Subtitled "Minor Characters from Major Moments", this irreverent, funny, witty and surprisingly intelligent little book presents ten chapters about some interesting moments in the history, but as told by unknown "witnesses" instead of famous people. So the story about Diogenes is told by some anonymous complainer who could not stand the stench coming from the famous Greek philosopher, The Plague is interviewed herself, the story of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves is told by his “Groom of the Stool”, ancient old oak is the main protagonist in the story of Charles II (who was hiding in his branches), the horse is the main character in the story of Buffalo Bill tour of Europe, etc, etc. As you can see, it is a completely unusual approach to history of the world and as such it caught my attention immediately.
The best of all is the story titled "The Master’s Ferret" and its told from a point of view of a beautiful Ferret who works as a model - at the very end of his short life (ferrets rarely live past six), he is send by his agent to Leonardo Da Vinci who uses him as a model for his painting A lady with the ferret" (humorously called "Ferret with a Lady" here) and later buys a ferret from its agent, to set him free in the nature (where he is immediately eaten by a badger). It is a beautifully written, gentle and affectionate story about basically shallow and superficial model (who just happen to be beautiful ferret) who achieves immortality trough a peace of art.
"It was on the job, flushing a family of rabbits out of their twisting burrow in the woods, when I first realized I was unbelievably good looking. “I must be immortalized,” I whispered to myself as I preened in her terrified, twitching eyes. With no time to waste (ferrets rarely live past six), I parted ways with my handler and traveled to Milan with nothing but my outrageous good looks and a dream, and, because I was so breathtakingly beautiful, it wasn’t long before I was scouted by a modeling agent. Signor Serragli was the best in the business and had a whole host of animals on his books."
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