Manneken Pis and his Legend - Intel by michele8

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Manneken Pis and his Legend Being Belgian, I gratefully take this opportunity to write about Manneken Pis. Now who is this little fellow known around the world as the little pee-boy? Manneken Pis is to Brussels what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris and the Statue of Liberty to New York, with one difference... Manneken Pis is small! It is a bronze statue, a decoration on top of a fountain. When tourists see the little boy it usually goes "how small he is, is this it?" It might be just "it", but thousands of people visit Manneken Pis each year. Millions of souvenir replicas are sold, Belgium was in chock in the eighties when students "stole" Manneken Pis in protest to school fees. Manneken Pis has his own wardrobe with over 500 costumes in the City Museum. Each time a Sovereign or Head of State visits Brussels, the national costume of that country is offered to Manneken Pis. But Manneken Pis is also a Rock Star, you should see hime in his "Elvis Aloha Hawai" costume. At Christmas, Manneken Pis wears his Santa costume. Now why is Manneken Pis such a darling to the people of Brussels? Well, the legend tells he saved the town. Some time during the 14th Century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. Many months passed and the town held strong. The attackers then planned to place explosives by the walls of the town. A little boy happened to see the ennemy preparing the coup, waited until everybody was gone and urinated on the burning fuse. Brussels was saved! In 1987, a business man from Brussels offered a companion to the little boy, Jeanneke Pis. I wonder what the legend of the little girl will be 500 years from now?