[Hiddigeigei]

"Wow, how did you learn of Hiddigeigei?"
I grew up in a semi rural area living in the maternal family home. I had few amusments, but the old house had a large library, mostly 19th Century. In my early teens I did a lot of reading. There was a copy of Scheffel's Der Trompeter von Säckingen translated by Mrs. Franz Brünnow (it is on gutenberg.org) and later read it in German. I enjoyed the poetry and felt a certain identity with the cat's detached and somewhat jaundiced-eye view of humanity.

[CatHerd]

What a great story! I identified Hiddigeigei with our very cool old black tomcat, of course, whose personality was so like his. He could give this deadpan look when he thought you were being foolish or doing something stupid that could wither you, and also used that look on our other cat to good effect, which was sometimes quite funny. He was a big part of my life from age 1 through 24, and I adored him, never known another like him.

How wonderful to grow up in a house with such a library. And how I would have loved that. I have had a thing for old books/antique books since childhood.

I have a copy of Ecce Homo I bought as a young teenager at a thrift shop that was not printed, but engraved. Yes, engraved, words just on one side of the thick paper with lots of leading between the lines. You can feel the letters on the backs of the pages with your fingertips. Of course I bought it just because of that. I had no interest in (or business) reading Nietzsche at 13! I just thought it was too cool to pass up for less than a buck.