Copenhagen's Beloved Little Mermaid

Early in the morning, I walked five kilometers from my place to the shore of the Baltic Sea, stepped into the crisp morning breeze, and stood beside the famous Little Mermaid sculpture. The statue was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale "The Little Mermaid." Back in 1909, Carl Jacobsen — son of the Carlsberg brewery founder, and a passionate art lover and philanthropist — was deeply moved after watching a ballet adaptation of Andersen's tale at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. The lead role was performed by ballerina Ellen Price, and Jacobsen was so impressed that he commissioned a sculptor to create a mermaid statue as a gift to the city of Copenhagen, with Price herself as the model. The sculpture captures the mermaid mid-transformation from sea creature to human — her legs and fish tail still partially merged — her expression serene, touched with a quiet melancholy, her gaze fixed on the sea. I arrived early and met a young woman from Japan near the statue. We helped each other take photos. When I left, she was sitting on the rocks, lost in thought, as if she couldn't quite bring herself to go. The Little Mermaid is a symbol of Copenhagen — and of Denmark as a whole — a reflection of the Danish people's deep appreciation for literature, art, and the sea.