The Project Gutenberg EBook of I Like Martian Music, by Charles E. Fritch

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Title: I Like Martian Music

Author: Charles E. Fritch

Release Date: March 30, 2009 [EBook #28451]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_There have been a number of interesting theories advanced about
life on Mars, but few have equalled Charles Fritch's intriguing
picture of the world of Longtree and Channeljumper in its infinite
variations, tonal and thematic. The Mars of these two is an old
culture, old and finite._

i
like
martian
music

_by CHARLES E. FRITCH_

Longtree played. His features relaxed into a gentle smile
of happiness and his body turned a bright red orange.

Longtree sat before his hole in the ground and gazed thoughtfully among
the sandy red hills that surrounded him. His skin at that moment was a
medium yellow, a shade between pride and happiness at having his brief
symphony almost completed, with just a faint tinge of red to denote that
uncertain, cautious approach to the last note which had eluded him thus
far.

He sat there unmoving for a while, and then he picked up his blowstring
and fitted the mouthpiece between his thin lips. He blew into it softly
and at the same time gently strummed the three strings stretching the
length of the instrument. The note was a firm clear one which would have
made any other musician proud.

But Longtree frowned, and at the disappointment his body flushed a dark
green and began taking on a purple cast of anger. Hastily, he put down
the blowstring and tried to think of something else. Slowly his normal
color returned.

Across the nearest hill came his friend Channeljumper, striding on the
long thin ungainly legs that had given him his name. His skin radiated a
blissful orange.

"Longtree!" Channeljumper exclaimed enthusiastically, collapsing on the
ground nearby and folding his legs around him. "How's the symphony
coming?"

"Not so good," Longtree admitted sadly, an