Italian Greyhound Quotes

I’ve had hemorrhoids more pleasant, my dear!” Minin’s head spun. Two gray and white Italian Greyhounds—Artemis and Eos—pranced into the lounge and happily came for Minin with their wet noses. He knew they were gifts to their master from the grand duke of Luxembourg, and twins of the same litter. Lord Roman Leonidovich Ivanov trailed in a moment later. He was a tall, sharp man of eighty-six with the booming voice of an auctioneer, the confident poise of a Shakespearean actor and the suffocating presence of a master politician. A wavy silver mane covered the sides of his head; wrinkles ran across his forehead like rivulets and connected his wide nose with the corners of his mouth; and pale, fleshy circles ringed his eyes where tanning goggles frequently rested.

Reginald gave a delicate shiver, such as an Italian greyhound might give in contemplating the approach of an ice age of which he personally disapproved, and resigned himself to the inevitable political discussion.

The Magyars were claimed to be descendants of the hideous Asiatic Scythians of legend, half men and half apes, a witches’ brood begotten by devils. The sources—chronicles and annals—were all copied from one another, not on the basis of eyewitness accounts but following the characterisation of older chroniclers. Soon the “new barbarians” became identified with the Huns, who are remembered only too well in Europe. Attila had, after all, become in Western eyes the embodiment of barbarism, the anti-Christ, and at the time of the Renaissance he already appeared in Italian legends as the king of the Hungarians, constantly hatching plots, and depicted with dog ears, the bestial offspring of a greyhound and a princess locked up in a tower.12

As Julian approached, a ridiculous Italian greyhound ran at him and attempted to shred his stockings by jumping at his legs. Julian deftly caught the animal and continued his progress, stopping before his sister Messalina. "Yours, I presume?" Messalina glanced up, the glass of her ebony hair reflecting the light. "Oh, Daisy!" The puppy wriggled happily. Daisy had taken an idiotic liking to Julian--- despite his best effort to dissuade the animal. For a moment he curled his fingers into her velvet-soft fur, wishing... Then Julian dropped the puppy onto his sister's lap.