LITERARY sources have been used throughout this book to illustrate everything from pet names to descriptions of their sleeping quarters. This chapter will examined some particular genres of literature in which pets appear with great frequency.

The pet as a symbol of love in courtly literature

IN romance literature the presence of the pet is closely connected to love and emotional attachment. Pets, nearly always small dogs, can play various roles, usually one of aiding and abetting the lovers.

A common role in this tradition is the pet as representative of the absent lover; in his absence, the pet takes his part as a companion and comfort to the lady. The pets are usually love-tokens given by the lover to his lady. The most famous pet exchanged between lovers is the small lapdog from Avalon, Petitcreiu, which features in various versions in the romance of Tristan. In Gottfried von Strassburg's early thirteenth-century Tristan, Petitcreiu is no ordinary lapdog, it is a Feehündchen, a little fairy dog that Tristan takes from his owner Gilan. Petitcreiu has long fur of every known colour that dazzles all on sight; on its collar is a magical bell that banishes all sadness when it heard. Being a magical creature, Petitcreiu does not bark nor eat nor drink, though like any good lapdog it is eager to please and relishes play.