From the fairytale “The Little Mermaid” by H. C. Andersen:

“Far out in the ocean the water is as blue as the petals of the corn flower and as clear as the cleanest glass, but it is very deep; deeper than any anchor cable will ever reach. Many church towers has to be on top of each other to reach from the bottom to the surface. That’s where the sea-people live.”

That is how the Danish poet H. C. Andersen starts his fairytale about the little mermaid, who was the youngest daughter of the Sea king. She fell in love with an earhtly prince, but since she was a mermaid, she could never be part of eartly living. She gave up her voice for a pair of legs to get a chance to live with the prince, but since he never gave himself to her, she suffered a mermaids death and was turned into sea scum.