The main plot line, involving fictional characters, takes place in the following eighteen months; only gradually does the reader understand its connection with the killing of the de Witt brothers.
The city of Haarlem, Netherlands has set a prize of 100,000 guilders to the person who can grow a black tulip, sparking competition between the country's best gardeners to win the money, honour and fame. The young and bourgeois Cornelius van Baerle has almost succeeded, but is suddenly thrown into the Loevestein prison. There he meets the prison guard's beautiful daughter Rosa, who will be his comfort and help, and at last his rescuer.
Smakebiten: - Oh, my dear child, my worthy master! cried the old housekeeper, who now likewise made her appearance in the dry-room., - take your gold, your jewlery, and fly, fly!"
-But how shall I make my escape, nurse? said Van Bearle.
- Jump out of the window.
- Twenty-five feet from the ground!
- But you will fall on six feet of soft soil!
- Yes, but I will fall on my tulips.
Man må jo bare like en helt som heller går i fengsel enn å ødelegge sine elskede tulipaner!
Flere smakebiter: Flukten fra virkeligheten: masse fint!
