The three virtues of the house of Aad Fock

In Fockbek they are called “dat, wat een Aadfock deit” (what an Aad Fock does). Every tale in the Fockbeker Blätter, the Fockbek Papers, shows at least one of these qualities in action.

Enterprise

It begins with one’s own resolve. Adriaan sought the place where eels are born and turned his decision to stay into a trade. “Wer weten will, wo de Aal herkümmt, mutt dor blieven, wo he vörbitreckt.” (Whoever wants to know where the eel comes from must stay where it passes.) An Aad Fock turns a hard circumstance into an opportunity and does not wait for someone else to make the first repair. The test comes after a storm, when a boat needs mending: the one who starts the work first has shown this virtue.

Wit

This is humour without belittling anyone. It sees the comedy in a mishap and gives it words that allow everyone present to laugh together. At the Fockbeker See, Adriaan laughed at the situation, not at the people, and said, “De Aal swemmt wieder. De geiht blots na Huus.” (The eel swims on. It is only going home.) The test is whether a bearer of the name can laugh at themselves first.

Loyalty

This virtue binds a person to people, places and promises. It proves itself when leaving would be easier or less costly. Adriaan stayed in Fockbek after the mockery. Wiebke expressed the same resolve in the words “Ik gah nich, ik bün de Aadfock.” (I am not leaving; I am the Aadfock.) The test is to remain at the same table after being laughed at.

A sentence about survival

“De Aal swemmt wieder.”

In English: The eel swims on. What was meant to be drowned lives.

Adriaan Focke spoke these words at the Fockbeker See after the eel condemned to drowning had swum away. Since 1667 they have appeared on the scroll of the coat of arms (in German). The sentence preserves the knowledge that an ending may be decreed without truly taking place.

How the name is passed on

Neither sex nor expectation decides the matter. The honorary name passes to the eldest child willing to accept it. Wiebke Aad Fock established this rule when she took the name in 1740. To accept it is to promise that enterprise, wit and loyalty will be carried forward.