Sloth Canon
This time, we find Achilles and the Tortoise visiting
the dwelling of their new friend, the Sloth.Achilles: Shall I tell you of my droll footrace with Mr. T?
Sloth: Please do.
Achilles: It has become quite celebrated in these parts. I believe it's even
been written up, by Zeno.
Sloth: It sounds very exciting.
Achilles: It was. You see, Mr. T began way ahead of me. He had such a
huge head start, and yet-
Sloth: You caught up, didn't you?
Achilles: Yes-being so fleet of foot, I diminished the distance between us
at a constant rate, and soon overtook him.
Sloth: The gap kept getting shorter and shorter, so you could.
Achilles: Exactly. Oh, look-Mr. T has brought his violin. May I try play-
ing on it, Mr. T?
Tortoise: Please don't. It sounds very flat.
Achilles: Oh, all right. But I'm in a mood for music. I don't know why.
Sloth: You can play the piano, Achilles.
Achilles: Thank you. I'll try it in a moment. I just wanted to add that I also
had another kind of "race" with Mr. T at a later date. Unfortunately,
in that race-
Tortoise: You didn't catch up, did you? The gap kept getting longer and
longer, so you couldn't.
Achilles: That's true. I believe THAT race has been written up, too, by
Lewis Carroll. Now, Mr. Sloth, I'll take up your offer of trying out the
piano. But I'm so bad at the piano. I'm not sure I dare.
Sloth: You should try.
(Achilles sits down and starts playing a simple tune.)
Achilles: Oh-it sounds very strange. That's not how it's supposed to
sound at all! Something is very wrong.
Tortoise: You can't play the piano, Achilles. You shouldn't try.
Achilles: It's like a piano in a mirror. The high notes are on the left, and
the low notes are on the right. Every melody comes out inverted, as if
upside down. Who would have ever thought up something so cockeyed
as that?
Tortoise: That's so characteristic of sloths. They hang from-
Achilles: Yes, I know-from tree branches-upside down, of course. That
sloth-piano would be appropriate for playing inverted melodies suchSloth Canon 681