This is a collection of absorbing short stories and a novella that will keep the readers hooked throughout. The first short story, "The Bard of Kyme", written almost like a poem, is a beautiful tale of an old minstrel who traveled the countryside carrying his lyre and singing ballads. " Komm of the Atrebates", follows a Gaul leader who sided with the Romans in Brittany until he had a disagreement and then switched sides. Next, "Farinata Degli Uberti" is an interesting story of a nobleman who, after getting humiliated by two riders as they passed his castle, asked a monk why people hated him, and the monk was more than happy to answer him. "The King Drinks" revolves around a newly crowned king who was insulted by a young upstart at a dinner to honor him. The last short story, "La Muiron", is about Napoleon's return after his expedition to Egypt. The book finally presents a novella, "The Chateau de Vaux-Le-Vicomte", about Nicolas Foucquet, a corrupt finance minister under Mazarin. He gathered an enormous fortune and built a gigantic mansion called Chateau 'de Vaux-Le-Vicomte', but when Louis XIV became king, Foucquet's empire collapsed.