USAGE: Yellow Charlie

Many years ago I read a novel by a Scandinavian author in which two
characters are chatting.  One asks why the other (a woman) calls her horse
"Yellow Charlie" when he is black.  The woman replies that his name is
"Caligula" (presumably because of his temperament), and a translator's
footnote explains that "Yellow Charlie" phonetically resembles "Caligula"
in <source language>.

Can anybody here straighten this out for me?  I recognize "g-l"
as presumably meaning "yellow", and "Cali-" perhaps is to "Karl" as
"Charlie" is to "Charles".  Bonus points for producing the names of
author and novel.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter

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