Windmills and wooden shoes

Chapter 6: THE WINDMILLS

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About This Book

The narrative follows Dutch siblings Jan and Katrina and their friends as they carry out everyday life in a small Dutch community: chores like milking cows, churning butter, selling milk; play and games; visits to windmills and barges; cultural details such as wooden shoes, storks' nests, blue-and-white dishes, dikes and canals; seasonal events including sleigh rides, St. Nicholas and Christmas; songs and simple illustrated scenes intended for classroom use. Episodes are short and episodic, combining practical descriptions of customs and landscape with domestic scenes to familiarize young readers with Holland's rhythms and material culture.

THE WINDMILLS

There are many, many windmills in Holland.

They whirl and whirl all day long.

When the long arms of the windmills whirl, they make a creaking sound.

The windmills are busy workers.

They work for the people of Holland.

You think that is strange, do you not? Perhaps you are wondering what work a windmill can do as it whirls and whirls in the wind?

I will tell you.

The windmills pump water. The windmills grind corn and other grain. The windmills saw wood, too. The Dutch people could not do without their big windmills.