In Florence, there is an old tale told by many, that tells the story of a lone fox, sleeping on the grave of a renowned scholar. It has been told for hundreds of years, and over time the story has changed.
It is often said that the fox was once the scholar's lover, and it sleeps there nightly as the pair once did. The fox and the scholar are symbols of love, of grief and of loyalty.
The Graveyard Fox, as it becomes known, is rumoured to have bright violet eyes and, although most people dismiss this as a folk tale, they keep a look out for this mysterious-looking creature.
Foxes become a sacred creature to the Florentines; they are treated well in the hope that the Graveyard Fox will reward them for the respect they give towards its brothers and sisters.
The tale of the fox and the scholar reach Rome and Venice, and there are frequent sightings of small animals with oddly-coloured eyes around an run-down inn and on Tiber Island.
The tales differ in different areas: the Romans tell a tale of an immortal man forever cursed to live as a fox, and the Venetians talk of a shape-shifting thief attempting to return to his criminal days. One thing stays the same: the fox frequently visits his lover, alone in the graveyard.
The Graveyard Fox, so the tale is told, sleeps on a singular grave nightly, protecting its lover beneath the ground. It, like many other animals that have protected graves, is never seen to leave. It stays, constantly on guard, constantly there.
The scholar's identity is lost in legend, and the fox slinks into the shadows, the way a fox does. The Graveyard Fox becomes an old folk tale, and the seasons change and years and years pass.
And even six hundred years later, the Romans and the Venetians and the Florentines tell the story of the Graveyard Fox and its dead lover, inseparable throughout the years.