KEY POINTS:
Tchaikovsky gave the world Swan Lake, from Yeats came Leda and the Swan. Now comes Germany's contribution to aquatic fowl legend: the swan and the pedal boat.
Petra is a rare Australian black swan, her pedal-boat lover is plastic, shaped like a common white swan. Yet, as in all proper romances, love is blind.
To curious visitors flocking to watch the lovers, it is clear Petra has lost her heart to the polyurethane version of herself that people rent out to glide around the waters of the boating pond in northern Germany.
Despite the efforts of municipal workers at the lake to separate her from her inanimate sweetheart, the love affair, which started last year, goes on and the staff have had to accept the unusual bond.
As news of the strange relationship spread, tourists flocked to the water's edge to witness Petra's unrequited and undiminished love for the boat.
She was seen circling her plastic companion on the lake, staring endlessly at it and making crooning noises - behaviour naturalists said showed all the typical signs of a swan in love.
But as summer turned to winter, Petra refused to fly to warmer climes and leave the object of her affections. Worried about her fate in Muenster, where temperatures regularly fall into the minus figures during the winter, keepers met to discuss the problem. The boats are taken off the water in winter to protect their hulls.
The local zoo agreed that the bird and the boat could spend the winter on its pond near the elephant enclosure, which is more protected from the elements than the lake.
- Observer
