Gold Duck

Złota Kaczka (Polish for "Gold Duck") is the heroine of a folk tale which has been recounted with many settings and by many writers, including the Young Poland poet Artur Oppman. The story has come to be most closely associated with Warsaw, Poland.

Plot
In one version the Gold Duck, a princess who had been bewitched by an evil sorcerer and turned into a golden duck, swam in a lake beneath Warsaw's Ostrogski Castle (now home to the Fryderyk Chopin Museum). She could be restored to human form only by someone who could spend 100 ducats a day over three consecutive days, without sharing this fortune with anyone. A poor shoemaker was lucky enough to find the duck under the castle and was given the chance to spend the money. He was close to succeeding. But as the third day was coming to an end, he gave the last grosz (penny) to an old legless war veteran who was begging on the streets. The princess appeared before him saying he failed, and everything he bought disappeared along with the princess and the castle.