The creature, which was still steaming and shaking itself on the back and had obviously not seen him, opened its mouth and began to make noises…

The creature was talking. It had a language…

A new world he had already seen—but a non-human language was a different matter…

The love of knowledge is a kind of madness…

And what might one not discover from the speech of a non-human race? The very form of language itself, the principle behind all possible languages, might fall into his hands. Unconsciously he raised himself on his elbow and stared at the black beast…

—Out of The Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis