of expression. They are able to communicate their thoughts by lutes and
other musical instruments quite as well as by the voice.

When twenty or thirty of them meet together to discuss some matter, they
carry on the debate by the most harmonious concert it is possible to
imagine.

The common people, however, talk by agitating different parts of their
bodies. Certain movements constitute an entire speech. By shaking a
finger, a hand, or an arm, for instance, they can say more than we can
in a thousand words. Other motions, such as a wrinkle on the forehead, a
shiver along a muscle, serve to design words. As they use all their body
in speaking in this fashion, they have to go naked in order to make
themselves clearly understood. When they are engaged in an exciting
conversation they seem to be creatures shaken by some wild fever.

Instead of sending me at once to the Queen of the Moon, the man who had
captured me earned a considerable amount of money by taking me every
afternoon to the houses of the rich people. There I was compelled to
jump and make grimaces, and stand in ridiculous attitudes in order to
amuse the crowds of guests who had been invited to see the antics of the
new animal.

But one day, as my master was pulling the rope around my neck to make me
rise up and divert the company, a man came and asked me in Greek who I
was. Full of joy at meeting someone with whom I could talk, I related to
him the story of my voyage from the Earth.

"I cannot understand," I said, "how it was I rose up to the Moon when my
machine broke down and fell to the Earth."