A Horse's Tale

I am Buffalo Bill's horse. I have spent my life under his saddle - with him in it, too, and he is good for two hundred pounds, without his clothes; and there is no telling how much he does weigh when he is out on the war-path and has his batteries belted on. He is over six feet, is young, hasn't an ounce of waste flesh, is straight, graceful, springy in his motions, quick as a cat, and has a handsome face, and black hair dangling down on his shoulders, and is beautiful to look at; and nobody is braver than he is, and nobody is stronger, except myself.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)
A legendary American writer and humourist, Mark Twain authored twenty eight books and many sketches and short stories. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910). He was born and brought up in the American state of Missouri. He left school to earn his living when he was only twelve following the death of his father. He was a great adventurer and travelled around America. He returned to his native place to become a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. The Civil War put an end to steam-boating and Clemens joined the Confederate army. He was already engaged in newspaper reporting and became a successful journalist. He started to use the alias Mark Twain during the Civil War and this pen name made him a famous travel writer.
Mark Twain was nostalgic about his childhood and in 1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published, based on his own experiences. The book was soon recognised as a work of genius. Mark Twain was soon famous all over the world. He earned money from writing and lost it on a typesetter he invented. He then made another fortune and lost it on a bad investment. He was an impetuous, hot-tempered man but was also quite sentimental and superstitious. Twain was born when Halley's Comet was passing the Earth and he always believed he would die when the comet returned - the same happened exactly.