Gulliver's Travels (Swift)/Part 4/Chapter 2
from the Collection âGulliver's Travels. Part 4â
The division of this retelling into sections is editorial.
The horsesâ household
After travelling about three miles through the unfamiliar country, Gulliver reached a long, thatched timber house with the gray horse who had guided him there. Hoping for a friendly reception, he prepared small gifts for the people he expected to meet.
Inside, he saw horses sitting on their haunches or doing household work. He supposed that their human owners must be exceptionally wise to have trained them so well. The gray horse entered behind him and appeared to give the others orders, protecting Gulliver from possible ill treatment.
Gulliver waited with his gifts while the gray horse went into another room. Hearing only horsesâ voices, he feared that his hardships had unsettled his mind and wondered whether he was dreaming or witnessing magic. The gray finally led him in to meet a mare and two young horses, seated neatly on straw mats. The mare examined his hands and face with contempt and repeatedly used a word he did not yet understand: Yahoo.
A troubling resemblance
The gray led Gulliver across a courtyard to a building where three Yahoos were tied up and eating roots and animal flesh. A servant brought the largest one outside, and the horses compared its face with Gulliverâs. To his horror, he recognised a human figure beneath the creatureâs coarse features and hair. His clothes concealed much of the resemblance from the horses.
The servant offered Gulliver a root, some foul-smelling assâs flesh, hay and oats, but he refused them all. He feared starvation, though he also shrank from the Yahoos. Looking back on his reaction, Gulliver recalled:
I never saw any sensitive being so detestable on all accounts; and the more I came near them, the more hateful they grew, while I stayed in that country.
The gray sent the Yahoo away and tried by signs to discover what Gulliver could eat. When a cow passed, Gulliver indicated that he wanted to milk her. The horse took him indoors, where a servant gave him a bowl of milk from a clean, well-stocked room. It refreshed him.
Dinner and a way to survive
At noon an elderly horse arrived to dine, riding in a sledge drawn by four Yahoos because he had hurt a forefoot. The household ate hay and oats with milk from a carefully arranged circular manger. The gray kept Gulliver beside him, and he and the visitor often discussed him, judging by their glances and their repeated use of the word Yahoo.
The gray was puzzled by Gulliverâs gloves and gestured for him to restore his hands to their former appearance. Gulliver removed them, pleasing the company. During dinner, his host taught him words including those for oats, milk, fire and water.
Afterward, the gray showed concern that Gulliver had little to eat. Gulliver repeated the word for oats, having realised that he could make bread from them. A servant brought him a supply; he husked and ground the grain between stones, mixed it with water and toasted the paste. The resulting cakes, eaten with milk, seemed tasteless at first but became tolerable.
Gulliver later supplemented this diet with herbs, occasional butter and whey, and rabbits or birds caught in snares made from Yahoo hair. He grew accustomed to having no salt and reported that he remained healthy throughout his stay. He explained why he had described his food:
However, it was necessary to mention this matter, lest the world should think it impossible that I could find sustenance for three years in such a country, and among such inhabitants.
That evening the gray assigned Gulliver a lodging near the house, separate from the Yahoosâ stable. Gulliver gathered straw, covered himself with his clothes and slept soundly. He was given better accommodation shortly afterward.