Gulliver's Travels (Swift)/Part 4/Chapter 3

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Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels. Part 4. Chapter 3

Language lessons, Gulliver's clothes, and a world ruled by humans

1726

Summary of a Chapter
from the Collection “Gulliver's Travels. Part 4”

The original takes about 12 minutes to read

Microsummary

Gulliver learns the Houyhnhnms’ language and reveals that he wears clothes. He tells his master that humans govern his own country, where a nation ruled by horses would seem unbelievable.

The division of this summary into sections is editorial.

In the country of the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver set about learning the language of the horses among whom he had found shelter.

The horse who had taken him in, and whom Gulliver called his master, spent hours teaching him.

Learning the horses’ language

The master’s family and servants also helped, astonished that a creature they regarded as a brute could show signs of reason. Gulliver asked the names of objects, wrote them in his journal and practised pronunciation. A sorrel servant was especially helpful.

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The sorrel servant — a reddish-brown horse, the master’s servant and valet; eager to help teach Gulliver.

Gulliver compared the language to German, though he found it more graceful. He recorded its words in the English alphabet with translations, but had difficulty explaining this to his master, whose people knew nothing of books.

The master believed Gulliver was a Yahoo, a kind of creature known for cunning and mischief, yet was puzzled by his cleanliness, civility and ability to learn. He also wondered whether Gulliver’s clothes were part of his body, since Gulliver removed them only when the household was asleep.

After about ten weeks Gulliver understood most questions; after three months he could give some answers. Using gestures, he explained that he had crossed the sea in a wooden vessel and been abandoned on the coast by his companions. His master thought he must be mistaken or saying something untrue: the Houyhnhnms had no word for a lie. Gulliver described his master’s disbelief:

He knew it was impossible that there could be a country beyond the sea, or that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither they pleased upon water.

Gulliver promised to explain more as his language improved. His master asked the whole household to teach him, while distinguished horses from the neighbourhood came to question the remarkable Yahoo. Within five months Gulliver could understand what was said and express himself reasonably well.

The secret of Gulliver’s clothes

About a fortnight before the visiting horses marvelled at Gulliver’s strange covering, the sorrel valet had found him asleep with his clothes displaced. Frightened by the different colours he saw, the servant reported that Gulliver appeared to change when asleep.

Questioned by his master, Gulliver realised he could no longer conceal his clothing, especially as it was wearing out. He explained that his people covered themselves for decency and protection from the weather, then undressed while keeping his private parts covered. His master could not understand why nature should require anyone to hide parts of the body.

After examining the clothes and Gulliver’s body, the master concluded that he was indeed a Yahoo, though unusually smooth, pale and largely hairless, with short nails and a habit of walking upright. He let Gulliver dress again because he was shivering. Gulliver recalled his reaction to the name his master gave him:

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 and contempt.

Gulliver asked the master not to call him a Yahoo and to keep his clothing secret. The master agreed, and the secret lasted until the clothes began to wear out. More interested in Gulliver’s speech and reason than his appearance, he intensified the lessons and encouraged visitors to treat him politely.

A world ruled by humans

As their conversations improved, Gulliver gave a fuller account of his voyage. He had sailed with about fifty others in a ship larger than his master’s house; using a handkerchief, he showed how wind drove it. After a quarrel, his companions put him ashore, where his master had rescued him from Yahoos.

The master asked who had built the ship and why the Houyhnhnms of Gulliver’s country had let brutes command it. Gulliver obtained his promise not to take offence before explaining that creatures like himself built ships and governed the countries he knew. He admitted his resemblance to Yahoos but could not explain their brutish nature.

Gulliver said he had been as astonished to find rational horses as his hosts were to find reason in him. If he returned home and told his story, he added, people would think he had invented it. He explained why:

our countrymen would hardly think it probable, that a Houyhnhnm should be the presiding creature of a nation, and a Yahoo the brute.

The summary is based on the edition of the novel edited by G. Ravenscroft Dennis from volume 8 of The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift (London: George Bell and Sons, 1899).