When in 1993 the Frisian poet Tsjêbbe Hettinga appeared on stage during the Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, he caused a kind of shock to the audience by reciting, or rather by sing-saying, some of his poems. Although practically no one in the listening crowd understood a word—even the Dutch don’t know Frisian—they were greatly moved by the airs of the unknown poet. No language barrier existed anymore. The people were caught up by the deeper layers of the poetry: the vocals and consonants, the syllables, the melody, the colour, by all of which they could create their own images. Triumph of the archaic, victory of the oral.… Lês fierder