North sea - For many, the image out of the Dutch fight against the North Sea rests in the figure of a young boy valiantly saving his town by using a finger to plug a hole in the dike. But this familiar hero is a fictional one, a creation of American author Mary Mapes Dodge in her book, Hans Brinker. In reality, heroism falls on all the Dutch, who for more than a millenium have been wresting precious agricultural lands from the sea and fighting to hold on to them. Their greatest achievement-a colossal fun in the dike-if the vast and one dress project known as that Netherlands North Sea protection works.