Big-Little Endian

[Guido van Rossum]

I once read this poem:

	A big Indian and a little Indian
	were walking down the street.
	The little Indian was the son of the big Indian;
	but the big Indian was not the father of the little Indian:
	You see the riddle is, if the little Indian was
	the son of the big Indian, but the big Indian was
	not the father of the little Indian, who was he? --
	I'll give you two measures:
	
	His mother!

	(From Bernstein's song cycle "I Hate Music", sung by Teresa
	Stratas, as if by a child.)

I wonder if this is a well-known poem or riddle, or whether Bernstein
made it up.  To me, "big Indian" and "big endian" sound very similar.

--Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam <guido at cwi.nl>
"Well I'm a plumber.  I can't act."