In addition to the famous little mermaid from Copenhagen and her lesser-known sister from Warsaw, we find another mermaid in Sitges. A bronze statue neither as small as the Danish nor as warlike as the Polish, in front of the church of San Bartolomé and Santa Tecla. The way she raises her hand as a greeting will not leave you indifferent, neither you nor all those who have already visited.
The mermaid, Pere Jou’s sculpture, it was inspired from the Emporda, Maragall’s poem that talks about the relationship between a mermaid and a sheperd, the sea and the land:
A dalt de la montanya hi ha un pastor,
A dintre de la mar hi ha una sirena;
Ell canta al dematí que’l sol hi es bò
Ella canta á les nits de lluna plena
Canta el pastor: -Me fás neguit sirena –
Canta el pastor: Me fas neguit sirena
Si sabésses el mar com es bonich!-
Si sabésses la llum de la carena!-
-Si hi baxesses serias mon marit
-Si hi pujares majoya fora plena
Si sabésses el mar com es bonich!
Si sabésses la llum de la carena!
La sirena se feu un xich ençá
Y un xich ençá el pastor de la montanya
Fins que es trobaven al bell mitj del plá
Y del amor plantaren la cabanya. —
Fou l’Empordá!
