Neptune and the Gold of Gdańsk

The rich merchants of Gdańsk had a fountain built on their finest square with a statue of Neptune, ruler of the seas to which the city owed its wealth. Proudly the bronze god towered above the water, trident in hand.

But a habit arose that, so people say, did not please the sea god at all. Passers-by threw small coins into the basin, for luck or from thoughtlessness, until the bottom was strewn with copper and silver.

One night Neptune grew weary of the clatter of falling coins. In anger he raised his trident and struck the water of the fountain with force. A crack like a thunderclap rang out over the sleeping city.

The coins on the bottom shattered into countless fine flakes of gold, so light that they kept swirling in the water. When the citizens looked the next morning, the whole fountain glittered with golden flecks.

An inventive distiller saw a sign in it. He began to make a herbal liqueur and put small flakes of real gold leaf into it, in memory of Neptune’s fountain. So the Goldwasser of Gdańsk was born.

The drink became famous far beyond the city walls and was drunk at the courts of Europe. Still the gold swirls in the glass, and still the bronze Neptune watches over the market that bears his name.