Summary: Chapter I
Gulliver stays home for five months, but he then leaves
his pregnant wife to set sail again, this time as the captain of
a ship called the Adventure. Many of his sailors
die of illness, so he recruits more along the way. His crewmembers
mutiny under the influence of these new sailors and become pirates.
Gulliver is left on an unknown shore, after being confined to his
cabin for several days. In the distance, he sees animals with long
hair, goatlike beards, and sharp claws, which they use to climb
trees. Gulliver decides that these animals are extremely ugly and
sets forth to find settlers, but he encounters one of the animals
on his way.
Gulliver takes out his sword and hits the animal with
the flat side of it. The animal roars loudly, and a herd of others
like it attack Gulliver by attempting to defecate on him. He hides,
but then he sees them hurrying away. He emerges from his hiding
place to see that the beasts have been scared away by a horse. The
horse observes Gulliver carefully, and then it neighs in a complicated
cadence. Another horse joins the first and the two seem to be involved
in a discussion. Gulliver tries to leave, but one of the horses
calls him back.
The horses appear to be so intelligent that Gulliver
concludes that they are magicians who have transformed themselves
into horses. He addresses them directly and asks to be taken to
a house or village. The horses use the words “Yahoo” and “Houyhnhnm,” which
Gulliver tries to pronounce.
Summary: Chapter II
Gulliver is led to a house, and he takes out gifts, expecting
to meet people. He finds instead that there are more horses in the
house, sitting down and engaged in various activities. He thinks
that the house belongs to a person of great importance, and he wonders
why they should have horses for servants. A horse looks Gulliver
over and says the word “Yahoo.” Gulliver is led out to the courtyard, where
a few of the ugly creatures Gulliver has seen are tied up. Gulliver
is lined up and compared with one of the creatures, and Gulliver
finds that the creature does look quite human. The horses test Gulliver
by offering him various foods: hay, which he refuses, and flesh,
which he finds repulsive but which the Yahoo devours. The horses
determine that he likes milk and give him large amounts of it to
drink.
Another horse comes to dine, and they all take great
pleasure in teaching Gulliver to pronounce words in their language.
They cannot determine what he might like to eat until Gulliver suggests
that he could make bread from their oats. He is given a place to
sleep with straw for the time being.
Summary: Chapter III
Gulliver endeavors to learn the horses’ language, and
they are impressed by his intellect and curiosity. After three months,
he can answer most of their questions and tries to explain that
he comes from across the sea, but the horses, or Houyhnhnms, do
not believe that such a thing is possible. They think that Gulliver
is some kind of Yahoo, though superior to the rest of his species.
He asks them to stop using that word to refer to him, and they consent.
