De zwarte tulp

Summary

Cornelis van Baerle, like most men of fashion in seventeenth-century Holland, is a bulb enthusiast. He is competing for a big prize offered by the Burgomaster and Aldermen of the city of Haarlem to the first producer of a black tulip. He is also godson of Cornelis de Witt, who with his brother Johan, controls the destinies of the Republic. A strong royalist faction is scheming to restore the monarchy with Willem III, Prince of Orange, as King. In view of the possible success of this move, De Witt puts Van Baerle in charge of some important documents, without his knowing their contents. A rival bulb-grower, Isaac Boxtel, overhears this arrangement. The royalist schemes succeed and Cornelis de Witt and his brother are thrown into prison in The Hague. Cornelis sends a letter to Van Baerle telling him to destroy the documents and making it clear that he is not cognisant of their contents. Meanwhile, Boxtel has informed against Van Baerle as harbouring the correspondence, and just as he receives De Witt's letter he is arrested. In the prison the gaoler's daughter, Rosa, actuated by pity and then by love, does what she can to soften his lot, and helps him in his attempt to get his three bulbs, which are wrapped in De Witt's letter, to bloom. The prison is stormed by a mob incited by Tichelaar and the De Witt brothers are done to death. Although Van Baerle is at first condemned to death, the Prince commutes his sentence to imprisonment in the Loevestein Fortress. There one of the flowering tulips is destroyed by the gaoler Gryphus. With the collusion of Gryphus, Boxtel steals the second bulb. In Haarlem, Rosa and Boxtel both claim the prize, the girl having with her the third bulb still wrapped in De Witt's letter. The Prince of Orange arbitrates, and to confront the other claimant, has Van Baerle released. After hearing Rosa's story, the Prince decides in favour of Van Baerle, whose innocence from any political crime is proved at the same time by the letter. At the Feast of the Tulip, Cornelis is given the prize and also Rosa's hand in marriage.