The Little Mermaid

Hans Christian Andersen fi rst published the beloved fairy tale The Little Mermaid in 1837. It is the story of the Little Mermaid who saves the life of a shipwrecked prince and sets off on a perilous quest to win his love. To become human she must give up her lovely voice as well as her mermaid's tail, and if the prince should wed another, she will turn into foam on the waves and disappear forever.

In 1909 the Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen attended Hans Beck's ballet The Little Mermaid. He was so thrilled by the performance that he ordered a statue erected in its honor.

Sculptor Edvard Eriksen was commissioned to create the statue, a little mermaid sitting on a granite stone at Langelinie Pier, wistfully looking toward the shore and the illuminated world of the humans.

Carl Jacobsen presented her to the city of Copenhagen on August 23, 1913. Every year on that date a birthday ceremony takes place by her statue.

(China Daily 06/05/2008 page19)