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 the 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?
