"Don't mind old Snark there. He has been with me many years doing the gargoyle thing, hanging around the battlements, sleeping and eating  pigeons. (Snark hates pigeons) He only comes off the walls to greet  visitors, friends and to kill the occasional assassin or two. He puts on a fearsome front but, when all is saidand done, he is the most gentle of beings and is happiest,  leaning off the walls in great anticipation, reading with delight, the next chapter of a "Wheel of Time" book and sipping on a capucino."