Blocked assets, near miss

Vesuvius sneezed while I stood on the rim, and up I went with my picnic. I came down near Capri, still holding a chicken leg. My friends thought I had died. I walked into my own funeral, ate the cake, and gave a rather fine speech about myself.

Lions roar because they have a sore throat. I learned this in Morocco, when one came at me with his mouth open. I stuck in my arm and a lemon drop. He purred, he blinked, and he followed me to Fez. The ruler there gave him a seat on the council.

Mice ran my bank in Hanover for a season, and they did it well. They kept careful books and nibbled only the interest. One cat ended the whole business. I hired her as a judge. She gave each mouse a fair hearing, and then she gave each a swift sentence.

Portraits of me must be painted in two parts, as no canvas is large enough for my good qualities. The artist in Florence worked nine years. He got to my left ear before he ran out of blue. The finished ear hangs in a fine palace, and people bow to it.

Spurs rang out across Moldavia when my hussars.