Hayy Learns to Imitate Animals’ Voices
In this way the boy keeping company with them also learned their voice, which he imitated so exactly that scarcely any difference could be perceived between them. In like manner, whatever other voice he heard, whether of bird or beast, he came very near it by virtue of a very apprehensive faculty wherewith he was endowed. But of all the voices he imitated, he made most use of the deer’s when they cried out for help or called their fellow-deer, when they wanted them nearer by or farther off. For as you know, those creatures have diverse voices according to their various ends and uses. Thus the child kept company with the deer, and they were not in the least afraid of one another.