Tycho Brahe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tycho Brahe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Tycho often held large social gatherings in his castle, as he was a member of the nobility. He was said to own one percent of the entire wealth of Denmark at one point in the 1580s. He kept a dwarf named Jepp (who Tycho believed was clairvoyant) as a court jester who sat under the table during dinner. Pierre Gassendi wrote1 that Tycho also had a tame elk, and that his mentor the Landgraf Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel asked about an animal faster than a deer. Tycho replied writing there were none, but he could send his tame elk. When Wilhelm replied he would accept one in exchange for a horse, Tycho replied with the sad news that the elk just died on a visit to entertain a nobleman at Landskrona. Apparently during dinner the elk had drunk a lot of beer and fell down the stairs, and died."

That's like... someting out of a comedy or something. That's hilarious!