Castle Tower of IJsselstein - IJsselstein

Where now only a castle tower remains as a museum, there used to be the castle of the mayor of IJsselstein. He was a close friend of the mayor of Rijpikerwaard and visited him regularly. His horse was then hired by Kees, the servant of the lord and very popular, especially with the inhabitants of IJsselstein. Then the mayor passed the cage where the mayor kept a monkey who happened to be called Kees. This never caused any confusion, because when someone said that Kees wanted to bite the postman, no one looked at the servant, and when someone else said that he had heard Kees whistling cheerfully, no one thought of the monkey. The mayor liked the monkey and always brought him some goodies.

Once Kees hadn't been to IJsselstein for a couple of days because he had to do various work for his lord. Just at that moment the monkey became ill and despite all the good worries he died. Ah, how sorry the mayor will be. He liked Kees so much', said the mayor. And he sent another servant to IJsselstein. My master lets you say that Kees is dead, Mr. Mayor,' said the servant. The mayor, assuming that it was Kees the servant, then sounded the mourning bell as a tribute to a good servant of a good friend. Mr. van Rijpikerwaard heard the bell and then sent Kees to IJsselstein to hear who had died. On seeing Kees in the city gate, the women screamed and the men made a cross. When the misunderstanding was resolved, many women had to be reassured and comforted. Probably Kees liked to help with that. But from that time on, the inhabitants of IJsselstein were called monkey sounders...