Did you know that William Shakespeare (April 1564 – April 23, 1616) was one of the first playwrights to write in English for regular people, rather than in French (the Lingua franca) or Latin? 

Shakespeare wrote lots of animals into his plays. Here are just a few.

• “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child” King Lear Act 1, Scene 4, 281–289
• “Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew and dog will have his day” Hamlet Act V, Scene I
• “Cry ‘Havoc’, and let slip the dogs of war” Julius Caesar (1599) Act III Scene I
• “By this reckoning he is more shrew than she.” Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene 1
•  “I am as vigilant as a cat to steal cream.” King Henry the Fourth, Act IV., Scene 2
• “Thou call’st me dog before thou hadst a cause, But since I am a dog, beware my fangs” The Merchant of Venice

If you haven’t read Shakespeare, download the totally free ebook at Project Gutenberg, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.