The next story is a folk tale from the area of the Waterland, an ancient rural district just north of Amsterdam. Reclaimed a thousand years ago from swamp and sea and dotted with small farming and fishing villages the Waterland is just as haunted, if not more so, as the great city to its south. “If it’s gambling you hold dear, it’s the devil you should fear.” That’s what the old folks said in the village of Uitdam. Johan Hook did not care. He was young, he did not listen and every...
