The Author Studies the Language. The Houyhnhnm Master Assists Him. Several Persons of Quality Come to See the Author. He Gives His Master a Short Account of His Voyage.
My primary focus was to master the language. My master, his children, and his servants were all eager to teach me, as they considered it an extraordinary phenomenon that a "brute" could display such signs of reason. I would point to various objects and ask for their names, recording them in my journal and practicing my pronunciation with the help of a sorrel nag, one of the household servants.
The language was spoken largely through the nose and throat. To my ears, it sounded somewhat similar to German, though it was far more graceful and expressive. My master was so curious and impatient to communicate that he spent many hours of his leisure time instructing me. He was convinced that I was a Yahoo, yet he was astonished by my cleanliness and aptitude for learning—qualities entirely absent in those animals. He was particularly perplexed by my clothes, wondering whether they were a part of my body, as I never removed them until the family was asleep.
Within ten weeks, I could understand most of my master’s questions, and in three months, I was able to provide basic answers. He was intensely curious about my origins and how I had been "taught" to act like a rational creature. When I explained that I had come across the sea in a great wooden vessel with others of my kind, he became quite skeptical. He replied that I must be "saying the thing which was not," as they have no word in their language for lying or falsehood. He found it impossible to believe that a group of brutes could build or navigate a ship, something even a Houyhnhnm would find difficult.
In their tongue, the word Houyhnhnm signifies a horse, but its deeper meaning is "the perfection of nature." As word spread of a "wonderful Yahoo" who could speak and reason, many horses of high rank visited the house. These visitors put many questions to me, and through these frequent conversations, my progress was rapid. Within five months, I could express myself quite fluently.
However, my physical appearance remained a mystery to the visitors, who wondered why I lacked the thick skin or hair of a typical Yahoo. I had kept the secret of my clothing to distinguish myself from those detestable creatures, but a small accident eventually forced me to reveal the truth. One morning, the sorrel nag entered my room while I was still fast asleep. My clothes had fallen open, revealing my skin. The servant was so startled by my appearance that he gave my master a confused and frightened account of what he had seen.
Realizing I could no longer hide the truth—especially as my clothes were beginning to wear out—I confessed to my master that in my country, we covered our bodies for both decency and protection from the weather. I offered to show him the truth, provided he excused my modesty. My master found the concept of "concealing what nature had given" quite strange, but he watched with great curiosity as I removed my garments. He examined each piece of clothing with his pastern and then gently felt my skin. He concluded that I was indeed a Yahoo, though one with remarkably soft skin, shorter nails, and the peculiar habit of walking on two legs.
I begged him to keep the secret of my "false skin" to himself and requested that he and his family stop calling me a Yahoo, a term I found deeply offensive. He graciously consented, though he remained far more interested in my capacity for reason than in my physical form. He was eager to hear the "wonders" I had promised to tell him about my world.
I eventually gave him a detailed account of my voyage, explaining how fifty of my kind had traveled in a massive wooden ship. When he asked how it was possible for Houyhnhnms to allow "brutes" to manage such a vessel, I hesitated. I told him that if he promised not to be offended, I would reveal a great secret: in my country, creatures like me were the rational, governing beings, and horses were the animals used for labor and transport.
My master was stunned. He found it as difficult to believe that humans could be rational as I was to find that horses could be the masters of a civilization. I told him that if I ever returned home and told my story, no one would believe me; they would assume I was "saying the thing which was not," for in my world, a horse was a beast of burden, and a human was the master of the earth.