Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates is a novel by Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865.
A part of the novel became an American legend. In the novel a tale is read out in class: The Hero of Haarlem about a Dutch boy that saved his country by putting his finger in a leaking dike, and staying there all night in spite of the cold.
In the original tale this hero remains nameless, but he was later called Hans Brinker, which is actually the main character of the novel.
In Spaarndam a statue of this fictional brave boy has been erected.
Perhaps ironically, the story of Hans Brinker is hardly known in the Netherlands itself and is much more a part of American, rather than Dutch culture.
