Читать книгу Mermania - Rachel Federman - Страница 12

In the waters off

THE PORT OF HISTORIC NYHAVN, IN

Copenhagen,

LIES A WELL-LOVED BRONZE STATUE OF

The Little Mermaid,

MADE BY EDVARD ERIKSEN, WHOSE WIFE POSED FOR THE SCULPTURE.

IN 1909 A BREWER NAMED CARL JACOBSEN (THE FOUNDER OF CARLSBERG BEER) COMMISSIONED THE WORK AFTER FALLING UNDER THE SPELL OF A BALLET VERSION OF THE FAMOUS FAIRYTALE. ALTHOUGH MOST GAZE ON

the statue with love

FOR THE QUIET SUNBATHER NEAR THE LANGELINIE PROMENADE, SHE HAS SUFFERED VARIOUS ATTACKS. IN 1964 THE BELOVED STATUE LOST ITS ORIGINAL HEAD. AN AMPUTATION, ATTEMPTED BEHEADING, AND EXPLOSION FOLLOWED. SHE HAS BEEN RESTORED EACH TIME, THOUGH, AND

continues her watch.

Mermaids

CAN SYMBOLIZE ETERNITY, FERTILITY,

beauty, desire, freedom,

mystery, and doom.

Tales about mermaids

began to appear

three thousand years ago,

IN THE MESOPOTAMIAN KINGDOM OF ASSYRIA.

MERMAIDS HAVE BEEN ENCHANTING HUMANS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

Stories of merfolk

STRETCH BACK THROUGHOUT HISTORY AND ACROSS CULTURES. IN THE

Babylonian period

(1800–600 BCE), EA, THE GOD OF THE SEA (IN GREEK, OANNES), HAD THE

lower body of a fish and the upper body of a human.

THE CREATOR OF THE

live mermaid show

AT WEEKI WACHEE SPRINGS, FLORIDA, WAS

‘Fish Man’ Newton Perry,

A US NAVY VETERAN WHO HAD ONCE TRAINED NAVY SEALS TO SWIM UNDERWATER IN WORLD WAR 2. ALTHOUGH THE

city of Weeki Wachee

WAS NOT INCORPORATED UNTIL 1966, PERRY OPENED THE THEATRE IN OCTOBER 1947. AS OF 2008, THE LEGENDARY FLORIDA ATTRACTION IS NOW

a state park.

The name

Weeki Wachee

COMES FROM THE SEMINOLE TRIBE OF NATIVE AMERICANS WHO CALLED THE SPRING WEEKIWACHEE

(winding river).

Explorer Christopher Columbus reported seeing

three mermaids

IN THE OCEAN OFF THE COAST OF WHAT IS NOW THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, IN JANUARY 1493. HE SAID THEY ‘CAME QUITE HIGH OUT OF THE WATER’ BUT WERE ‘NOT AS PRETTY AS THEY ARE DEPICTED,

for somehow in the face they look like men’.