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Gulliver's Travels (1726) |
Jonathan Swift |
| 1 |
I HAD settled my little Oeconomy
to my own Heart's content. My
Master had ordered a Room for me
after their manner, about six Yards
from the House, the Sides and Floors
of which I plaistered with Clay, and
covered with Rush matts of my own contriving; I had beaten Hemp, which there
grows wild, and made of it a sort of
Ticking: This I filled with the Feathers of several Birds I had taken with
Springes made of Yahoos Hairs, and
were excellent Food. I had worked
two Chairs with my Knife, the Sorrel
Nag helping me in the grosser and
more laborious Part. When my Cloaths
were worn to Rags, I made myself others with the Skins of Rabbets, and
of a certain beautiful Animal about the
same size, called Nnuhnoh, the Skin of
which is covered with a fine Down.
Of these I made very tolerable Stockings.
I soaled my Shoes with Wood which I
cut from a Tree, and fitted to the upper Leather, and when this was worn
out, I supplied it with the Skins of
Yahoos dried in the Sun. I often got
Honey out of hollow Trees, which I
mingled with Water, or eat with my
Bread. No Man could more verify the
Truth of these two Maxims, That
Nature is very easily satisfied; and, That
Necessity is the Mother of Invention.
I enjoyed perfect Health of Body and
Tranquillity of Mind; I did not find
the Treachery or Inconstancy of a
Friend, nor the Injuries of a secret or
open Enemy. I had no occasion of bribing, flattering or pimping, to procure
the Favour of any great Man or of his
Minion. I wanted no Fence against
Fraud or Oppression; Here was neither
Physician to destroy my Body, nor Lawyer to ruin my | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | I HAD the favour of being admitted to several Houyhnhnms, who came to visit or dine with my Master, where his Honour graciously suffered me to wait in the Room, and listen to their Discourse. Both he and his Company would often descend to ask me Questions, and receive my Answers. I had also sometimes the Honour of attending my Master in his Visits to others. I never presumed to speak, except in answer to a Question, and then I did it with inward Regret, because it was a Loss of so much Time for improving myself: But I was infinitely delighted, with the Station of an humble Auditor in such Conversations, where nothing passed but what was useful, expressed in the fewest and most significant Words: Where the greatest Decency was observed, without the least Degree of Ceremony; where no Person spoke without being pleased himself, and pleasing his Companions: Where there was no Interruption, Tediousness, Heat, or Difference of Sentiments. They have a Notion, That when People are met together, a short Silence doth much improve Conversation: This I found to be true; for during those little Intermissions of Talk, new Ideas would arise in the Thoughts, which very much enlivened their Discourse. Their Subjects are generally on Friendship and Benevolence, on Order and Oeconomy, sometimes upon the visible Operations of Nature, or ancient Traditions, upon the Bounds and Limits of Virtue, upon the unerring Rules of Reason, or upon some Determinations, to be taken at the next great Assembly; and often upon the various Excellencies of Poetry. I may add without Vanity, that my Presence often gave them sufficient Matter for Discourse, because it afforded my Master an Occasion of letting his Friends into the History of me and my Country, upon which they were all pleased to descant in a manner not very advantageous to Human Kind; and for that Reason I shall not repeat what they said: Only I may be allowed to observe, That his Honour, to my great Admiration, appeared to understand the Nature of Yahoos in all Countries, much better than myself. He went through all our Vices and Follies, and discovered many which I had never mentioned to him, by only supposing what Qualities a Yahoo of their Country, with a small proportion of Reason, might be capable of exerting; and concluded, with too much Probability, how vile as well as miserable such a Creature must be. | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | I FREELY confess, that all the little Knowledge I have of any value, was acquired by the Lectures I received from my Master, and from hearing the Discourses of him and his Friends; to which I should be prouder to listen, than to dictate to the greatest and wisest Assembly in Europe. I admired the Strength, Comeliness, and Speed of the Inhabitants; and such a Constellation of Virtues in such Amiable Persons produced in me the highest Veneration. At first, indeed, I did not feel that natural Awe which the Yahoos and all other Animals bear towards them, but it grew upon me by Degrees, much sooner than I imagined, and was mingled with a respectful Love and Gratitude, that they would condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my Species. | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | WHEN I thought of my Family, my Friends, and my Countrymen, or Human Race in general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in Shape and Disposition, only a little civilized, and qualified with the Gift of Speech, but making no other use of Reason, than to improve and multiply those Vices, whereof their Brethren in this Country had only the share that Nature allotted them. When I happened to behold the Reflection of my own Form in a Lake or a Fountain, I turned away my Face in Horror and Detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo, than of my own Person. By conversing with the Houyhnhnms, and looking upon them with Delight, I fell to imitate their Gate and Gesture, which is now grown into an Habit, and my Friends often tell me in a blunt way, that I trot the Houyhnhnms. like a Horse; which, however, I take for a great Compliment: Neither shall I disown, that in Speaking I am apt to fall into the Voice and manner of the Houyhnhnms, and hear myself ridiculed on that account without the least Mortification. | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | IN the midst of all this Happiness, and when I looked upon myself to be fully settled for Life, my Master sent for me one Morning a little earlier than his usual Hour. I observed by his Countenance that he was in some Perplexity, and at a Loss how to begin what he had to speak. After a short Silence, he told me, He did not know how I would take what he was going to say; that in the last general Assembly, when the Affair of the Yahoos was entred upon, the Representatives had taken Offence at his keeping a Yahoo (meaning myself) in his Family more like a Houyhnhnm, than a Brute Animal. That he was known frequently to converse with me, as if he could receive some Advantage or Pleasure in my Company: That such a Practice was not agreeable to Reason or Nature, nor a thing ever heard of before among them. The Assembly did therefore exhort him, either to employ me like the rest of my Species, or command me to swim back to the Place from whence I came. That the first of these Expedients was utterly rejected by all the Houyhnhnms, who had ever seen me at his House or their own: For they alledged, That because I had some Rudiments of Reason, added to the natural Pravity of those Animals, it was to be feared, I might be able to seduce them into the woody and mountainous Parts of the Country, and bring them in Troops by Night to destroy the Houyhnhnms Cattle, as being naturally of the ravenous Kind, and averse from Labour. | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | MY Master added, That he was daily pressed by the Houyhnhnms of the Neighbourhood to have the Assembly's Exhortation executed, which he could not put off much longer. He doubted it would be impossible for me to swim to another Country, and therefore wished I would contrive some sort of Vehicle resembling those I had described to him, that might carry me on the Sea, in which Work I should have the Assistance of his own Servants, as well as those of his Neighbours. He concluded, That for his own Part he could have been content to keep me in his Service as long as I lived, because he found I had cured myself of some bad Habits and Dispositions, by endeavouring, as far as my inferior Nature was capable, to imitate the Houyhnhnms. | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 |
I SHOULD here observe to the Reader, That a Decree of the general As
sembly in this | 8 |
I WAS struck with the utmost Grief
and Despair at my Master's Discourse,
and being unable to support the Agonies I was under, I fell into a Swoon
at his Feet; when I came to myself, he told me, that he concluded I
had been dead. (For these People
are subject to no such Imbecillities
of Nature) I answered, in a faint
Voice, That Death would have been
too great an Happiness; that although
I could not blame the Assembly's Exhortation, or the Urgency of his Friends;
yet in my weak and corrupt Judgment, I thought it might consist with
Reason to have been less rigorous. That
I could not swim a League, and probably the nearest Land to theirs might
be distant above an hundred: That
many Materials, necessary for making
a small Vessel to carry me off, were
wholly wanting in this Country, which
however, I would attempt in Obedience and Gratitude to his Honour, although I concluded the Thing to be
impossible, and therefore looked on my
self as already devoted to Destruction.
That the certain Prospect of unnatural
Death, was the least of my Evils: For,
supposing I should escape with Life by
some strange Adventure, how could I
think with Temper, of passing my
Days among Yahoos, and relapsing into my old Corruptions, for want of Examples to lead and keep me within the
Paths of Virtue. That I knew too
well upon what solid Reasons all the
Determinations of the wise Houyhnhnms
were founded, not to be shaken by Arguments of mine, a miserable Yahoo;
and therefore after presenting him with
my humble Thanks for the Offer of
his Servants Assistance in making a
Vessel, and desiring a reasonable Time
for so difficult a Work, I told him I
would endeavour to preserve a wretched
Being; and, if ever I returned to England, was not without Hopes of being useful to my own Species, by celebrating the Praises of the renowned
Houyhnhnms, and proposing their Virtues to the Imitation of Mankind.
| 9 |
MY Master in a few Words made
me a very gracious Reply, allowed me
the space of two Months to finish my
Boat; and ordered the Sorrel Nag, my
Fellow-Servant, (for so at this distance
I may presume to call him) to follow
my Instructions, because I told my Master, that his Help would be sufficient,
and I knew he had a Tenderness for
me.
| 10 |
IN his Company my first Business
was to go to that Part of the Coast,
where my rebellious Crew had ordered me to be set on Shore. I got upon
a Height, and looking on every side
into the Sea, fancied I saw a small Island, towards the North-East: I took
out my Pocket-glass, and could then clearly distinguish it about five Leagues off,
as I computed; but it appeared to the
Sorrel Nag to be only a blue Cloud:
For, as he had no Conception of any
Country beside his own, so he could not
be as expert in distinguishing remote
Objects at Sea, as we who so much
converse in that Element.
| 11 |
AFTER I had discovered this Island,
I considered no farther; but resolved, it
should, if possible, be the first Place of
my Banishment, leaving the Consequence
to Fortune.
| 12 |
I RETURNED home, and consulting with the Sorrel Nag, we went into a Copse at some distance, where I
with my Knife, and he with a sharp
Flint fastened very artificially, after
their manner, to a wooden Handle, cut
down several Oak Wattles about the
Thickness of a Walking-staff, and some
larger Pieces. But I shall not trouble
the Reader with a particular Description of my own Mechanicks; let it suffice to say, that in six Weeks time,
with the Help of the Sorrel Nag, who
performed the Parts that required most
Labour, I finished a sort of Indian Canoo, but much larger, covering it
with the Skins of Yahoos well stitched
together, with hempen Threads of my
own making. My Sail was likewise
composed of the Skins of the same Animal; but I made use of the youngest I
could get, the older being too tough
and thick, and I likewise provided my
self with four Paddles. I laid in a Stock
of boiled Flesh, of Rabbets and Fowls,
and took with me two Vessels, one filled with Milk, and the other with
Water.
| 13 |
I TRIED my Canoo in a large Pond
near my Master's House, and then corrected in it what was amiss; stopping
all the Chinks with Yahoos Tallow, till
I found it stanch, and able to bear me,
and my Freight. And when it was as
compleat as I could possibly make it,
I had it drawn on a Carriage very gently by Yahoos, to the Sea-side, under
the Conduct of the Sorrel Nag, and another Servant.
| 14 |
WHEN all was ready, and the Day
came for my Departure, I took leave of
my Master and Lady, and the whole Family, mine Eyes flowing with Tears, and
my Heart quite sunk with Grief. But
his Honour, out of Curiosity, and perhaps (if I may speak it without Vanity) partly out of Kindness, was
determined to see me in my Canoo, and got
several of his neighbouring Friends to
accompany him. I was forced to wait
above an Hour for the Tide, and then
observing the Wind very fortunately
bearing towards the Island, to which I
intended to steer my Course, I took a
second Leave of my Master: But as I
| 15 |
I PAID my respects to the rest of
the Houyhnhnms in his Honour's Company; then getting into my Canoo, I
pushed off from Shore.
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UTEL [ History of English | English Composition | Literary Authors | Literary Works | Literary Criticism ]