Gold Duck (Złota Kaczka)

In the versions summarized in the available sources the Gold Duck is an enchanted human figure (in some retellings described as a princess) who was bewitched and left to live in duck form in the lake beneath Ostrogski Castle. Accounts indicate multiple retellings and variants; one version explicitly frames the transformation as the work of an evil sorcerer, but that is presented as a variant rather than a single definitive origin.

The tale identifies the figure as a duck that lived in the lake beneath Ostrogski Castle. Her epithet Złota Kaczka (literally "Gold Duck" or "Golden Duck") links her conceptually to preciousness/wealth; the supplied sources do not document explicit physical details such as literal golden plumage, size, or exact coloration beyond the name.

Sources record that the Gold Duck's primary supernatural condition is sustained enchantment in duck form and binding to the specific site (the castle's lake). The narrative motif specifies a single conditional means of restoration: a person who can spend 100 ducats per day for three consecutive days without sharing that fortune may restore her to human form. The sources do not attribute additional powers, aggressive behavior, or broader magical capacities to her; in the cited version the would-be rescuer nearly succeeds but gives a last coin to a beggar on the final day, after which the Gold Duck and the castle vanish.