Anecdotes of Animals

This is a window into another age, when humans and animals shared an intimacy we've largely lost. These hundred anecdotes, gathered from sources across centuries, reveal creatures of startling intelligence and strange devotion: a Newfoundland dog who rescues his drowning master through sheer will, a magpie that masters the language of trumpets, a lioness whose gratitude becomes legend. The stories span from medieval France to colonial India, from the royal menagerie to the humble farmyard. Yet what unites them is something timeless: the irreducible mystery of how animals think, feel, and love. Some tales are funny, like the abbot who stages a concert of pig voices for King Louis XI. Others carry quiet moral weight. None condescend to their subjects. This is a book for anyone who has ever looked into an animal's eyes and wondered what pulsed behind them.