Gulliver's Travels: Book 4, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

This horse leads Gulliver to a house and Gulliver readies the toys and jewelry he always carries to give to native peoples. As he’s lead in, Gulliver keeps expecting to see a human voice and wonders what kind of man has all horses for servants. Still, he sees no people, only a number of horses sitting neatly in clean rooms.

Gulliver observes the power dynamics between the horses and sees the gray horse is the master horse. He seems to speak with the others about Gulliver, frequently repeating the word Yahoo. He leads Gulliver out behind the house where some of the filthy ugly animals Gulliver first encountered are tied up eating raw meat. The gray horse has Gulliver stand beside one for comparison and Gulliver realizes to his horror that the animal is actually a human being (albeit a very degenerate, wild, and rude one). The horses refer to the animal as Yahoos and Gulliver sees they think he is a Yahoo too, except for the presence of his clothes, which the horses seem to think are a part of his body.

The master horse tries to feed Gulliver the meat the Yahoos eat but Gulliver is disgusted and gestures for milk. The horse gives Gulliver milk and allows him to stand beside him while he and the other horses eat together in a civilized fashion indoors. They eat cold oats, except for a very old visiting horse, who has them warm. Gulliver shows them that his gloves are removable, which pleases the horses. They teach him more words. Later, Gulliver accepts some oats to eat and beats them into a cake. He expresses to the reader that, during his time in this land, he sometimes missed meat and salt, but that he got used to eating oat cakes.

Come evening, the master horse lodges Gulliver in a place behind “the house” but separate from “the stable of the Yahoos.”