"Have animals had, in the past, a literature of their own?"

Eccentric composer Erik Satie published some odd humor pieces in Vanity Fair. They were more strange than funny. From “A Learned Lecture on Music and Animals,” which ran in 1922, three years before his death:

“Indeed we have no example either of painting or of sculpture made by an animal. Their taste does not lead them towards these two arts.

Architecture and Music, however, have attracted them–the rabbit constructs tunnels–both for himself and the beagle hound.

The bird builds a nest, a marvel of art and industry, wherein he himself may live with his family–

Even the cuckoo is a fairly good judge of architecture.

We would continue to cite similar examples indefinitely.

So much for architecture.

I know of no literary work written by an animal–and that is very sad.

Have animals had, in the past, a literature of their own?

It is quite possible. No doubt, it was destroyed by a fire–a very, very large fire.”

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“Gymnopédie No.1,” which was the end music for My Dinner With Andre: