The Princess with the Golden Parasol

The Countess of Leeuwarden had a daughter, Itelte, with skin so pale that her mother swore neither rain nor sun should ever touch her. On her sixth birthday Itelte was given a golden parasol, finely worked, that she had to carry day and night. At ten she was for the first time allowed out alone, on the Itte promenade of Leeuwarden, with the parasol over her head. One day a sudden St Martin’s shower came down.

The wind turned the golden parasol inside out and bent its stem. Itelte screamed in fear. A girl from the polder, Sytske Wopkes, who was bringing eggs to the city with her mother, heard her scream and ran up. «What is it, miss?» «My parasol is broken! I must not get wet!» Sytske, clever and brave, took off her woollen shawl and held it over Itelte until both stood dry under a stall.

Itelte took Sytske back to the palace. The countess wished to give Sytske money. Sytske refused. «Give me what I never had: let your daughter come a whole day with me to the polder. Without the parasol.» The countess paled, but agreed.

Itelte spent a whole day in Sytske’s polder. She milked a cow, fell into a ditch, was soaked through, and ate mixed bread. She came home in the evening with red cheeks. Not sick, not tired — but for the first time in her life happy. The countess did away with the parasol. Itelte later married a gardener instead of a prince, and she and Sytske were friends for life. In Frisian court circles ever since they say: «Whoever raises his daughter under a parasol gives her no life.»