I was in kindergarten "De Speeldoos" and Floris was my hero. The Dutch Ivanhoe, played by Rutger Hauer, was broadcast on Sunday evenings, and while my mother frowned upon watching television on The Day of The Lord, I was allowed to see it, because my father loved it himself.
I had always thought Floris had returned from the crusades, but when I recently re-watched the show, I found he had traveled the seas with the Portuguese. Anyways, when he returned, he found himself involved in a clash between the duke of Burgundy and Guelders, aka the good guys vs. the bad guys. The bad guys had taken his castle, and it takes more than one season to get it back. Fortunately, Floris is not alone, as he is accompanied by Sindala (or 'Sindelaar', as I heard it as a child), a fakir from India, adept in alchemy, magic and medicine.
Like Floris, I rode a horse, and with my friends, a galloped through the streets, making the 'hooperdehooperdehoop' sounds that real television horses made. And, like Floris, I dreamed of having a castle, and whenever I discovered how a real castle looks like, with diagonally painted shutters, thick walls and, of course, a secret tunnel, I updated my plans of the great castle, to be realized in our garden. My parents must have appreciated my lack of initiative back then, as I don't think a medieval castle, with secret tunnel and everything, in our backyard would have been a good fit.
I will never forget the day that the mistress of our kindergarten came to tell me something bad had happened: she dropped a vase of flowers over my shield, and although it was going to dry, for now it looked like a wet rag. Imagine, for a moment, you are Floris, ready to fight in an important tournament? And then you have to resign because the motherfucking mistress of kindergarten "De Speeldoos" spoils a vase with water over your shield? I admit, the word 'motherfucking' hadn't enriched the Dutch language yet, but you get the idea.
What still fascinates me is how I still remember certain scenes of the show, while I have forgotten most of the story. I do remember a man stretched on the rack, being interrogated by someone pointing a finger saying "Where is the seal", a scary devil in a bottle screaming "Alruin!", a knight concealing his identity by painting his shield, Sindala's alchemy lab and his clever use of a soaked rag as suction cup. I will leave the analysis to a licensed psychiatrist, but I definitely suspect that my early interest in science and magic stems from Floris.
