Greyfriars Bobby

The true story of the most faithful dog in the world. No visitor to Edinburgh will miss the monument to Scotland's most famous dog, the little Skye terrier Greyfriars Bobby. This amazing dog, the most faithful in the world, kept vigil at his master's grave for fourteen long years, before expiring in 1872. Many children's books, and three successful films, have been inspired by the affecting story of this little dog, said to be the most inspiring tale of love and loyalty ever heard. Every summer, Bobby's statue is surrounded by tourists from all over the world, some of whom weep profusely when they hear dog's pathetic story. Although Greyfriars Bobby has been dead for nearly a century and a half, this extraordinary dog has yet to find his biographer. Much fiction has been based on the myth of the faithful Greyfriars Bobby, but no historian has taken care to investigate the authenticity of his story, and sift the facts from a century of exaggeration and legend. In this book, the true story of Greyfriars Bobby will finally be told for the first time, using original sources. Was Bobby really the canine paragon of virtue he has been presumed to be, or was he an unconscious impostor, taking advantage of the notions about extreme canine fidelity that were current at the time?