Zizi Tennenbaum

The rat's name is Conroy II, btw.

When he caught particularly pretty or friendly rats, or one with unusual colors, he bred them to each other, establishing the domesticated rat as wee know them today. He began selling them mainly "to well-bred young ladies to keep in squirrel cages". Queen Victoria and her ladies kept fancy rats. Beatrix Potter was another customer, she named hers Samuel Whiskers and wrote a book about him.

so think of old Jack Black next time you play with a cuddly pet rat!

The noble suitors, who have never sewn a thing in their lives, sabotage themselves by their own ambitions: they choose difficult fabrics to work with and cut huge, elaborate patterns and select gems and pearls and beads to sew onto it, and snip such long bits of thread that they lose time detangling their stitches, and ultimately resort to pinning bits together as they run out of time, so that their offerings initially look beautiful and flashy, but when the princess tries them on they stick her with pin ends and fall apart as she moves.

The humble protagonist uses a very simple pattern without embellishments and sews using short lengths of thread (snipped off and threaded for him by little birds of course) which don't tangle and therefore save time. His dress is plain by contrast, but holds together and the princess is able to move freely in it, and so he wins the contest and her hand.

I particularly think about the bit about threading the needle with shorter lengths of thread, needing to tie off more often but avoiding tangles and thereby saving time.

If I'm wrong, not getting full context, or see something that isn't there, feel free to give evidence to explain why.

Here he crept under a pair of bushes, one an olive, the other a wild olive, which grew from the same stem with their branches so closely intertwined that when the winds blew moist not a breath could get inside, nor could the rain soak right through to the earth.

(Book 5, Rieu)

I think this is about Penelope and him.

Girl photographed by Hugh Magnum c. 1909

Formally published Regency novel produced as an audiobook by a major company: Uses Count instead of Earl for the English title, thinks a Baronet is a type of Baron instead of a hereditary knighthood, has no understanding of how special licenses were obtained, mixes up 1870s and 1810s fashion.

iin human skin the ink goes here

but the skin of cephalopods is already composed of complex layers of pigment-producing and reflective cells

so where could you put ink that it would show from the surface? 

ALSO -