The Lady of Stavoren (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''Vrouwtje van Stavoren'', West Frisian: ''Frouke fan Starum'') is a folk tale from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

which originated in the 16th century.

The legend

Now a village of just 1,000 inhabitants,

Stavoren Stavoren (; fry, Starum; previously Staveren) is a city in the province of Friesland, Netherlands, on the coast of the IJsselmeer, about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Hindeloopen, in the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân. Stavoren had a population ...

was once a wealthy port city in the Dutch province of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

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, of which more than 27 versions are known, involves an exceedingly rich patrician merchant widow, who desired ever greater riches. She sent a captain of her merchant fleet out in search of the greatest treasure in the world. When he returned with wheat, declaring wheat to be "the most precious thing in the world," as it can feed the hungry, the widow, in her overweening pride and anger at his (as she perceived it) foolishness, let the wheat be thrown overboard into the harbour of Stavoren. When she was cautioned against this wicked behaviour, being reminded of the fickleness of fate and (despite her wealth and power) of the delicateness of her station, in hubris she took a ring from her finger and cast it into the ocean, declaring that she was as likely to fall into poverty as she was of regaining the ring. Soon afterwards, during a banquet thrown for her fellow

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

merchant princes, she finds the ring inside a large fish served to her. As this event portended, she lost her wealth, living out her remaining years in destitution, begging for scraps of bread. In divine retribution the port had silted, and the wheat that had been cast overboard now grew in the resulting sandbank that closed the harbour and ruined the city. The tale shares its basic motif with the story of the '' Ring of Polycrates'' found in

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

. Its Aarne-Thompson index number is 736A. The Lady made her first entrance in the Friesland Chronicle of Ocko Scarlensis (1597) and the story was gradually elaborated thereafter. The sandbar on which only empty ears of wheat will grow was added in the eighteenth century, while the motif of the discarded ring appears for the first time around 1810.''Het vrouwtje van Stavoren''
at the Meertens Institute (Dutch language site) The tale has inspired songs, plays, operas and films. A statue of the fabled Lady gazing out to sea was erected in front of Stavoren harbour in 1969.

References

External links

English: Tales from Europe, The Lady of Stavoren, on BBC School RadioThe Proud Lady of Stavoren, by Elizabeth Akers Allen, on Cornell University Library
told by

William Elliot Griffis William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 – February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author.Brown, John Howard. (1904)."Griffis, William Elliot,"''The Twentieth Century Biographical Diction ...

in 1918
Lady of Stavoren
told by Theo Meder. Meertens Instituut, Amsterdam. File retrieved 3-11-2007.
het vrouwtje van StavorenThe Curse of Wheat, told by Amy Friedman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Of Stavoren Súdwest-Fryslân Dutch folklore Fictional Dutch people

Dutch legends ATU 700-749