Chapter Six. In the Land of the Houyhnhmns

Pirates attack me. I meet some Yahoos.

I live with the Houyhnhmns. I return to England.

My journey to the South Seas as captain wasn't very good. Some of my men died on the way to the West Indies. I stopped at Barbados and the Leeward Islands. We needed some more men. I made a bad choice: some of the new men were pirates. There were fifty men on my ship. The pirates talked to my men. ‘We can take the ship and kill the captain,' they said.

‘We can make a lot of money for ourselves,' my men thought.

‘I don't want to kill the captain,' one man said. ‘He's not a bad man. But I agree, let's take the ship.'

One morning, twenty of the men came into my room with guns. Now, I wasn't the captain, I was a prisoner on my ship. They gave me food and drink, but I had to stay in my room. I stayed in my room for weeks and weeks. The pirates took the ship past Madagascar.

One day, the pirates put me into a boat. They took me to the shore and left me. Where was I? I had no idea. I sat on the beach. I had some money and some gold in my pockets, but no food or water. I tried to think. ‘I must find some people,' I decided.

I got up and walked away from the shore. After a while, I saw a line of trees. Through the trees, I could see some animals. They were very ugly indeed. They were very hairy and some of them had long beards. They could walk on two legs, but they were like monkeys. Some had yellow hair, others had red hair and others had black hair. They were almost human, but I didn't like them at all. I hated them as soon as I saw them. I didn't know why.

Then, the animals saw me. One of them came up to me. I was scared, so I took out my sword. The animal shouted and about forty others ran to help him. They threw things at me. Suddenly, the animals all ran away. I turned round to see why. There was a grey horse walking into the field. The animals were afraid of the horse. The horse was a little surprised when he saw me. He looked at me and walked around me. We looked at each other for a while. I put my hand on his neck. The horse didn't like this: he pushed my hand away with his leg. He made a strange noise and a brown horse appeared. The two horses both made noises.

‘They're speaking to each other!' I thought.

The two horses looked at me again. They looked at my coat and hat. In their language, they said a word – Yahoo. They repeated this word three or four times. I was a little scared, but communication is important.

‘Yahoo!' I said back to the horses.

They were surprised.

‘Houyhnhmn,' said the brown horse.

‘Houyhnhmn!' I repeated.

The horses talked together for a while. Then the brown horse left. The grey horse pointed at the road with his hoof.

‘He wants me to go with him,' I thought.

I walked onto the road and the horse followed me.

We walked for about three miles. Then we arrived at a big building.

‘Good,' I thought, ‘I'll meet the horse's owner.'

I was wrong. Inside, there were other horses, one was very young and one was its mother. ‘Yahoo,' said the mother, when she saw me. I was confused.

The grey horse understood. He took me outside. There, in a field, was an animal. He pointed at the animal with his hoof and said, ‘Yahoo!'

The Yahoo was just like the animals on the road.

‘This horse thinks I'm a Yahoo!' I thought. ‘I'm quite similar to one, except they are very dirty. They have no clothes. They are very hairy. I have nice clothes and I am clean, but I look a little like a Yahoo. I have feet like a Yahoo, except I'm wearing shoes.'

The grey horse looked at me and looked at the Yahoo. He seemed pleased and said something to another horse. That horse brought me some food. It was disgusting. I couldn't eat it, so the horse threw it to the Yahoo. The Yahoo ate it greedily.

The horses were kind. They wanted to give me food, so they brought me some of their food. It was too dry. Luckily, they brought some milk and I was happy.

That night, I slept well. I didn't sleep in the field with the Yahoos and I didn't sleep in the building with the horses. I slept between the two.

The grey horse was my owner. He wanted to teach me his language. He wanted to understand more about me. Every day, the grey horse and a little brown horse gave me lessons. I wrote words down to help me remember them. The horses didn't understand. They had no books and they couldn't write. After about ten weeks, they were surprised, but I could understand their language. The word ‘Houyhnhmn', in their language, means ‘horse' and it also means ‘perfect'.

One day, my owner asked me some questions. ‘Where do you come from?' he asked.

‘Another country, across the sea.'

‘No, you're wrong,' said the horse. ‘There are no countries across the sea.'

He asked more questions. ‘Do you have Yahoos in your country?'

‘Yes,' I answered, ‘they're the rulers of our country. They're called people. They're different from your Yahoos because they're clean, they wear clothes and they can write.'

‘Hmm. And do you have Houyhnhmns in your country?'

‘Yes. They're called horses. They work in the fields. People look after them. Sometimes people sit on their backs.'

The grey horse was angry.

‘It's different here,' I said. ‘Here the Yahoos work in the fields. There, horses work in the fields.'

I talked to the grey horse every day. He began to understand about my country. But he didn't understand the concept of war. ‘Why do you have wars?' he asked.

‘For a lot of different reasons,' I answered.

‘How do you fight? Yahoos aren't strong.'

‘We have guns and swords.'

‘This is terrible,' he said. ‘Europeans are more vicious than Yahoos.' The horse was also sad when I told him about our strict laws, because they don't need laws in the land of the Houyhnhmns. He didn't like our money system – there are no rich people and no poor people there. He was shocked when I talked to him about the diseases we have in Europe.

I learned a lot about Houyhnhmn culture. I was happy and healthy living there. They're very peaceful. Houyhnhmns like to be friendly and kind. They have no negative words in their language (except for Yahoo). Education is very important to them. They teach their children to be clean and to work hard. Physical activity is very important to them. They must be strong and fast. Young Houyhnhmns run up and down hills. Every three months, there's a competition of running and jumping.

Houyhnhmns don't write, but they like poetry. They know a little about astronomy. They're never ill. For small accidents, they have very good natural medicines.

The government of their country is very important. Every four years there's a Great Council. The senior Houyhnhmns all go to the Council. It lasts for six days. There, they make important decisions about food, Yahoos and family.

I stayed in the land of the Houyhnhmns for a long time. One year, there was a Great Council. My owner was the Member of the Council for our area. He told me all about it when he came back. ‘We had one important debate about the Yahoos. Some Houyhnhmns want to kill the Yahoos.'

‘Why?' I asked. ‘Houyhnhmns are peaceful. You don't kill animals.'

‘No, but they're noisy, dirty and dangerous. You're different from all the other Yahoos. You're intelligent. You've your own language and you also speak ours. You're clean.'

‘Thank you,' I said.

The grey horse didn't tell me everything about the Council. Later I understood more.

I was happy. I loved my life with the Houyhnhmns. I began to walk a little like them. I spoke only their language. I had a small house. I made a bed, table and chairs for myself. I made clothes for myself. My food was very simple and very good. I made bread and I found honey in the forest. I had no problems. Here, there were no criminals, no politicians, no stupid people, except Yahoos. Sometimes I went to dinner with the Houyhnhmns. We talked about love, nature, traditions and poetry. Sometimes I thought about England, my family and the people I knew in Europe. ‘Yahoos,' I thought. ‘They're all Yahoos.'

One morning, the grey horse came to see me. He was sad. ‘You must leave us,' he said. ‘You must return to your country and leave the land of the Houyhnhmns.'

‘No!' I cried, ‘I am so happy here!'

‘You must go. I didn't tell you everything about the Great Council. Members of the Council are very angry, because you live with me. You live like a Houyhnhmn. You don't live with the Yahoos. They're afraid of you.'

‘Where can I go?' I said, sadly.

‘You can't swim back to your own country. Can you build a boat?'

‘Yes,' I answered, ‘I can build a boat. But I need time.'

‘I understand. I'll tell the Members of the Council that you need two months.'

He was sorry. I was more than sorry.

I made a boat from a tree. The little brown horse helped me. We made a sail. We made paddles. We prepared food and water for my journey. Finally, the day arrived. I had to leave the Houyhnhmns and my wonderful life. The family all came to the shore to say goodbye. Many other Houyhnhmns also came.

‘Goodbye,' I said in tears. ‘Thank you. I'll never forget you.'

I kissed the grey horse's hoof.

‘Goodbye,' said the grey horse.

‘Take care, good Yahoo!' said the little brown horse.

I pushed my boat into the water and left the land of the Houyhnhmns.

My desperate journey started early in the morning. The horses stayed on the shore. Sometimes I heard the little brown horse, ‘Take care, good Yahoo!'

Finally, I couldn't see them anymore.

I wanted to find a small, deserted island. I was in the South Seas, there were many islands there. I didn't want to return to England. I stopped at one island, but the people fired arrows at me. One day, I saw a ship. I was afraid because I didn't want to meet any Europeans. I sailed to a small island. I put the boat behind a rock and waited. I was unlucky. The ship sent a small boat to the island to get water.

They found me and my boat. The sailors were from Portugal. They saw I was European and they asked me lots of questions. ‘Where are you from?'

‘England. I'm a Yahoo from England.'

They didn't understand the word Yahoo. ‘Why are you here?' they said.

I told them my story. The sailors were very kind. ‘Come back to the ship,' they said. ‘Our captain will take you to Europe.'

‘No! No!' I cried.

‘He's mad, poor man,' said one of the sailors.

They took me to the ship.

The captain of the ship was Pedro de Mendez. He was a very gentle man. He listened to my story. I was afraid of the sailors – they were dirty Yahoos. He was quite clean. The journey to Lisbon was very comfortable. Pedro de Mendez was very patient with me. He helped me a lot. He took me to meet his wife and children in Lisbon, but he repeated one thing, ‘You must go back to England. You must go back to your wife and family.'

In December 1715, I finally arrived back in England. My wife and family were very happy to see me after so many years. At first, it was very difficult for me. ‘They're Yahoos,' I thought. ‘Dirty, horrible Yahoos.'

Today, my relationship with my wife and children is much better, but I still have problems with some Yahoos here. I bought two horses as soon as I got back. I speak to them for about four hours every day. They understand me quite well. They live in a nice building near mine. They're clean and beautiful. They're kind to me and friendly to each other. I love Houyhnhmns.