The Danes (notice I didn’t use Danish, that’s a pastry) are really big on Sagas. Ynglinga Saga was written by Snorri Sturluson an Icelandic poet in Old Norse around 1225. Snorri (possibly an affectionate name given him by his wife Wakeful) tells the story of how Gefion the goddess ploughed the island of Zealand out of Sweden. The Swedish king Gylfe offered the goddess Gefion as much land as she was capable of ploughing within one day and one night. She transformed her four sons into immensely powerful oxen and had them plough so deeply in the ground that they raised the land and pulled it into the sea. This is how the island of Zealand was created. The lake Vännern in Sweden approximately resembles the shape of Zealand, proving that there must be some truth in the story.

Gefion and “The Boys”.

Parental guidance.

The Little Mermaid was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen of Carlsberg (the beer company) as a gift to Copenhagen. The statue was made by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen and completed in 1913. The Little Mermaid was meant to be modelled after contemporary ballerina Ellen Price, but as she refused to model nude, the Mermaid was in fact modelled after Edvard Eriksen’s wife, Eline. The statue is not well liked in Copenhagen, having been beheaded three times painted several times, had an arm ripped off (very Aunty Jack for those familiar with the Auntie Jack Show) and even blown up. Despite all this the statue of Hans Christen Anderson’s Little Mermaid is the most photographed stature in Denmark! More popular than the Norse Goddess Gefion……. the mind boggles!

This Guy seems keen on getting up and close with Ms. Mermaid, his wife ready with camera to record the event.

Mermaid complete with head , limbs, and unpainted.

However it’s not all about the statues.There’s the boats, old and new.

The Royal Yacht.

Not so Royal Yacht.

The buildings, old and new.

And other stuff.

One last statue. The Valkyrie.

By the way the Valkyrie is French (1908) not Danish.