I SWIFT,
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In a Land of Giants J
JONATHAN
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them gathered upon the shore and discharged
arrows at him, but Gulliver protected his eyes
with a pair of spectacles and received no harm.
Fastening his hooks in the prows of their warships, he cut the anchor cables, gathered up his
ropes, and splashed back again, pulling behind
him the whole Blefuscudian fleet.
· Of course, Dr. Gulliver was the hero of the
Lilliputian people, and the Emperor gave him
the title of Nardac, which means "·grand duke."
But really he had only got himself into deeper
trouble by his feat. The favour shown him
made enemies for him at the court, and the
Empero~ was displeased because Gulliver wo_
u ld
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GULLIVER AND THE HOUYHNHNMS
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Fortunately Gulliver was warned of thh,
sentence by a friend who came to him at dead
of night. By acting promptly, he escaped across
the channel to Blefuscu, where he was given
a very kindly welcome.
Gulli ver Sets Sail for Home
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Presently he found a full-sized ship's boat
afloat, from a wrecked ship, near the shores of
Blefuscu. This he equipped with oars and sail,
and food and water. Finally, ·with the good
will of all the Blefuscudian people, he set sail
for his own land. Af_ter several days he wan
picked up by an English sailing vessel, and it
was not many weeks before he was landed safely .
once more in London.
On his next voyage Gulliver had another
adventure quite as . strange as his visit to the
. ~and of the Lilliputians. This time he was left
by some sailors on the island of Brobdingnag,
inhabited by a race of giants. These monsters
looked as tall as steeples, and they covered
about 10 yards at every stride. They had to
take Gulliver up between a thumb and finger
and hold him about 60 feet from the ground to
look at him.
Their cats were enormous, about three times
the size· of an ox. Some of the dogs were equal
in bulk to four elephants, and the rats were the
size of large mastiffs. Everything in the land
was in the same proportion.
Dean Swift gives an account of two other
voyages made by Gulliver. One of these took
him to a floating island called Laputa, inhabited
by a queer race, with heads all inclined either
to the right or left, and with one eye turned
inward towards the nose, and the other upward
towards the forehead .
The Land of the Houyhnhnms
" Th~ horses, or Houyhnhnms, he found far superior to man
in their rdeas of justice, honour, and courtesy. When Gulli ver
learned their language he told them something of affairs in
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England.''
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not go ·back to Blefuscu, conquer the country,
and make it a province of Lilliput.
Moreover, while peace was being negotiated,
Gulliver was so indiscreet as to become quite
iriendly with the ambassadors of Blefuscu,
who invited him to pay their.country a friendly
visit. His greatest enemies wished to put him
to death while he slept. But, as a mark of th~
Emperor's mercy, it was secretly decided that
Gulliver should only have his eyes put out,
and then gradually be starved to death.
On the fourth voyage he found himself in
the land of the Houyhnhnms, where a wonderful
race of horses lived, and had as servants and
slaves a very inferior race of human beings,
called "Yahoos."
In this part of the book it must be said that
the dean has overstepped the mark. His
chief end, he had stated in his ironical way,
was "to vex the world rather than divert it."
He certainly diverted mankind to good purpose
in the. first three books, but the Yahoo is a
grossly savage libel on even the lowest types of
human nature, and the account of this voyage
can only be tolerated by disregarding the
contemptible Yahoos or forgetting that they
are supposed to be human, and confining attention solely to the unquestionably noble characters of the Houyhnbnms.
The horses he found far superior to man in
their ideas of justice, honour, and courtesy.
When Gulliver learned their language he told
them something of affairs in England. They
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For any subJect not /oand in it.t alphabetical place see information
3454
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