Don't They Keep a Spare Head?

One of my favorite cities in the world is Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the symbols of Copenhagen is the statue of "The Little Mermaid," as invisioned by Hans Christian Andersen, not by Disney. Unfortunately, the statue has had a rough life, similar to the girl she portrays. In 1964, her head was completely sawn off and never found. It was replaced and remained intact until 1990, when another attempt to cut it off failed but resulted in a huge cut in her neck. In 1998, she was not so lucky and vandals again took off her her head. It was returned a few days later.

The little statue (she is only 1.25 meters tall, which is a little more than 4 feet) has been vandalized in many other ways, including being covered with graffiti, shrouded in a Muslim head scarf, and blasted off of her rock with dynamite. Earlier this month, she was painted red.

I have always wondered why political groups and vandals target this particular statue, rather than a larger statue of a real person without the sad fictional story. Part of the reason may be that the statue has always stood right on the shoreline of the Copenhagen harbor. Tourists (and vandals) can walk right up to it (sometimes she is surrounded by a couple inches of water). After this last vandalism, officials announced they may consider moving her further out in the harbor. It seems sad to punish the thousands of innocent tourists and Danes for the acts of a few heartless vandals.

Anyway, I was discussing the latest violation with my dad, who also has a fondness for the statue, when my mom walked in. I said, "The Little Mermaid was vandalized again." My mom, who is not nearly as sentimental as my dad and I, said, "What, did they cut off her head again? That's not a big deal, they keep a spare head just in case that happens."

My dad and I exchanged a look that is often reserved for the times my mother says something completely off the wall, usually stating as fact something she has made up. I searched the internet but I could not find any references to a spare head. Considering it has only been removed twice in approximately 100 years, I sincerely doubt they keep a spare. But you never know . . . the original may still be out there somewhere.