The stormy day an English ship broke up in the terrible waters of the wicked wife, Dirk rescued Great Dane Bello. After that, by the law of the sea, the giant dog belonged to him. Wildly happy at first, the boy was suddenly faced with an enormous problem of how to keep Bello, how to feed him - for Dirk's mother was unable to do more than provide for her little family. Dirk's desperate struggles, pathetic and amusing by turns, are the core of this book. However, this isn't merely the story of Dirk and Bello, but also of a little village in Holland. It is a picture of Wierum itself, the sky, the sea, the dikes, the people - of Aage the Roamer, of Old Ott and her endless prophecies, of the children, the school master, Sipke the village simpleton who played such strange wild music on his accordion, of vast Dikke Trien, and of Mighty Pier. A rare and moving book, full of humour and reality.
