The Story of the Poor Goldsmith

I haven't  blogged in a long time.  April 2017 was my last entry. I have been posting my photography on Flickr and my bicycle journaling has been on the Travel Life section of Crazyguyonabike. On both these sites I have contacts, readers, viewers. This poor little blog does not. Therefore I soon stopped posting here.

But ... sometimes I have something that is neither appropriate for Flickr not does it have anything to do with bicycling, and I feel like posting it anyway. So here I am today with a little story and a picture. Just for me and the odd errant reader.

This is a shot from my walk in downtown Munich this morning. When I got home and looked at it, I wondered what I had captured. It looked to me like this humble figure with his hat in his hand might be a pilgrim, or perhaps a monk - but I was wrong.

Here's the story: Legend has it that at the beginning of the 16th century a noble gentleman brought a precious necklace to a goldsmith and commissioned him to make a similar piece. The goldsmith immediately got down to work. It was a warm day so he opened the window. Later he got thirsty and left the workshop. When he returned, the door to his workshop was still locked, but the expensive piece of jewelry had disappeared. Since the gold chain was nowhere to be found, he had to tell his client of his misfortune. The rich gentleman accused the goldsmith of theft and he was sentenced to death without further ado. The goldsmith repeatedly asserted his innocence, but to no avail.

Only a few weeks later, the "Beautiful Tower" (the name of the building where his owrkshop was located and which is depicted resting on his shoulders in the sculpture), was repaired. A craftsman climbed up to the bell tower and discovered the missing piece of jewelery in the nest of a magpie. And so the sad truth came to light, the goldsmith had been wronged. 

Today on the site of his workshop in Munich's busy pedestrian zone is this sculpture of the poor goldsmith.