CHAPTER THREE

Human or Yahoo?

In the next days and weeks, I was able to feed myself by using the oats that the Houyhnhnms ate to make bread. I drank milk or water, and found herbs in the forests to eat with my bread. Soon I decided to learn the Houyhnhnms' language. The grey horse, who was one of the leaders of the Houyhnhnms, helped me to study. After a few months, I was able to understand his questions and could give him simple answers.

The grey horse was very curious about where I had come from. I soon learned that the Houyhnhnms believed that I was a Yahoo, because our bodies were so similar. They had never seen a normal human being before. "You do not have as much hair as our Yahoos on this island, and you are not as ugly," said the grey horse to me one day. "You are also much more intelligent, as I have seen. But your head and hands and legs are just like theirs, so you must be a Yahoo. Who taught you to speak and act intelligently?"

I laughed and explained to him that the English people were all very intelligent, and it was normal for us to have less hair. "We are not Yahoos, but human beings," I said to him.

"But how did you get here from across the sea?" asked the grey horse. I explained to him that England was a great civilization with many strong ships to carry men around the world. I then told the horse about the criminals who had taken my ship and forced me to go to the Houyhnhnms' island.

I could see that the grey horse still did not believe me. He said, "You must be mistaken, or perhaps you are saying something that is not." At first I didn't understand what the grey horse meant, but later I learned that there is no word for "lie" in the Houyhnhnms' language. This is because the Houyhnhnms were not able to lie! However, the grey horse thought that I was not telling him the truth.

"It is impossible that there is another land beyond the sea, and it is also impossible that a group of Yahoos could build something to cross the seas. If a Houyhnhnm could not build something like this, then a Yahoo certainly could not!"

I could not speak the Houyhnhnms' language very well yet, so I could not convince the grey horse that I was telling the truth. For the next six months, the grey horse and I studied the language and customs of the Houyhnhnms every day. Soon I began to call him my teacher and master. The Houyhnhnms who came to visit my master were always very surprised and interested to meet me. When they heard me speak their language, they were amazed. However, everyone still thought I was a Yahoo!

I did not want the Houyhnhnms to think I was an ugly, dirty Yahoo. Because of this, I always wore my clothing to make myself look as different as possible from the Yahoos. Of course, the Houyhnhnms did not wear clothing, so they thought my clothing was part of my skin. After half a year, my clothing had become old and in bad condition. It was very dirty and torn, so that my skin showed through in some places. Now the Houyhnhnms could see that this clothing was not part of my skin.

When my master discovered this, he asked me to take off my 'outside skin', as he called my clothes. I agreed and took off my clothing one piece at a time. First I took off my coat, and then removed my shirt and pants. My master watched me with great interest and was very curious about clothing and its purpose.

"Why do you wear this strange outer skin?" my master asked.

"Well, it protects my people from the hot and cold air, and it lets us hide the parts of our body that nature wants us to hide." I said.

My master looked as if he did not understand. "Certainly, nature has created our bodies. Therefore, nature does not want us to hide anything. My people do not need these 'clothes'," he said.

When I finished undressing, my master looked over my body closely, walking around me in a circle a few times.

"I see now that you are definitely a Yahoo!" he said at last.

This upset me very much. I did not want to be thought of as one of those terrible, ugly animals! "Master, I promise you, I am not one of those Yahoos! My people do not climb in trees, walk on four legs, or have thick hair all over our bodies!" I cried.

But my master was still convinced. "It is clear to me that you are a Yahoo. You have less hair on your body, you can speak, and you walk on two legs, instead of four, but the shape of your body is the same as a Yahoo's."

I did not want to argue with my master anymore. Instead I decided to learn how to speak the Houyhnhnms' language extremely well. In time, the Houyhnhnms would realize I was as intelligent as they!

(end of section)