** spoiler alert ** This journey is based upon a true historical event; an Indian elephant was given, as a gift, from King João III of Portugal for Archduke Maximilian III of Austria. Having travelled to Lisbon, from the Portuguese colonies in India, the elephant then proceeded to Spain, Italy, and finally Austria.

At first, Saramago's writing can be a shock as he doesn't follow punctuation standards. However, it's very easy to cope with such style as the narrative develops smoothly, with lots of amusing dialogs and characters. The narration follows a very peculiar style, constantly addressing the reader in very familiar terms, inviting him (us) to take part in the considerations and little dialogs that populate the chapters. And so the pages fly very easily, as we eagerly accompany the elephant Salomão (or Solimão as it was renamed by the austrian archduke) and his mahout, Subhro (or fritz as he was renamed in similar circumstances as the elephant's), through the XVI century roads.

In this journey we, along with Salomão and Subhro, are fortunate enough to make acquaintance with his Highness King João III of Portugal and his wife, the Queen Catarina of Austria, with the captain of the Portuguese cavalry brigade that escorts Salomão, and then with the Austrian captain that performs the same mission, and of course, with the Archduke and his wife, and other characters, not so distinguished but equally interesting.

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