This delightful novella reads like a fable or morality tale, but is based on a true incident in European history. In 1550 King Joao III of Portugal decided that the perfect wedding gift for Archduke Maximilian of Austria would be an elephant. The elephant, Solomon, along with his mahout, Subhro, accompanied by a caravan of soldiers, laborers, and numerous wagons and ox carts full of provisions, set out to walk across Central Europe. Along the way they encounter various officials, peasants, priests, and wildlife, each providing an excuse for Saramago to engage in philosophical asides and/or to skewer sacred institutions and beliefs. He treats us to his thoughts on power, dignity, friendship, religion, and human weaknesses. Saramago’s writing is not for the faint of heart. He uses minimal punctuation, and the only capitalization is at the beginning of each sentence. A sentence can be as long as a paragraph. A paragraph can last three or four pages. If the reader can surrender to this style, s/he will be rewarded with a wonderful story told by a master storyteller. I’ve read two other books by Saramago - Blindness and The Double. This book is certainly the most approachable of the three, and would make a good introduction to this author.