Freddy Auratus

Freddy Auratus is the main character of the "Golden Hamster Saga", written by Deitlof Reiche and translated from the German by John Brownjohn. He is a hamster that feels that he serves a greater purpose in life than just sitting in a pet shop all day. So, he learns to read and write and goes through many problems in the course of his life.

Background

After the death of his great-grandmother (which hamsters call "Eternal Hibernation"), Freddy insists on learning more about the world in which he was born. But, in the confined area of the pet shop, there is nothing more to be had. Born with several other "ignorant" brothers and sisters, they always heard tales about the "Promised Land of Assyria", from which all golden hamsters originated from. But, believing there is more to be had, he gets himself bought by a tall man. He gets himself bought by sitting up on his haunches and waving to the man.

Upon arriving the home of the man, Freddy is greeted by a young girl named Sophie, which he believes her to be "a girl in a million". Sophie's mother is believed by Freddy to be nothing but trouble. Sophie places him in a cage on top of her desk, away from her mother, who consistently threatens Sophie on behalf of Freddy. Freddy believed he was home-free when he was bought but, after being locked in a cage, he was wasn't so sure now.

On some occasions, Sophie let him out so that he could hang out on her desk. Sophie was always found doing her homework on the desk but, on some occasions, the room was left alone. But, when Freddy was allowed to get out, he attempted to read Sophie's reader. After a few days of reading from the reader, Freddy wanted to send a message to Sophie, but he didn't know how but, when he saw how a pencil worked, he was so excited to know he could finally be in contact with Sophie. But, there was one problem, he couldn't hold the pencil. So, that hope was gone soon after.

After a few days of sitting alone in Sophie's room, Freddy felt the need to get out of the cage and, he was angry that he did not have that privilege. So, he stole Sophie's pencil and hid it under the bedding of his small cage. Everyday, after Sophie was out, he would take out the pencil, and use it as a lever to open the cage of his door. He would climb down using a ladder that Sophie installed at the edge of her desk, for Freddy to climb down, and he explored the outside world. After his first outing, Sophie's mother got really sick from allergies. She was insisting that it was Freddy. So, Freddy, while sleeping, was taken to a neighbor's house.

The neighbor was named Mr. John. There, Freddy met the "tasteless poets" Enrico and Caruso, two wisecracking guinea pigs who always picked on Freddy. He knocked them out by puffing his cheeks out and, since guinea pigs have a poor defense and get terrified when they are slightly scared, made them fall over. He also met William the cat, a neutered tomcat who believed himself a gentlemen and preferred to be called Sir William by the animals in the house. All the animals talked to each other in "Interanimal", a telepathic way of communication only heard by animals.

When Freddy exited his cage at night when no one was around, he searched for a way of communicating with Mr. John. The first method was a typewriter but, seeing as how Freddy was too lightweight to push down a button and Sir William's method didn't provide much help either, he had to find another way.

Then, a few days later, Freddy sees that several packages have arrived at Mr. John's house. When Mr. John takes out a device that has letters on it, Freddy is dazzled and believes this is the answer to his dilemma. When the rest of the packages are all set up, Freddy gets out at night and checks it out. It is a thing called a Mac (computer). Freddy presses the keys and finds out that they require almost no effort to push. Freddy was ecstatic about it.

The very next day, although not stated in the book, Mr. John has seemed to find out about Freddy's "outings" and sets up the Mac so that, the next time Freddy gets out, it will display a message to Freddy. That same night, Sir William turns on the Mac for Freddy and Freddy reads the message. So, he writes his life story, on a book entiltled "I, Freddy". And his adventures kick off from there.