The Crab looks very startled.)
You really want me to play that-that-that whatever-it-is?
Achilles: Oh, please do!
(So the Crab plays it, with evident difficulty.)
Tortoise: Bravo! Bravo! Is John Cage your favorite composer, Achilles?
Achilles: Actually, he's my favorite anti-composer. Anyway, I'm glad you
liked MY music.
Crab: The two of you may find it amusing to listen to such totally mean-
ingless cacophony, but I assure you it is not at all pleasant for a
sensitive composer to be su~jected to such excruciating, empty disso-
nances and meaningless rhythms. Achilles, I thought you had a good
feeling for music. Could it be that your previous pieces had merit
merely by coincidence?
Achilles: Oh, please forgive me, Mr. Crab. I was trying to explore the
limits of your musical notation. I wanted to learn directly what kinds of
sound result when I write certain types of note sequences, and also
how you evaluate pieces written in various styles.
Crab: Harrumph! I am not just an automatic music-machine, you know.
Nor am I a garbage disposal for musical trash.
Achilles: I am very sorry. But I feel that I have learned a great deal by
writing that small piece, and I am convinced that I can now write much
better music than I ever could have if I hadn't tried that idea. And if
you'll just play one more piece of mine, I have high hopes that you will
feel better about my musical sensitivities.
Crab: Well, all right. Write it down and I'll give it a chance.
(Achilles writes:
Va:Vb:«a 'a) =(SSO'(b' b)):Ja=O>
and the Crab plays.)
You were right, Achilles. You seem to have completely regained your
musical acuity. This is a little gem! How did you come to compose it? I
have never heard anything like it. I t obeys all the rules of harmony,
and yet has a certain-what shall I say?-irrational appeal to it. I can't
put my finger on it, but I like it for that very reason.
Achilles: I kind of thought you might like it.
Tortoise: Have you got a name for it, Achilles? Perhaps you might call it
"The Song of Pythagoras". You remember that Pythagoras and his
followers were among the first to study musical sound.
Achilles: Yes, that's true. That would be a fine title.Crab: Wasn't Pythagoras also the first to discover that the ratio of two
squares can never be equal to 2?
Tortoise: I believe you're right. It was considered a truly sinister discovery
at the time, for never before had anyone realized that there are
(^556) The Magnijicrab, Indeed