Article

Golden Dog

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Golden Dog ( le chien d'or ), stone bas-relief bearing the figure of a dog gnawing a bone, with the inscription: "Je suis un chien qui ronge lo [l'os]/ En le rongeant je prend mon repos/Un tems viendra qui nest pas
Chien d
The many legends connected with the Golden Dog all turn on revenge and end in tragedy (courtesy Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library/T34788).

Golden Dog

Golden Dog (le chien d'or), stone bas-relief bearing the figure of a dog gnawing a bone, with the inscription: "Je suis un chien qui ronge lo [l'os]/ En le rongeant je prend mon repos/Un tems viendra qui nest pas venu/Que je morderay qui maura mordu" ("I am a dog that gnaws a bone/In gnawing it I take my rest/A time will come which is not yet/When I shall bite him who has bitten me"). The stone was built into a house erected by Timothée Roussel in Québec City in 1688. It may have been set there by Roussel or by Nicholas Philibert, who bought the house in 1734 and may have used the image to protest the corrupt practices of Intendant François BIGOT. In 1871 the house was destroyed to make way for a post office, and the stone was moved to the new building's portico. The many legends connected with the Golden Dog all turn on revenge and end in tragedy. One version was the basis for William KIRBY's GOLDEN DOG.