The exhibition ended
at a second door next to the first, and in between them was a cabinet with
front-opening double doors. On top was a sign, which read:
Herein lies the Haerlem mermaid, which was taught to spin but never learned to speak. The sight is not for the faint of heart but if you dare then open the doors and gaze upon its form.
‘I thought the Haerlem mermaid was buried,’ snorted Adam.
‘Then they must have dug it up,’ sighed Jana. She put her hands on the doorknobs. ‘Ready?’
He raised his eyes heavenward. ‘Go on then.’
She pulled the doors open and they peered inside.
It was not what they expected.
The carcass wasn’t anyone’s idea of a mermaid. It vaguely adhered to the half-human/half-fish principle, but filtered through a madman’s nightmare. It was too small for a start, being more the size of a large baby. The tail was certainly fish, but the top half could not reasonably be described as human. True, it had a head, a torso and two arms in all the right places and correctly proportioned, but the fingers ended in claws and the head was bulbous, with large, staring eyes, no obvious ears and little sharp teeth in the mouth. It was topped with straggly long hair, and the whole thing had a leathery, mummified quality. It would be hard to imagine even the loneliest sailor falling in love with that monstrosity.
Herein lies the Haerlem mermaid, which was taught to spin but never learned to speak. The sight is not for the faint of heart but if you dare then open the doors and gaze upon its form.
‘I thought the Haerlem mermaid was buried,’ snorted Adam.
‘Then they must have dug it up,’ sighed Jana. She put her hands on the doorknobs. ‘Ready?’
He raised his eyes heavenward. ‘Go on then.’
She pulled the doors open and they peered inside.
It was not what they expected.
The carcass wasn’t anyone’s idea of a mermaid. It vaguely adhered to the half-human/half-fish principle, but filtered through a madman’s nightmare. It was too small for a start, being more the size of a large baby. The tail was certainly fish, but the top half could not reasonably be described as human. True, it had a head, a torso and two arms in all the right places and correctly proportioned, but the fingers ended in claws and the head was bulbous, with large, staring eyes, no obvious ears and little sharp teeth in the mouth. It was topped with straggly long hair, and the whole thing had a leathery, mummified quality. It would be hard to imagine even the loneliest sailor falling in love with that monstrosity.