They are not live horses, yet they have traveled far. They were made about the time of Christ, out of bronze, and they have been carried away by one ruler and another from one place to another, and finally back again to Venice.

The largest piece of land in Venice is a paved square in front of St. Mark’s. In this square there are flocks of pigeons, and they are so tame they will alight on your hand or shoulder to be fed. People have pictures taken of themselves with pigeons on their head and shoulders and at their feet.Once upon a time Venice was saved from an enemy by a message brought by a carrier-pigeon, and ever since then Venetians treat pigeons as sacred, and they would arrest and punish any one who harmed a pigeon. Did you know that a pigeon discovered America? Yes, that’s a fact, for in Italian “Columbus” means “pigeon.” So his real name is Christopher Pigeon.

Venice is now only a city, but it used to be like a little country all by itself. It made its own money and it had its own ruler, who was called a Doge (dozhe), which means Duke. A Doge ruled like a president and lived in a palace like a king, and punished people who had done wrong, like a judge. Just across the water street from the Doge’s palace was the prison, and connecting his palace with the prison was a covered bridge. When a man was sent to prison by the Doge he crossed over this bridge, sighing and groaning, so it came to be called the “Bridge of Sighs.”

Theaters are sometimes named “The Rialto,” but The Rialto is not a theater. It is a bridge in Venice over the Grand Canal. It has shops along its sides. Venice was the shopping-place of Europe, and the Rialto was the department store of Venice, where every kind of thing was sold. There is a play written by William Shakspere, the English author, called “The Merchant of Venice.” The story is about a man who had a shop on the Rialto.