CHAPTER TWO

The Truth about the Island

The horses and I walked for about three miles through the quiet green fields. Then we came to a building that was long and not very tall. It was made of a strong wood, just like my horses' stable in England. When we entered this building, another horse stood up from where it had been resting and walked over to us. This horse was smaller and more beautiful looking than the other two, so I guessed that this was a female horse. She looked at me closely, like the other two had done. Then she turned to the large gray horse and they spoke together for a while. I could not understand what the horses were saying, of course, but I heard one word, "Yahoo" repeated many times. I saw that the mare was looking at me strangely, but I.did not understand why.

Soon the gray horse moved his head, showing me that I should follow him. He took me outside the house and into another building nearby. When we entered the second building I saw something very strange and frightening. Three of the strange, hairy animals I had seen earlier were sitting on the ground. From such a close position, I could see that they looked almost exactly like men. Each of them had a rope around their neck that was tied to a large piece of wood on the ceiling. They were eating some dirty vegetables and rotten meat by using their feet to hold the food to their mouths! "These things are more like dirty animals than men," I thought. I did not understand why they were tied up, or who they were. But I thought it was extremely strange that the horses seemed to be the most intelligent animals on this island!

Then the gray horse said something to an old female horse that was standing nearby. This old horse then untied one of the hairy men's ropes, by standing up on her back legs and using her teeth. Then she led the hairy man outside, and the gray horse told me to follow them.

When we were all outside, the gray horse made me stand next to the hairy man. The horse looked at the two of us closely for a long time. I guessed that he was trying to discover if we were the same kind of animal. Our bodies were similar, but I did not have as much hair on my head, legs, and back as this animal did. Also, I was wearing clothes and the animal was not. He was extremely ugly. I knew that I was not one of these hairy men who acted like apes, and I hoped the horse did not think I was one!

After a while the horse pointed at the hairy man with his head. Then he said the word "Yahoo" many times. I decided that these hairy men must be "Yahoos." Then, he pointed to some other horses that were watching us and said the word "Houyhnhnm" many times. I guessed that this was the name for all the horses on the island. "But where are the men? Where is the master of these horses? Surely they don't live here by themselves!" I thought. It was difficult to believe that these horses were as intelligent as human beings, and that they lived here without men to take care of them. But soon I learned that this was the truth! There were no men on the island, only the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos!

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