Clio

This is a collection of absorbing short stories and a novella that will keep the readers hooked throughout. The first short story, «The Bard of Kyme», written almost like a poem, is a beautiful tale of an old minstrel who traveled the countryside carrying his lyre and singing ballads. « Komm of the Atrebates», follows a Gaul leader who sided with the Romans in Brittany until he had a disagreement and then switched sides. Next, «Farinata Degli Uberti» is an interesting story of a nobleman who, after getting humiliated by two riders as they passed his castle, asked a monk why people hated him, and the monk was more than happy to answer him. «The King Drinks» revolves around a newly crowned king who was insulted by a young upstart at a dinner to honor him. The last short story, «La Muiron», is about Napoleon's return after his expedition to Egypt. The book finally presents a novella, «The Chateau de Vaux-Le-Vicomte», about Nicolas Foucquet, a corrupt finance minister under Mazarin. He gathered an enormous fortune and built a gigantic mansion called Chateau 'de Vaux-Le-Vicomte', but when Louis XIV became king, Foucquet's empire collapsed.