136 
ORPHEUS AT THE ZOO 
whole body still — a rare concession to the influence of 
music from one of the most restless of all animals. 
So long as the flute continued, it remained motionless 
and listening. But the change to the piccolo was 
resented. After the first bar, the elephant twisted 
round, and stood with its back to the performer, 
whistling and snorting and stamping its feet. The 
violin was less disliked, but the signs of disapproval 
were unmistakable. The deer, as before, were 
strangely attracted by the violin, and showed equal 
pleasure in the tones of the flute ; the gemul deer, for 
instance, ran up at once to listen to the latter, their 
ears and tails being in constant movement at every 
change of tone or tune. Even the ostrich seemed to 
enjoy the violin and flute, though it showed marked 
signs of dislike at the piccolo, writhing its neck and 
walking uneasily up and down its enclosure. The 
ibexes were startled at the piccolo, first rushing 
forward to listen, and then taking refuge on a pile 
of rocks, from which, however, the softer music of 
the flute brought them down to listen at the railing. 
The wild asses and zebras left the hay with which 
their racks had just been filled; and even the tapir, 
which lives next door, got up to listen to the violin ; 
while the flute set the Indian wild asses kicking with 
excitement. But the piccolo had no charms for any of 
them, and they all returned to their interrupted break- 
fasts. So far, the piccolo had shown its inability to 
please in most cases. Of its power to annoy we soon 
had an amusing proof. The Lion House was almost 
