Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World

CHAPTER III.

The author studies to learn the language. The Houyhnhnm, his master,assists in teaching him. The language described. Several Houyhnhnms ofquality come out of curiosity to see the author. He gives his master ashort account of his voyage.

My principal endeavour was to learn the language, which my master (for soI shall henceforth call him), and his children, and every servant of hishouse, were desirous to teach me; for they looked upon it as a prodigy,that a brute animal should discover such marks of a rational creature. Ipointed to every thing, and inquired the name of it, which I wrote downin my journal-book when I was alone, and corrected my bad accent bydesiring those of the family to pronounce it often. In this employment,a sorrel nag, one of the under-servants, was very ready to assist me.

In speaking, they pronounced through the nose and throat, and theirlanguage approaches nearest to the High-Dutch, or German, of any I knowin Europe; but is much more graceful and significant. The emperorCharles V. made almost the same observation, when he said ”that if hewere to speak to his horse, it should be in High-Dutch.”

The curiosity and impatience of my master were so great, that he spentmany hours of his leisure to instruct me. He was convinced (as heafterwards told me) that I must be a _Yahoo_; but my teachableness,civility, and cleanliness, astonished him; which were qualitiesaltogether opposite to those animals. He was most perplexed about myclothes, reasoning sometimes with himself, whether they were a part of mybody: for I never pulled them off till the family were asleep, and gotthem on before they waked in the morning. My master was eager to learn”whence I came; how I acquired those appearances of reason, which Idiscovered in all my actions; and to know my story from my own mouth,which he hoped he should soon do by the great proficiency I made inlearning and pronouncing their words and sentences.” To help my memory,I formed all I learned into the English alphabet, and writ the wordsdown, with the translations. This last, after some time, I ventured todo in my master's presence. It cost me much trouble to explain to himwhat I was doing; for the inhabitants have not the least idea of books orliterature.

In about ten weeks time, I was able to understand most of his questions;and in three months, could give him some tolerable answers. He wasextremely curious to know ”from what part of the country I came, and howI was taught to imitate a rational creature; because the _Yahoos_ (whomhe saw I exactly resembled in my head, hands, and face, that were onlyvisible), with some appearance of cunning, and the strongest dispositionto mischief, were observed to be the most unteachable of all brutes.” Ianswered, ”that I came over the sea, from a far place, with many othersof my own kind, in a great hollow vessel made of the bodies of trees:that my companions forced me to land on this coast, and then left me toshift for myself.” It was with some difficulty, and by the help of manysigns, that I brought him to understand me. He replied, ”that I mustneeds be mistaken, or that I said the thing which was not;” for they haveno word in their language to express lying or falsehood. ”He knew it wasimpossible that there could be a country beyond the sea, or that a parcelof brutes could move a wooden vessel whither they pleased upon water. Hewas sure no _Houyhnhnm_ alive could make such a vessel, nor would trust_Yahoos_ to manage it.”

The word _Houyhnhnm_, in their tongue, signifies a _horse_, and, in itsetymology, the _perfection of nature_. I told my master, ”that I was ata loss for expression, but would improve as fast as I could; and hoped,in a short time, I should be able to tell him wonders.” He was pleasedto direct his own mare, his colt, and foal, and the servants of thefamily, to take all opportunities of instructing me; and every day, fortwo or three hours, he was at the same pains himself. Several horses andmares of quality in the neighbourhood came often to our house, upon thereport spread of ”a wonderful _Yahoo_, that could speak like a_Houyhnhnm_, and seemed, in his words and actions, to discover someglimmerings of reason.” These delighted to converse with me: they putmany questions, and received such answers as I was able to return. Byall these advantages I made so great a progress, that, in five monthsfrom my arrival I understood whatever was spoken, and could expressmyself tolerably well.

The _Houyhnhnms_, who came to visit my master out of a design of seeingand talking with me, could hardly believe me to be a right _Yahoo_,because my body had a different covering from others of my kind. Theywere astonished to observe me without the usual hair or skin, except onmy head, face, and hands; but I discovered that secret to my master uponan accident which happened about a fortnight before.

I have already told the reader, that every night, when the family weregone to bed, it was my custom to strip, and cover myself with my clothes.It happened, one morning early, that my master sent for me by the sorrelnag, who was his valet. When he came I was fast asleep, my clothesfallen off on one side, and my shirt above my waist. I awaked at thenoise he made, and observed him to deliver his message in some disorder;after which he went to my master, and in a great fright gave him a veryconfused account of what he had seen. This I presently discovered, for,going as soon as I was dressed to pay my attendance upon his honour, heasked me ”the meaning of what his servant had reported, that I was notthe same thing when I slept, as I appeared to be at other times; that hisvale assured him, some part of me was white, some yellow, at least not sowhite, and some brown.”

I had hitherto concealed the secret of my dress, in order to distinguishmyself, as much as possible, from that cursed race of _Yahoos_; but now Ifound it in vain to do so any longer. Besides, I considered that myclothes and shoes would soon wear out, which already were in a decliningcondition, and must be supplied by some contrivance from the hides of_Yahoos_, or other brutes; whereby the whole secret would be known. Itherefore told my master, ”that in the country whence I came, those of mykind always covered their bodies with the hairs of certain animalsprepared by art, as well for decency as to avoid the inclemencies of air,both hot and cold; of which, as to my own person, I would give himimmediate conviction, if he pleased to command me: only desiring hisexcuse, if I did not expose those parts that nature taught us toconceal.” He said, ”my discourse was all very strange, but especiallythe last part; for he could not understand, why nature should teach us toconceal what nature had given; that neither himself nor family wereashamed of any parts of their bodies; but, however, I might do as Ipleased.” Whereupon I first unbuttoned my coat, and pulled it off. Idid the same with my waistcoat. I drew off my shoes, stockings, andbreeches. I let my shirt down to my waist, and drew up the bottom;fastening it like a girdle about my middle, to hide my nakedness.

My master observed the whole performance with great signs of curiosityand admiration. He took up all my clothes in his pastern, one pieceafter another, and examined them diligently; he then stroked my body verygently, and looked round me several times; after which, he said, it wasplain I must be a perfect _Yahoo_; but that I differed very much from therest of my species in the softness, whiteness, and smoothness of my skin;my want of hair in several parts of my body; the shape and shortness ofmy claws behind and before; and my affectation of walking continually onmy two hinder feet. He desired to see no more; and gave me leave to puton my clothes again, for I was shuddering with cold.

I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the appellation of_Yahoo_, an odious animal, for which I had so utter a hatred andcontempt: I begged he would forbear applying that word to me, and makethe same order in his family and among his friends whom he suffered tosee me. I requested likewise, ”that the secret of my having a falsecovering to my body, might be known to none but himself, at least as longas my present clothing should last; for as to what the sorrel nag, hisvalet, had observed, his honour might command him to conceal it.”

All this my master very graciously consented to; and thus the secret waskept till my clothes began to wear out, which I was forced to supply byseveral contrivances that shall hereafter be mentioned. In the meantime,he desired ”I would go on with my utmost diligence to learn theirlanguage, because he was more astonished at my capacity for speech andreason, than at the figure of my body, whether it were covered or not;”adding, ”that he waited with some impatience to hear the wonders which Ipromised to tell him.”

Thenceforward he doubled the pains he had been at to instruct me: hebrought me into all company, and made them treat me with civility;”because,” as he told them, privately, ”this would put me into goodhumour, and make me more diverting.”

Every day, when I waited on him, beside the trouble he was at inteaching, he would ask me several questions concerning myself, which Ianswered as well as I could, and by these means he had already receivedsome general ideas, though very imperfect. It would be tedious to relatethe several steps by which I advanced to a more regular conversation; butthe first account I gave of myself in any order and length was to thispurpose:

”That I came from a very far country, as I already had attempted to tellhim, with about fifty more of my own species; that we travelled upon theseas in a great hollow vessel made of wood, and larger than his honour'shouse. I described the ship to him in the best terms I could, andexplained, by the help of my handkerchief displayed, how it was drivenforward by the wind. That upon a quarrel among us, I was set on shore onthis coast, where I walked forward, without knowing whither, till hedelivered me from the persecution of those execrable _Yahoos_.” He askedme, ”who made the ship, and how it was possible that the _Houyhnhnms_ ofmy country would leave it to the management of brutes?” My answer was,”that I durst proceed no further in my relation, unless he would give mehis word and honour that he would not be offended, and then I would tellhim the wonders I had so often promised.” He agreed; and I went on byassuring him, that the ship was made by creatures like myself; who, inall the countries I had travelled, as well as in my own, were the onlygoverning rational animals; and that upon my arrival hither, I was asmuch astonished to see the _Houyhnhnms_ act like rational beings, as he,or his friends, could be, in finding some marks of reason in a creaturehe was pleased to call a _Yahoo_; to which I owned my resemblance inevery part, but could not account for their degenerate and brutal nature.I said farther, ”that if good fortune ever restored me to my nativecountry, to relate my travels hither, as I resolved to do, everybodywould believe, that I said the thing that was not, that I invented thestory out of my own head; and (with all possible respect to himself, hisfamily, and friends, and under his promise of not being offended) ourcountrymen would hardly think it probable that a _Houyhnhnm_ should bethe presiding creature of a nation, and a _Yahoo_ the brute.”