The picture you see above of a mermaid sitting on a stone is that of a character in a fairy tale written by Danish Author and poet, Hans Christian Andersen. This is the story of a young maid who fell in love with a prince who lived on land, and often came up to the edge of the water to look at her lover. Hans Christian Andersen was born and died in Denmark.. He was a master of fairy tales whose stores are famous throughout the world. He is also the author of a number of plays, novels, poems, travel books and several autobiographies. He is considered to be the master of the art of fairy tales, whose works rank with the traditional stories in universal popularity. It is not only that his countrymen deify him, as much as the outside world
The Little Mermaid symbolizes is the story of a young mermaid who fell in love with a prince who lived on land, and often came up to the edge of the water to look for his love. The story is not a very happy one – she visits a witch and agrees to give the witch her tongue, in exchange for legs to replace her fish tail, so that she can live on land with her love, the prince whom she’s seen from her visits to the shore. And every step she takes on her new legs hurt like she is walking on swords. To be with her love she chooses to become a mute and to be in pain with every step she takes. Yet despite all her dreams and sacrifices she never gets to be with him
Carl Jacobsen, a brewer who founded the world famous brewery Carlsberg, named after him, saw solo dancer Ellen Price dance in Fini Henriques’ ballet “The Little Mermaid” at the Royal Theatre. He was so taken with her that he asked her if she would pose for a statue. She agreed in principle, but was not very interested in posing without any clothes on, when she found out just how public the statue would be. Instead sculptor Edward Erichsen’s wife, Eline Eriksen stepped in and modeled for the body. On September 14, 1912, the Little Mermaid statue was first placed at a test location, and on August 23, 1913, at its current and permanent site.
The sculpture has pictured her as she sits and looks out over the water, after having gotten legs and come on land, never actually having married the prince, and reminiscing over her childhood and lost life in the sea, as a mermaid. We were told that the sculptor has taken a certain “poetic license” as they put it, when creating The Little Mermaid. She has part legs, part fish tail, although the story by Hans Christian Andersen clearly defines when she has a fish tail and when she has legs. The hybrid leg/tail arrangement was probably done to make it easier to figure out who she is.
The statue has been damaged several times but the sane was restored. The statue displayed in Copenhagen harbour has always been a copy; the sculptor’s heirs keep the original at an undisclosed location
The statue’s birthday is celebrated in various ways every year on August 23. Throughout the year, 75% of all tourists visiting Copenhagen go to see The Little Mermaid and we were among those tourists who had the privilege to photograph with the “mermaidâ€.