Folk tale | The Spinning Wives of Wapserveen - Darp

A saga played out around the Hunebedden D53 and D54. In 1845, the folk tale was written down. It reads as follows:

In the vicinity of the hunebeds near Wapserveen, now the hunebeds of Havelte, a number of little old ladies are spinning on golden spinning wheels. It is common knowledge that you should not offend them, indeed it is dangerous! A farmhand wants to try this out, but in a way so that he can flee quickly. He decides to go to the ladies on horseback. Once he arrives, he shouts: 'Old wiefien platvoet, komstoe mar oet as 't kwaad doet' Or in other words: 'Old female flatfoot, come out if teasing does any harm'.

The ladies get furious and the servant rides away quickly. But the wives come after him and throw green bones at him. Fortunately for the servant, he gets back to the stable in time, but one of the green bones hits his horse, paralysing it. It becomes clear to the servant that he has narrowly escaped death.

The story is ultimately about the bravery of the farmhand. The hunebeds were known as a haunted place, where you could even come in contact with the dead world and the supernatural. By challenging the scary spinning wives, the servant proved his courage and manliness. Thus, from a boy he became a man and gained the right to marry.