\"You\'ll find it odd that an old man like me could lose his heart to a little dog. For fourteen years Thisbe was my constant companion; she was loyal to me like that queen of Babylon whose name I gave her. Perhaps she was enchanted! On many an occasion I believed it! Whenever I couldn\'t sleep at night, she would lie next to me and look at me quite curiously - like a good soul!\" - Frederick the Great in the year 1783 on the death of his beloved Italian greyhound Thisbe