Serendipity - ‘Governor’ Joan Bax, and the Herentals connection ROBERT A LAING & JAN-M GORIS* Three goodly young princes were traveling {sic} the world in hopes of being educated to take their proper position upon their return. On their journey they happened upon a camel driver who inquired if they had seen his missing camel. As sport, they claimed to have seen the camel, reporting correctly that the camel was blind in one eye, missing a tooth, and lame. From these accurate details, the owner assumed that the three had surely stolen the camel, and they were subsequently thrown into jail. Soon the wayward camel was discovered, and the princes brought to the perplexed Emperor of the land, who inquired of them how they had learned these facts. That the grass was eaten on one side of the road suggested that camel had one eye, the cuds of grass on the ground indicated a tooth gap, and the traces of a dragged hoof revealed the camel’s lameness. (Adapted from The Peregrinaggio [1557] in Remer, 1965) 1 Introduction The term ‘serendipity’ seems to be unique to the English language.2 It does not appear in current Dutch3 or Afrikaans dictionaries although the adjective * Robert A Laing, (MSc) (
[email protected]) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History and Cultural History at the University of Pretoria. He is currently busy with research into the myth and reality of heraldic usage during the period of Dutch Administration at the Cape. Dr. Jan-M. Goris, in addition to being a history lecturer, is also City Archivist of Herentals, Belgium.