East Indies and many young men from Holland who served as sailors, landed at Java and settled there.

Diedrich was a young Dutch lad who had no father or mother, and did all kinds of work to earn a living for himself. He got work as a sailor on a ship going to Java. At Java he worked for a rich planter. He spent very little and saved his money.

After some years he had enough money to buy a piece of land and a house. Then he bought more land and houses, and it was not long before he became quite rich. But he never forgot the hard time he had when he was a boy. He thought of a plan and decided to carry out that plan. He sold his land and houses in Java, put the money he received into bags and then went on board a ship going back to Holland.

He was the only passenger on the ship, for it was a trading ship. But he was a pleasant man and was soon friendly with the captain and all the crew.

One day, when the ship was not far from the Cape of Good Hope, Diedrich sat with the captain, and they talked about their early life and their plans for the future.

“And what,” said Diedrich to the captain, “are you going to do after you have made a few more voyages and have saved enough money so that you don’t have to go to sea any more?”

“I know well,” said the captain, “I am going to buy a little house and live in it with my wife and children.”

“Then you have children?”

“Yes, I have,” said the captain, and he told Diedrich their names and how old each one was and how clever they all were. At last the captain asked Diedrich, “And what will you do?”

“Ah, I have no wife or children, and there is no one in all Holland who will be glad to see me when I come home.”

Then he suddenly told the captain his great plan. “I have made a great deal of money, which I am carrying home with me. Now I shall tell you what I am going to do with it. In Amsterdam there are many poor children, - perhaps even pooper than I was when a child, - who have no home. I am going to build a great house and live in it, and I am going to have the biggest family in Amsterdam. I shall take only the poorest children, and they will be my sons and daughters.”

“And you will bring them to my house,” laughed the captain “and your children and mine will play together.” So they talked and talked until it was very late, and then they went to their cabins.

Now the man who steered the ship heard everything they said, and so learned about the bags of gold that belonged to Diedrich and that were now on the ship. He wanted that gold, and he thought and thought how he could get it. He knew it was impossible for him alone to seize it, and so he whispered the secret to one of the sailors and then to a few other sailors.

The crew was not a good one. The captain hired them in a hurry just before the ship left Holland. There were many criminals among them. They were wicked men, and when they found out about the gold that was on board, they were ready for anything.

When the ship was near the Cape of Good Hope, the sailors seized the captain and Diedrich and tied them. Now the ship was in the hands of the wicked crew.

These men then threw the captain and Diedrich, each tied hand and foot, into the sea. “Dead men tell no tales”, said the man who steered the ship. Then they sailed for the nearest port. But as they sailed, a horrible plague broke on board. It was plague that made the men terribly thirsty. They fought to get some water in the water casks, and spilled all the water they had.

So they were in the middle of the salt sea, with salt water all around them, but without a drop of fresh water to drink. Without a captain but with bags of gold on board, they were afraid to come near land. However, their thirst was so great that they sailed toward the nearest port. But when they came into the port, the people saw that they had the plague and refused to let them land.

“We have a great deal of gold,” the crew cried with their dry mouths. “Only give us water!” But the people ran away.

It was the same when they came to the next port, and the next. So they turned back to the ports of the East.

Then a great storm broke out and the wind drove them far out in the sea. When the wind died down, they again steered for the land. But when they were near the land, another storm broke out and the wind again drove them far out into the sea.

That was years and years ago. But when ships are sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, through the fog and mist and darkness of the night they see a phantom ship sailing, sailing, never reaching land. There is always a strong wind which drives the ship away from land. The sails of the ship are torn, the masts are white, and there are pale figures moving about the deck. Then the sailors whisper to each other:

“Look! There is the Flying Dutchman!”