Learning English

Gulliver
Wow! This feels so good. Hey! Master! Come on in!

Master
Sorry, Gulliver… I've got a busy day tomorrow. I need to prepare… I'll wait for you over there in that field…

Gulliver
You don't know what you're missing…

Gulliver narrating
It was so hot that day. We'd just been to see one of the Master's herd of yahoos. He let me go with him when he went to check up on them. I wanted to study them, since it was supposed that I was the same species. I hadn't really taken seriously what the Master had said about the houyhnhnms wanting to get rid of the yahoos. Who would they use to carry things for them and work in the fields?

I always felt dirty after being near yahoos – they always tried to grab me – so that day I'd stripped off and jumped in the ice water – to cool down and wash their smell off my skin. Little did I know we'd been followed and I was being watched.

Gulliver
Hey… get off me… what are you doing?

Gulliver narrator
She was clawing at me and pulling me to her. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. I could smell her desire…

Master
Get off him, you filthy savage.

Gulliver narrator
I felt so ashamed. The Master hauled the young female yahoo off me. She scrambled out of the water and ran off, howling.

Master
Are you alright, Gulliver? I heard you shouting.

Gulliver
Yes… I think so.

Master
Did she frighten you? She really wanted to…

Gulliver
I know… She thought I was one of them!

Master
Gulliver – look at your reflection in the water…

Gulliver narrator
I looked down at my bare arms and bare chest… at the hair on my head. There was no escaping it. I was the lowest beast… a yahoo. I had their body and shape. But I had the soul of a houyhnhnm.

Three years I'd spent among the houyhnhnms – three wonderful years.

Their world was truly based on reason, friendship and kindness. They valued cleanliness and exercise. There were no robbers or murderers. There were no bullies, liars or cheats.

By contrast, the yahoos were the filthiest, noisiest, most deformed animal nature had ever produced… and… and I was one of them.

Master
Gulliver, I have bad news I'm afraid.

Gulliver
What is it? Has there been a death?

Master
No, it's not that – death is not something we houyhnhnms feel sad about… It is part of life… No, it's you. Some houyhnhnms aren't happy that you live with my family. They think it's unnatural. They say you should go and join the yahoos or leave.

Gulliver
What? There is no way I can live with the yahoos… Can't you persuade the assembly that I can live quietly with you? I could be your pet…

Gulliver narrator
He didn't answer for a while. He bent his head.

Master
No, Gulliver. I have no power against the assembly's decision. You must go… leave.

Gulliver
But I love it here. I can't go back to England to live with the yahoos there.

Master
I know. You have made a lot of progress… but you cannot stay. They have given you just two months to get ready.

Gulliver narrator
When I thought of my family, my friends back home, my countrymen, and the whole human race, I thought of them now as they really were – yahoos in shape and character.

Gulliver
But where will I go? The yahoos in England disgust me now.

Master
There is nothing more I can do. Even if I went against the assembly, you couldn't stay. It wouldn't be safe.

Gulliver narrator
I was devastated. But I had no choice.

Over the next few weeks I made a canoe of wood with the help of some of the houyhnhnms. I filled it with food and drink.

I said goodbye to the Master and his family. We all cried as I pushed the boat out.

I decided to look for a deserted island where I could spend the rest of my life in peace, untroubled by yahoos and with memories of the wonderful houyhnhnms.

I landed on a small rocky island and camped by a small stream. A few days later, I saw a boat in the distance, and quickly hid. Several yahoo sailors came ashore for fresh water. They found me and despite my struggles, took me back to their boat and their captain.

Spanish sailor
Captain Hernandez, we can't understand what he's saying. He speaks like a horse. I think he's English.

Captain
He needs food and drink and sleep. We'll take him back to Cadiz.

Gulliver narrator
The captain was polite and generous, but he wouldn't accept that I wanted to stay on the island. We returned to Spain. I stayed in my cabin the whole time, pretending I was sick, as I could not bear being with any of the crew. Eventually I boarded a ship for England and returned, after being five years away.

When I saw my wife and children, I felt sick. I couldn't bear their yahoo smell… I bought two horses and I kept them in my stable. They have never been ridden. I speak to them for hours each day. They are my friends.

Although I hate all yahoos, I decided to write this account of my journeys over the last sixteen years and seven months so that I might reform the yahoo race, so that I can change them. For this reason, I have told the whole truth. I have seen many worlds.

This was a true story.