Kurt Vonnegut, “Breakfast of Champions; or, Goodbye Blue Monday”

The Dancing Fool

As for the story itself, it was entitled “The Dancing Fool”. Like so many Trout stories, it was about a tragic failure to communicate.

Here was the plot: A flying saucer creature named Zog arrived on Earth to explain how wars could be prevented and how cancer could be cured. He brought the information from Margo, a planet where the natives conversed by means of farts and tap dancing. Zog landed at night in Connecticut. He had no sooner touched down than he saw a house on fire. He rushed into the house, farting and tap dancing, warning the people about the terrible danger they were in.

The head of the house brained Zog with a golfclub.