Probably the finest short story written in science fiction, which does not feature any humans. Some have found Tiptree's garrulous voice to be unnecessarily difficult and excessive, but like others have been quick to point out, they enhance the alien's viewpoint. How does it do so? Well, for starters, if we consider that the only reference to fall back on when creating truly no n-human aliens are other animals, then it's easy to assume that when other animals communicate, it's by utilizing a frequency that is massively more emotional than the stunted, crippled language of the average human being trying to appropriate true 'emotion'. So, perhaps then, when we 'translate' into English, Tiptree's style is not very far-fetched. These creatures have no time for intellectual games involving logic. They are born, they grow up, cope with the environment, mate, and die. Does that suggest that language in such a world is useless? I don't think so, and neither does Tiptree. This is yet another of Science Fiction's beauties: to reinforce certain beliefs by constructing a justification, utilizing fiction.
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