The Dead Man’s Song (1579).
Gol´demar (King), a house-spirit, sometimes called King Vollmar. He lived three years with Neveling von Hardenberg, on the Hardenstein at the Ruhr, and the chamber in which he lived is still called Vollmar’s chamber. This house-spirit, though sensible to the touch, was invisible. It played beautifully on the harp, talked freely, revealed secrets, and played dice. One day, a person determined to discover its whereabouts, but Goldemar cut him to pieces and cooked the different parts. Never after this was there any trace of the spirit. The roasted fragments disappeared in the Lorrain war in 1651, but the pot in which the man’s head was boiled was built into the kitchen wall of Neveling von Hardenberg, where it remains to this day.—Von Steinen, German Mythology, 477.
Golden Ass (The), a romance in Latin, by Apule´ius (4 syl.). It is the adventures of Lucian, a young man who had been transformed into an ass, but still retained his human consciousness. It tells us the miseries which he suffered at the hands of robbers, eunuchs, magistrates, and so on, till the time came for him to resume his proper form. It is full of wit, racy humor, and rich fancy, and contains the exquisite episode of Cupid and Psy´chê (bks. iv., v., vi.).
Golden Dragon of Bruges (The), The golden dragon was taken in one of the crusades from the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, and placed on the belfry of Bruges, but Philip van Artevelde (2 syl.) transported it to Ghent, where it still adorns the belfry.
Saw great Artevelde victorious scale the Golden Dragon’s nest.
Longfellow, The Belfry of Bruges.
Golden Fleece (The), the fleece of the ram which transported Phryxos to Colchis. When Phryxos arrived there, he sacrificed the ram and gave the fleece to King Æētês, who hung it on a sacred oak. It was stolen by Jason, in his “Argonautic expedition.”
The Golden Fleece of the North. Fur and peltry of Siberia is so called.
Golden Gate. The gate of mercy before which one of the ten foolish virgins waits when her companions have returned to their evil courses.
“When the night falls, who knows what mercy waits