1. Geen klap van de molenwiek

No blow from the mill sail

 A Helmonder is coming to Gemert. No, you say, not really an intriguing announcement. Although, Helmonders ...

However, this Helmonder has officially announced his visit. Namely, he wants to make a bet with the Gemert people. One can bet at the secretary's office of the aldermanic court.

'I and shall within a day, between sunrise and sunset, without rushing or wheel, without the power of water or wind, grind a mud of rye or more.'

'Without a wind or water mill? Grinding? Yes, the guy is grinding. I'll bet 'm not able to do that! And so the whole village thinks. There is massive betting. Now that's easy money. On the appointed day stand... 

No blow from the mill sail A Helmonder is coming to Gemert. No, you say, not really an intriguing announcement. Although, Helmonders ... However, this Helmonder has officially announced his visit. Namely, he wants to make a bet with the Gemert people. One can bet at the secretary's office of the aldermanic court.

'I and shall within a day, between sunrise and sunset, without rushing or wheel, without the power of water or wind, grind a mud of rye or more.'

'Without a wind or water mill? Grinding? Yes, the guy is grinding. I'll bet 'm not able to do that! And so the whole village thinks. There is massive betting. Now that's easy money. On the appointed day, people are early at 't Mertveld, gloating over the strange Helmonder who will undoubtedly put on a strange show. And then money too! People rub their hands together. Sometimes life is so beautiful. Ah, that'll be him. Seated on the buck of a large flat cart, the challenger turns into the Market Square. Two hefty millstones lie on the cart, the top one in a large, wooden stand. Some unrest is palpable among the crowd. People in Gemert have never seen anything like it. But oh, where should he go with those big, impossible to lift stones? How and where will he ever get them to turn? The Helmonder, however, makes no effort to get the stones off his wagon. He grabs a dozen or so wooden bars, slides them into the openings of the wooden frame of the upper millstone and secures them. Then he gets back on the buck, clicks his tongue once and the horse turns on. Look, now look! Those bars fit between the spokes of the two rear cart wheels. And so the driving of the cart and the turning of the cart wheels push the top stone around. The similarity to a windmill or a waterwheel is that the Helmond combination also turns in circles. Grinding on the Markt. The aldermen are witnesses. We aldermen stood there for a whole day and we saw that more than one mud of rye was being milled. There could even have been another mud. We also saw that on the same wagon there was an oven in which we saw rye dough and kermijcken dough being shot, and of course we saw it being pulled out baked. One of the many losers in the audience is even more outspoken. 

'Yes, hey, that way you can keep a whole army eating.'

Sure. And boost the morale of the troops at the same time. Because from kermijcken dough you make currant bread. In what army do you get that?

The Helmonder had won the bet!