The Houyhnhnms’ notion of truth and falsehood. The author’s discourse disapproved by his master. The author gives a more particular account of himself, and the accidents of his voyage.
My master listened to my account with a look of profound unease. In his country, the concepts of doubt or disbelief were so utterly foreign that the inhabitants simply did not know how to react to them. During our frequent conversations regarding the nature of humanity in other parts of the world, I often had occasion to speak of "lying" and "false representation." Despite his sharp intellect, my master found these concepts almost impossible to comprehend.
He argued that the fundamental purpose of speech was to enable us to understand one another and to convey factual information. "If someone says 'the thing which is not,'" he remarked, "the very end of communication is defeated. I cannot say that I understand him, and far from being informed, I am left in a state worse than ignorance. I am led to believe a thing is black when it is white, or short when it is long." Such was his limited understanding of the faculty of lying—an art so perfectly refined and universally practiced among human beings.
When I asserted that the Yahoos were the ruling animals in my country, my master found the idea beyond his imagination. He desired to know whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and what their roles were. I explained that we had great numbers of them; in summer they grazed in the fields, and in winter they were kept in stable-houses and fed hay and oats. I described how Yahoo servants were employed to groom them, brush their manes, and provide for their every need.
"I understand you now," my master observed. "It is quite clear that whatever reason the Yahoos claim to possess, the Houyhnhnms are truly your masters. I only wish our own Yahoos were so manageable."
I hesitated, begging his honour to excuse me from continuing, for I was certain the details would be deeply offensive to him. However, he insisted on hearing the full truth. I eventually confessed that the Houyhnhnms in my country, whom we called horses, were regarded as our most noble and beautiful animals. They excelled in strength and speed and were used for traveling, racing, or drawing carriages. They were treated with care until they became ill or old; however, they were then sold into a life of hard labor until they died. After their deaths, their skins were stripped and sold, and their bodies were left to the birds of prey.
My master expressed great indignation. He wondered how we dared to sit upon a Houyhnhnm’s back, for he was certain that even the weakest servant in his house could easily throw off the strongest Yahoo. I explained that our horses were trained from a young age to be submissive. We used bits, bridles, and whips to break their spirits and ensure they remained tame. I added that they were entirely devoid of reason, possessing no more intelligence than the wild Yahoos of his own land.
It required many long explanations to give my master a clear idea of my meaning, as the Houyhnhnm language lacks words for many human concepts. Their needs and passions are so few that their vocabulary is naturally limited. He was particularly horrified by our physical treatment of horses to make them more servile. He remarked that if there were a country where Yahoos alone possessed reason, they would inevitably govern, as reason will always prevail over brute strength. Nevertheless, looking at my own body, he found me poorly designed to apply that reason to daily life.
He pointed out my physical vulnerabilities: my skin was too soft to endure the elements, and my nails were useless for defense or labor. He noted that I could not walk with security on only two feet, and that my eyes, placed directly in front, prevented me from seeing to either side without turning my head. He was baffled by my need for clothing, which I had to put on and take off with great trouble every day. Finally, he observed that every animal in his country instinctively disliked Yahoos. Even if we did possess reason, he could not see how we could ever overcome the natural antipathy that other creatures felt toward us.
Eventually, he chose to drop the subject and asked to hear my own story. I assured him that I would do my best to explain, though I doubted whether I could find the right words for things he had no concept of. I told him I was born in an island called England and had been trained as a surgeon. I explained that I had left my country to seek wealth to support my family. On my last voyage, I was the captain of a ship with fifty Yahoos under my command.
When he asked how I persuaded strangers to risk their lives with me, I admitted that my crew consisted of men of desperate character. Many had fled their homes because of poverty or crime. Some had been ruined by lawsuits, while others had fled to avoid punishment for serious offenses such as theft, murder, or treason. None of them dared return to their native lands for fear of being executed.
My master interrupted me several times, struggling to understand why men would commit such crimes. I spent many days trying to define power, riches, envy, and malice. Each time I described a new vice, he would lift his eyes in amazement. Concepts like war, law, and government had no equivalents in his language, making my task almost impossible. However, being a creature of excellent understanding, he gradually began to grasp the capacity of human nature for both greatness and destruction. Having reached this understanding, he requested that I give him a more detailed account of the land I called Europe, and specifically, of my own country.