King Goldemar

Attested in medieval literary fragments and later folktale treatment: Goldemar appears in Middle High German poetic material (fragments by Albrecht von Kemenaten) and later in popular legend recorded by collectors such as Thomas Keightley. In Keightley's narrated legend Goldemar took up residence with Neveling von Hardenstein at Castle Hardenstein, a castle in a medieval mining district; other poetic references (for example later poems) reflect his presence in German tradition as a named dwarf/kobold figure.

The principal folktale reports that Goldemar 'refused to be seen' yet permitted tactile contact; Keightley records that '[h]is hands were thin like those of a frog, cold and soft to the feel.' No sustained visual description is provided in the cited sources.

In the recorded legend Goldemar functions as an intimate household companion and benefactor who brings good fortune in return for modest provisions (a seat at the table, a stable for his horse, and food). He socialized with humans—sleeping in the same bed, calling his host 'brother-in-law,' playing the harp, gambling, and exposing clerical misdeeds. He remained largely invisible but allowed touch. When a household member attempted to reveal him (by strewing ashes and tares to discover footprints), Goldemar retaliated with extreme violence, killed the intruder, ate parts of the body in the tale, and then departed, leaving a notice that the house would be as unlucky as it had been lucky while he lived there.