GEOFFREY CHAUCER

The Knight’s Tale

Theseus, duke of Athens, imprisons Arcite and Palamon, two knights from Thebes
(another city in ancient Greece). From their prison, the knights see and fall in love with
Theseus’s sister-in-law, Emelye. Through the intervention of a friend, Arcite is freed, but
he is banished from Athens. He returns in disguise and becomes a page in Emelye’s
chamber. Palamon escapes from prison, and the two meet and fight over Emelye.
Theseus apprehends them and arranges a tournament between the two knights and their
allies, with Emelye as the prize. Arcite wins, but he is accidentally thrown from his horse
and dies. Palamon then marries Emelye.

The Miller’s Prologue and Tale

The Host asks the Monk to tell the next tale, but the drunken Miller interrupts and insists
that his tale should be the next. He tells the story of an impoverished student named
Nicholas, who persuades his landlord’s sexy young wife, Alisoun, to spend the night with
him. He convinces his landlord, a carpenter named John, that the second flood is coming,
and tricks him into spending the night in a tub hanging from the ceiling of his barn.
Absolon, a young parish clerk who is also in love with Alisoun, appears outside the
window of the room where Nicholas and Alisoun lie together.
When Absolon begs Alisoun for a kiss, she sticks her rear end out the window in the dark
and lets him kiss it. Absolon runs and gets a red-hot poker, returns to the window, and
asks for another kiss; when Nicholas sticks his bottom out the window and farts, Absolon
brands him on the buttocks. Nicholas’s cries for water make the carpenter think that the
flood has come, so the carpenter cuts the rope connecting his tub to the ceiling, falls
down, and breaks his arm.

The Reeve’s Prologue and Tale

Because he also does carpentry, the Reeve takes offense at the Miller’s
tale of a stupid carpenter, and counters with his own tale of a dishonest
miller. The Reeve tells the story of two students, John and Alayn, who go
to the mill to watch the miller grind their corn, so that he won’t have a
chance to steal any. But the miller unties their horse, and while they
chase it, he steals some of the flour he has just ground for them. By the
time the students catch the horse, it is dark, so they spend the night in
the miller’s house. That night, Alayn seduces the miller’s daughter, and
John seduces his wife. When the miller wakes up and finds out what has
happened, he tries to beat the students. His wife, thinking that her
husband is actually one of the students, hits the miller over the head with
a staff. The students take back their stolen goods and leave.

The Cook’s Prologue and Tale

The Cook particularly enjoys the Reeve’s Tale, and offers to tell another
funny tale. The tale concerns an apprentice named Perkyn who drinks and
dances so much that he is called “Perkyn Reveler.” Finally, Perkyn’s
master decides that he would rather his apprentice leave to revel than
stay home and corrupt the other servants. Perkyn arranges to stay with a
friend who loves drinking and gambling, and who has a wife who is a
prostitute. The tale breaks off, unfinished, after fifty-eight lines.
The Man of Law’s Introduction, Prologue, Tale, and
Epilogue
The Host reminds his fellow pilgrims to waste no time, because lost time
cannot be regained. He asks the Man of Law to tell the next tale. The Man
of Law agrees, apologizing that he cannot tell any suitable tale that
Chaucer has not already told—Chaucer may be unskilled as a poet, says
the Man of Law, but he has told more stories of lovers than Ovid, and he
doesn’t print tales of incest as John Gower does (Gower was a
contemporary of Chaucer). In the Prologue to his tale, the Man of Law
laments the miseries of poverty. He then remarks how fortunate
merchants are, and says that his tale is one told to him by a merchant.

In the tale, the Muslim sultan of Syria converts his entire sultanate
(including himself) to Christianity in order to persuade the emperor of
Rome to give him his daughter, Custance, in marriage. The sultan’s
mother and her attendants remain secretly faithful to Islam. The mother
tells her son she wishes to hold a banquet for him and all the Christians.
At the banquet, she massacres her son and all the Christians except for
Custance, whom she sets adrift in a rudderless ship. After years of
floating, Custance runs ashore in Northumberland, where a constable and
his wife, Hermengyld, offer her shelter. She converts them to Christianity.

One night, Satan makes a young knight sneak into Hermengyld’s chamber
and murder Hermengyld. He places the bloody knife next to Custance,
who sleeps in the same chamber. When the constable returns home,
accompanied by Alla, the king of Northumberland, he finds his slain wife.
He tells Alla the story of how Custance was found, and Alla begins to pity
the girl. He decides to look more deeply into the murder. Just as the
knight who murdered Hermengyld is swearing that Custance is the true
murderer, he is struck down and his eyes burst out of his face, proving his
guilt to Alla and the crowd. The knight is executed, Alla and many others
convert to Christianity, and Custance and Alla marry.

While Alla is away in Scotland, Custance gives birth to a boy named

Mauricius. Alla’s mother, Donegild, intercepts a letter from Custance to
Alla and substitutes a counterfeit one that claims that the child is
disfigured and bewitched. She then intercepts Alla’s reply, which claims
that the child should be kept and loved no matter how malformed.
Donegild substitutes a letter saying that Custance and her son are
banished and should be sent away on the same ship on which Custance
arrived. Alla returns home, finds out what has happened, and kills
Donegild.

After many adventures at sea, including an attempted rape, Custance

ends up back in Rome, where she reunites with Alla, who has made a
pilgrimage there to atone for killing his mother. She also reunites with her
father, the emperor. Alla and Custance return to England, but Alla dies
after a year, so Custance returns, once more, to Rome. Mauricius
becomes the next Roman emperor.

Following the Man of Law’s Tale, the Host asks the Parson to tell the next
tale, but the Parson reproaches him for swearing, and they fall to
bickering.

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale

The Wife of Bath gives a lengthy account of her feelings about marriage.
Quoting from the Bible, the Wife argues against those who believe it is
wrong to marry more than once, and she explains how she dominated and
controlled each of her five husbands. She married her fifth husband,
Jankyn, for love instead of money. After the Wife has rambled on for a
while, the Friar butts in to complain that she is taking too long, and the
Summoner retorts that friars are like flies, always meddling. The Friar
promises to tell a tale about a summoner, and the Summoner promises to
tell a tale about a friar. The Host cries for everyone to quiet down and
allow the Wife to commence her tale.
In her tale, a young knight of King Arthur’s court rapes a maiden; to atone
for his crime, Arthur’s queen sends him on a quest to discover what
women want most. An ugly old woman promises the knight that she will
tell him the secret if he promises to do whatever she wants for saving his
life. He agrees, and she tells him women want control of their husbands
and their own lives. They go together to Arthur’s queen, and the old
woman’s answer turns out to be correct. The old woman then tells the
knight that he must marry her. When the knight confesses later that he is
repulsed by her appearance, she gives him a choice: she can either be
ugly and faithful, or beautiful and unfaithful. The knight tells her to make
the choice herself, and she rewards him for giving her control of the
marriage by rendering herself both beautiful and faithful
.
The Friar’s Prologue and Tale
The Friar speaks approvingly of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and offers to
lighten things up for the company by telling a funny story about a
lecherous summoner. The Summoner does not object, but he promises to
pay the Friar back in his own tale. The Friar tells of an archdeacon who
carries out the law without mercy, especially to lechers. The archdeacon
has a summoner who has a network of spies working for him, to let him
know who has been lecherous.

The summoner extorts money from those he’s sent to summon, charging
them more money than he should for penance. He tries to serve a
summons on a yeoman who is actually a devil in disguise. After comparing
notes on their treachery and extortion, the devil vanishes, but when the
summoner tries to prosecute an old wealthy widow unfairly, the widow
cries out that the summoner should be taken to hell. The devil follows the
woman’s instructions and drags the summoner off to hell.
The Summoner’s Prologue and Tale
The Summoner, furious at the Friar’s Tale, asks the company to let him
tell the next tale. First, he tells the company that there is little difference
between friars and fiends, and that when an angel took a friar down to
hell to show him the torments there, the friar asked why there were no
friars in hell; the angel then pulled up Satan’s tail and 20,000 friars came
out of his ass.

In the Summoner’s Tale, a friar begs for money from a dying man named
Thomas and his wife, who have recently lost their child. The friar
shamelessly exploits the couple’s misfortunes to extract money from
them, so Thomas tells the friar that he is sitting on something that he will
bequeath to the friars. The friar reaches for his bequest, and Thomas lets
out an enormous fart. The friar complains to the lord of the manor, whose
squire promises to divide the fart evenly among all the friars.

The Clerk’s Prologue and Tale

The Host asks the Clerk to cheer up and tell a merry tale, and the Clerk
agrees to tell a tale by the Italian poet Petrarch. Griselde is a hardworking
peasant who marries into the aristocracy. Her husband tests her fortitude
in several ways, including pretending to kill her children and divorcing her.
He punishes her one final time by forcing her to prepare for his wedding to
a new wife. She does all this dutifully, her husband tells her that she has
always been and will always be his wife (the divorce was a fraud), and
they live happily ever after.

The Merchant’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue

The Merchant reflects on the great difference between the patient
Griselde of the Clerk’s Tale and the horrible shrew he has been married to
for the past two months. The Host asks him to tell a story of the evils of
marriage, and he complies. Against the advice of his friends, an old knight
named January marries May, a beautiful young woman. She is less than
impressed by his enthusiastic sexual efforts, and conspires to cheat on
him with his squire, Damien. When blind January takes May into his
garden to copulate with her, she tells him she wants to eat a pear, and he
helps her up into the pear tree, where she has sex with Damien. Pluto, the
king of the faeries, restores January’s sight, but May, caught in the act,
assures him that he must still be blind. The Host prays to God to keep him
from marrying a wife like the one the Merchant describes.

The Squire’s Introduction and Tale

The Host calls upon the Squire to say something about his favorite
subject, love, and the Squire willingly complies. King Cambyuskan of the
Mongol Empire is visited on his birthday by a knight bearing gifts from the
king of Arabia and India. He gives Cambyuskan and his daughter Canacee
a magic brass horse, a magic mirror, a magic ring that gives Canacee the
ability to understand the language of birds, and a sword with the power to
cure any wound it creates. She rescues a dying female falcon that
narrates how her consort abandoned her for the love of another. The
Squire’s Tale is either unfinished by Chaucer or is meant to be interrupted
by the Franklin, who interjects that he wishes his own son were as
eloquent as the Squire. The Host expresses annoyance at the Franklin’s
interruption, and orders him to begin the next tale.

The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale

The Franklin says that his tale is a familiar Breton lay, a folk ballad of
ancient Brittany. Dorigen, the heroine, awaits the return of her husband,
Arveragus, who has gone to England to win honor in feats of arms. She
worries that the ship bringing her husband home will wreck itself on the
coastal rocks, and she promises Aurelius, a young man who falls in love
with her, that she will give her body to him if he clears the rocks from the
coast. Aurelius hires a student learned in magic to create the illusion that
the rocks have disappeared. Arveragus returns home and tells his wife
that she must keep her promise to Aurelius. Aurelius is so impressed by
Arveragus’s honorable act that he generously absolves her of the promise,
and the magician, in turn, generously absolves Aurelius of the money he
owes.

The Physician’s Tale

Appius the judge lusts after Virginia, the beautiful daughter of Virginius.
Appius persuades a churl named Claudius to declare her his slave, stolen
from him by Virginius. Appius declares that Virginius must hand over his
daughter to Claudius. Virginius tells his daughter that she must die rather
than suffer dishonor, and she virtuously consents to her father’s cutting
her head off. Appius sentences Virginius to death, but the Roman people,
aware of Appius’s hijinks, throw him into prison, where he kills himself.

The Pardoner’s Introduction, Prologue, and Tale

The Host is dismayed by the tragic injustice of the Physician’s Tale, and
asks the Pardoner to tell something merry. The other pilgrims contradict
the Host, demanding a moral tale, which the Pardoner agrees to tell after
he eats and drinks. The Pardoner tells the company how he cheats people
out of their money by preaching that money is the root of all evil. His tale
describes three riotous youths who go looking for Death, thinking that
they can kill him. An old man tells them that they will find Death under a
tree. Instead, they find eight bushels of gold, which they plot to sneak into
town under cover of darkness.
The youngest goes into town to fetch food and drink, but brings back
poison, hoping to have the gold all to himself. His companions kill him to
enrich their own shares, then drink the poison and die under the tree. His
tale complete, the Pardoner offers to sell the pilgrims pardons, and singles
out the Host to come kiss his relics. The Host infuriates the Pardoner by
accusing him of fraud, but the Knight persuades the two to kiss and bury
their differences.

The Shipman’s Tale

The Shipman’s Tale features a monk who tricks a merchant’s wife into
having sex with him by borrowing money from the merchant, then giving
it to the wife so she can repay her own debt to her husband, in exchange
for sexual favors. When the monk sees the merchant next, he tells him
that he returned the merchant’s money to his wife. The wife realizes she
has been duped, but she boldly tells her husband to forgive her debt: she
will repay it in bed. The Host praises the Shipman’s story, and asks the
Prioress for a tale.

The Prioress’s Prologue and Tale

The Prioress calls on the Virgin Mary to guide her tale. In an Asian city, a
Christian school is located at the edge of a Jewish ghetto. An angelic
seven-year-old boy, a widow’s son, attends the school. He is a devout
Christian, and loves to sing Alma Redemptoris(Gracious Mother of the
Redeemer). Singing the song on his way through the ghetto, some Jews
hire a murderer to slit his throat and throw him into a latrine. The Jews
refuse to tell the widow where her son is, but he miraculously begins to
sing Alma Redemptoris, so the Christian people recover his body, and the
magistrate orders the murdering Jews to be drawn apart by wild horses
and then hanged.

The Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas

The Host, after teasing Chaucer the narrator about his appearance, asks
him to tell a tale. Chaucer says that he only knows one tale, then launches
into a parody of bad poetry—the Tale of Sir Thopas. Sir Thopas rides about
looking for an elf-queen to marry until he is confronted by a giant. The
narrator’s doggerel continues in this vein until the Host can bear no more
and interrupts him. Chaucer asks him why he can’t tell his tale, since it is
the best he knows, and the Host explains that his rhyme isn’t worth a
turd. He encourages Chaucer to tell a prose tale.

The Tale of Melibee

Chaucer’s second tale is the long, moral prose story of Melibee. Melibee’s
house is raided by his foes, who beat his wife, Prudence, and severely
wound his daughter, Sophie, in her feet, hands, ears, nose, and mouth.
Prudence advises him not to rashly pursue vengeance on his enemies,
and he follows her advice, putting his foes’ punishment in her hands. She
forgives them for the outrages done to her, in a model of Christian
forbearance and forgiveness.

The Monk’s Prologue and Tale

The Host wishes that his own wife were as patient as Melibee’s, and calls
upon the Monk to tell the next tale. First he teases the Monk, pointing out
that the Monk is clearly no poor cloisterer. The Monk takes it all in stride
and tells a series of tragic falls, in which noble figures are brought low:
Lucifer, Adam, Sampson, Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Zenobia,
Pedro of Castile, and down through the ages.
The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue
After seventeen noble “falls” narrated by the Monk, the Knight interrupts,
and the Host calls upon the Nun’s Priest to deliver something more lively.
The Nun’s Priest tells of Chanticleer the Rooster, who is carried off by a
flattering fox who tricks him into closing his eyes and displaying his
crowing abilities. Chanticleer turns the tables on the fox by persuading
him to open his mouth and brag to the barnyard about his feat, upon
which Chanticleer falls out of the fox’s mouth and escapes. The Host
praises the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, adding that if the Nun’s Priest were not in
holy orders, he would be as sexually potent as Chanticleer.

The Second Nun’s Prologue and Tale

In her Prologue, the Second Nun explains that she will tell a saint’s life,
that of Saint Cecilia, for this saint set an excellent example through her
good works and wise teachings. She focuses particularly on the story of
Saint Cecilia’s martyrdom. Before Cecilia’s new husband, Valerian, can
take her virginity, she sends him on a pilgrimage to Pope Urban, who
converts him to Christianity. An angel visits Valerian, who asks that his
brother Tiburce be granted the grace of Christian conversion as well. All
three—Cecilia, Tiburce, and Valerian—are put to death by the Romans.

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale

When the Second Nun’s Tale is finished, the company is overtaken by a
black-clad Canon and his Yeoman, who have heard of the pilgrims and
their tales and wish to participate. The Yeoman brags to the company
about how he and the Canon create the illusion that they are alchemists,
and the Canon departs in shame at having his secrets discovered. The
Yeoman tells a tale of how a canon defrauded a priest by creating the
illusion of alchemy using sleight of hand.

The Manciple’s Prologue and Tale

The Host pokes fun at the Cook, riding at the back of the company, blind
drunk. The Cook is unable to honor the Host’s request that he tell a tale,
and the Manciple criticizes him for his drunkenness. The Manciple relates
the legend of a white crow, taken from the Roman poet
Ovid’s Metamorphoses and one of the tales in The Arabian Nights. In it,
Phoebus’s talking white crow informs him that his wife is cheating on him.
Phoebus kills the wife, pulls out the crow’s white feathers, and curses it
with blackness.

The Parson’s Prologue and Tale

As the company enters a village in the late afternoon, the Host calls upon
the Parson to give them a fable. Refusing to tell a fictional story because it
would go against the rule set by St. Paul, the Parson delivers a lengthy
treatise on the Seven Deadly Sins, instead.
GULLIVER TRAVELS

PART 1

CHAPTER 1

The novel begins with Lemuel Gulliver recounting the story of his life,
beginning with his family history. He is born to a family in
Nottinghamshire, the third of five sons. Although he studies at Cambridge
as a teenager, his family is too poor to keep him there, so he is sent to
London to be a surgeon’s apprentice. There, under a man named James
Bates, he learns mathematics and navigation with the hope of traveling.
When his apprenticeship ends, he studies physics at Leyden.

He then becomes a surgeon aboard a ship called the Swallow for three
years. Afterward, he settles in London, working as a doctor, and marries a
woman named Mary Burton. His business begins to fail when his patron
dies, so he decides to go to sea again and travels for six years. Although
he has planned to return home at the end of this time, he decides to
accept one last job on a ship called the Antelope.

In the East Indies, the Antelope encounters a violent storm in which

twelve crewmen die. Six of the crewmembers, including Gulliver, board a
small rowboat to escape. Soon the rowboat capsizes, and Gulliver loses
track of his companions. They are never seen again. Gulliver, however,
swims safely to shore.
Gulliver lies down on the grass to rest, and soon he falls asleep. When he
wakes up, he finds that his arms, legs, and long hair have been tied to the
ground with pieces of thread. He can only look up, and the bright sun
prevents him from seeing anything. He feels something move across his
leg and over his chest. He looks down and sees, to his surprise, a six-inch-
tall human carrying a bow and arrow. At least forty more little people
climb onto his body. He is surprised and shouts loudly, frightening the
little people away. They return, however, and one of the little men cries
out, “ Degul.”
Gulliver struggles to get loose and finally succeeds in breaking the strings
binding his left arm. He loosens the ropes tying his hair so he can turn to
the left. In response, the little people fire a volley of arrows into his hand
and violently attack his body and face. He decides that the safest thing to
do is to lie still until nightfall. The noise increases as the little people build
a stage next to Gulliver about a foot and a half off the ground. One of
them climbs onto it and makes a speech in a language that Gulliver does
not understand.

Gulliver indicates that he is hungry, and the little people bring him
baskets of meat. He devours it all and then shows that he is thirsty, so
they bring him two large barrels of wine. Gulliver is tempted to pick up
forty or fifty of the little people and throw them against the ground, but he
decides that he has made them a promise of goodwill and is grateful for
their hospitality. He is also struck by their bravery, since they climb onto
his body despite his great size.

An official climbs onto Gulliver’s body and tells him that he is to be carried
to the capital city. Gulliver wants to walk, but they tell him that that will
not be permitted. Instead, they bring a frame of wood raised three inches
off the ground and carried by twenty-two wheels. Nine hundred men pull
this cart about half a mile to the city. Gulliver’s left leg is then padlocked
to a large temple, giving him only enough freedom to walk around the
building in a semicircle and lie down inside the temple.

Summary: Chapter II

Once the Lilliputians chain Gulliver to the building, he is finally allowed to

stand up and view the entire countryside, which he discovers is beautiful
and rustic. The tallest trees are seven feet tall, and the whole area looks
to him like a theater set.

Gulliver meticulously describes his process of relieving himself, which

initially involves walking inside the building to the edge of his chain. After
the first time, he makes sure to relieve himself in open air, and servants
carry away his excrement in wheelbarrows. He says that he describes this
process in order to establish his cleanliness, which has been called into
question by his critics.

The emperor visits on horseback from his tower. He orders his servants to
give Gulliver food and drink. The emperor is dressed plainly and carries a
sword to defend himself. He and Gulliver converse, though they cannot
understand each other. Gulliver tries to speak every language he knows,
but nothing works. After two hours, Gulliver is left with a group of soldiers
guarding him. Some of them, disobeying orders, try to shoot arrows at
him. As a punishment, the brigadier ties up six of these offenders and
places them in Gulliver’s hand. Gulliver puts five of them into his pocket
and pretends that he is going to eat the sixth, but then cuts loose his
ropes and sets him free. He does the same with the other five, which
pleases the court.

After two weeks, a bed is made for Gulliver. It consists of 600 small beds
sewn together. News of his arrival also spreads throughout the kingdom
and curious people from the villages come to see him. Meanwhile, the
government tries to decide what to do with him. Frequent councils bring
up various concerns: that he will break loose, for instance, or that he will
eat enough to cause a famine. Some suggest that they starve him or
shoot him in the face to kill him, but others argue that doing so would
leave them with a giant corpse and a large health risk.
Officers who witnessed Gulliver’s lenient treatment of the six offending
soldiers report to the council, and the emperor and his court decide to
respond with kindness. They arrange to deliver large amounts of food to
Gulliver every morning, supply him with servants to wait on him, hire
tailors to make him clothing, and offer teachers to instruct him in their
language.

Every morning Gulliver asks the emperor to set him free, but the emperor
refuses, saying that Gulliver must be patient. The emperor also orders him
to be searched to ensure that he does not have any weapons. Gulliver
agrees to this search, and the Lilliputians take an inventory of his
possessions. In the process, all of his weapons are taken away.

Summary: Chapter III

Gulliver hopes to be set free, as he is getting along well with the

Lilliputians and earning their trust. The emperor decides to entertain him
with shows, including a performance by Rope-Dancers, who are
Lilliputians seeking employment in the government. For the performance,
which doubles as a sort of competitive entrance examination, the
candidates dance on “ropes”—slender threads suspended two feet above
the ground. When a vacancy occurs, candidates petition the emperor to
entertain him with a dance, and whoever jumps the highest earns the
office. The current ministers continue this practice as well, in order to
show that they have not lost their skill.

As another diversion for Gulliver, the emperor lays three silken threads of
different colors on a table. He then holds out a stick, and candidates are
asked to leap over it or creep under it. Whoever shows the most dexterity
wins one of the ribbons.

Gulliver builds a platform from sticks and his handkerchief and invites
horsemen to exercise upon it. The emperor greatly enjoys watching this
new entertainment, but it is cut short when a horse steps through the
handkerchief, after which Gulliver decides that it is too dangerous for
them to keep riding on the cloth.

Some Lilliputians discover Gulliver’s hat, which washed ashore after him,
and he asks them to bring it back. Soon after, the emperor asks Gulliver to
pose like a colossus, or giant statue, so that his troops might march under
Gulliver.

Gulliver’s petitions for freedom are finally answered. Gulliver must swear
to obey the articles put forth, which include stipulations that he must
assist the Lilliputians in times of war, survey the land around them, help
with construction, and deliver urgent messages. Gulliver agrees and his
chains are removed.
Summary: Chapter IV
After regaining his freedom, Gulliver goes to Mildendo, the capital city of
the Lilliputians. The residents are told to stay indoors, and they all sit on
their roofs and in their garret windows to see him. The town is 500 feet
square with a wall surrounding it, and can hold 500,000 people. The
emperor wants Gulliver to see the magnificence of his palace, which is at
the center of the city, so Gulliver cuts down trees to make himself a stool,
which he carries around with him so that he can sit down and see things
from a shorter distance than a standing position allows.

About two weeks after Gulliver obtains his liberty, a government official,
Reldresal, comes to see him. He tells Gulliver that two forces, one rebel
group and one foreign empire, threaten the kingdom. The rebel group
exists because the kingdom is divided into two factions, called
Tramecksan and Slamecksan. The people in the two factions are
distinguished by the heights of their heels.

Reldresal tells Gulliver that the current emperor has chosen to employ
primarily the low-heeled Slamecksan in his administration. He adds that
the emperor himself has lower heels than all of his officials but that his
heir has one heel higher than the other, which makes him walk unevenly.
At the same time, the Lilliputians fear an invasion from the Island of
Blefuscu, which Reldresal calls the “Other Great Empire of the Universe.”
He adds that the philosophers of Lilliput do not believe Gulliver’s claim
that there are other countries in the world inhabited by other people of his
size, preferring to think that Gulliver dropped from the moon or a star.

Reldresal describes the history of the two nations. The conflict between
them, he tells Gulliver, began years ago, when the emperor’s grandfather,
then in command of the country, commanded all Lilliputians to break their
eggs on the small end first. He made this decision after breaking an egg in
the old way, large end first, and cutting his finger. The people resented
the law, and six rebellions were started in protest. The monarchs of
Blefuscu fueled these rebellions, and when they were over the rebels fled
to that country to seek refuge. Eleven thousand people chose death rather
than submit to the law. Many books were written on the controversy, but
books written by the Big-Endians were banned in Lilliput. The government
of Blefuscu accused the Lilliputians of disobeying their religious doctrine,
the Brundrecral, by breaking their eggs at the small end. The Lilliputians
argued that the doctrine reads, “That all true believers shall break their
eggs at the convenient end,” which could be interpreted as the small end.

Reldresal continues that the exiles gained support in Blefuscu to launch a

war against Lilliput and were aided by rebel forces inside Lilliput. A war
has been raging between the two nations ever since, and Gulliver is asked
to help defend Lilliput against its enemies. Gulliver does not feel that it is
appropriate to intervene, but he nonetheless offers his services to the
emperor.

Summary: Chapter V
Gulliver spies on the empire of Blefuscu and devises a plan. He asks for
cables and bars of iron, out of which he makes hooks with cables
attached. He then wades and swims the channel to Blefuscu and catches
their ships at port. The people are so frightened that they leap out of their
ships and swim to shore. Gulliver attaches a hook to each ship and ties
them together. The Blefuscu soldiers fire arrows at him, but he keeps
working, protecting his eyes by putting on the spectacles he keeps in his
coat pocket. He tries to pull the ships away, but they are anchored too
tightly, so he cuts them away with his pocketknife and pulls the ships
back to Lilliput.

In Lilliput, Gulliver is greeted as a hero. The emperor asks him to go back

to retrieve the other ships, intending to destroy Blefuscu’s military
strength and make it a province in his empire. Gulliver dissuades him from
this action, saying that he does not want to encourage slavery or injustice.
This position causes great disagreement in the government, with some
officials turning staunchly against Gulliver and calling for his destruction.

Three weeks later, a delegation arrives from Blefuscu, and the war ends
with Blefuscu’s surrender. The Blefuscu delegates are privately told of
Gulliver’s kindness toward the Lilliputians, and they ask him to visit their
kingdom. He wishes to do so, and the emperor reluctantly allows it.

As a Nardac, or person of high rank, Gulliver no longer has to perform all

the duties laid down in his contract. He does, however, have the
opportunity to help the Lilliputians when the emperor’s wife’s room
catches fire. He forgets his coat and cannot put the flames out with his
clothing, so instead he thinks of a new plan: he urinates on the palace,
putting out the fire entirely. He worries afterward that since the act of
public urination is a crime in Lilliput he will be prosecuted, but the
emperor tells him he will be pardoned. He is told, however, that the
emperor’s wife can no longer tolerate living in her rescued quarters.
ummary Part I, Chapters VI–VIII

Summary: Chapter VI
Gulliver describes the general customs and practices of Lilliput in more
detail, beginning by explaining that everything in Lilliput— their animals,
trees, and plants—is sized in proportion to the Lilliputians. Their eyesight
is also adapted to their scale: Gulliver cannot see as clearly close-up as
they can, while they cannot see as far as he can.

The Lilliputians are well educated, but their writing system is odd to
Gulliver, who jokes that they write not left to right like the Europeans or
top to bottom like the Chinese, but from one corner of the page to the
other, “like the ladies in England.”
The dead are buried with their heads pointing directly downward, because
the Lilliputians believe that eventually the dead will rise again and that
the Earth, which they think is flat, will turn upside down. Gulliver adds that
the better-educated Lilliputians no longer believe in this custom.

Gulliver describes some of the other laws of Lilliput, such as a tradition by

which anyone who falsely accuses someone else of a crime against the
state is put to death. Deceit is considered worse than theft, because
honest people are more vulnerable to liars than to thieves, since
commerce requires people to trust one another. The law provides not only
for punishment but also for rewards of special titles and privileges for
good behaviour.

Children are raised not by individual parents but by the kingdom as a

whole. They are sent to live in schools at a very young age. The schools
are chosen according to the station of their parents, whom they see only
twice a year. Only the laborers’ children stay home, since their job is to
farm. There are no beggars at all, since the poor are well looked after.

Summary: Chapter VII

Gulliver goes on to describe the “intrigue” that precipitates his departure
from Lilliput. While he prepares to make his trip to Blefuscu, a court
official tells Gulliver that he has been charged with treason by enemies in
the government. He shows Gulliver the document calling for his execution:
Gulliver is charged with public urination, refusing to obey the emperor’s
orders to seize the remaining Blefuscu ships, aiding enemy ambassadors,
and traveling to Blefuscu.

Gulliver is told that Reldresal has asked for his sentence to be reduced,
calling not for execution but for putting his eyes out. This punishment has
been agreed upon, along with a plan to starve him to death slowly. The
official tells Gulliver that the operation to blind him will take place in three
days. Fearing this resolution, Gulliver crosses the channel and arrives in
Blefuscu.

Summary: Chapter VIII

Three days later, he sees a boat of normal size—that is, big enough to
carry him—overturned in the water. He asks the emperor of Blefuscu to
help him fix it. At the same time, the emperor of Lilliput sends an envoy
with the articles commanding Gulliver to give up his eyesight. The
emperor of Blefuscu sends it back with the message that Gulliver will soon
be leaving both their kingdoms. After about a month, the boat is ready
and Gulliver sets sail. He arrives safely back in England, where he makes
a good profit showing miniature farm animals that he carried away from
Blefuscu in his pockets.

PART 2
Summary: Chapter I
Two months after returning to England, Gulliver is restless again. He sets
sail on a ship called the Adventure, traveling to the Cape of Good Hope
and Madagascar before encountering a monsoon that draws the ship off
course. The ship eventually arrives at an unknown land mass. There are
no inhabitants about, and the landscape is barren and rocky. Gulliver is
walking back to the boat when he sees that it has already left without
him. He tries to chase after it, but then he sees that a giant is following
the boat. Gulliver runs away, and when he stops, he is on a steep hill from
which he can see the countryside. He is shocked to see that the grass is
about twenty feet high.
He walks down what looks like a high road but turns out to be a footpath
through a field of barley. He walks for a long time but cannot see anything
beyond the stalks of corn, which are forty feet high. He tries to climb a set
of steps into the next field, but he cannot mount them because they are
too high. As he is trying to climb up the stairs, he sees another one of the
island’s giant inhabitants. He hides from the giant, but it calls for more
people to come, and they begin to harvest the crop with scythes. Gulliver
lies down and bemoans his state, thinking about how insignificant he must
be to these giant creatures.

One of the servants comes close to Gulliver with both his foot and his
scythe, so Gulliver screams as loudly as he can. The giant finally notices
him, and picks him up between his fingers to get a closer look. Gulliver
tries to speak to him in plaintive tones, bringing his hands together, and
the giant seems pleased. Gulliver makes it clear that the giant’s fingers
are hurting him, and the giant places him in his pocket and begins to walk
toward his master.

The giant’s master, the farmer of these fields, takes Gulliver from his
servant and observes him more closely. He asks the other servants if they
have ever seen anything like Gulliver, then places him onto the ground.
They sit around him in a circle. Gulliver kneels down and begins to speak
as loudly as he can, taking off his hat and bowing to the farmer. He
presents a purse full of gold to the farmer, which the farmer takes into his
palm. He cannot figure out what it is, even after Gulliver empties the coins
into his hand.

The farmer takes Gulliver back to his wife, who is frightened of him. The
servant brings in dinner, and they all sit down to eat, Gulliver sitting on
the table not far from the farmer’s plate. They give him tiny bits of their
food, and he pulls out his knife and fork to eat, which delights the giants.
The farmer’s son picks Gulliver up and scares him, but the farmer takes
Gulliver from the boy’s hands and strikes his son. Gulliver makes a sign
that the boy should be forgiven, and kisses his hand. After dinner, the
farmer’s wife lets Gulliver nap in her own bed. When he wakes up he finds
two rats attacking him, and he defends himself with his “hanger,” or
sword.

Summary: Chapter II
The farmer’s nine-year-old daughter, whom Gulliver calls Glumdalclitch, or
“nursemaid,” has a doll’s cradle that becomes Gulliver’s permanent bed.
Glumdalclitch places the cradle inside a drawer to keep Gulliver safe from
the rats. She becomes Gulliver’s caretaker and guardian, sewing clothes
for him and teaching him the giants’ language.

The farmer begins to talk about Gulliver in town, and a friend of the
farmer’s comes to see him. He looks at Gulliver through his glasses, and
Gulliver begins to laugh at the sight of the man’s eyes through the glass.
The man becomes angry and advises the farmer to take Gulliver into the
market to display him. He agrees, and Gulliver is taken to town in a
carriage, which he finds very uncomfortable. There, he is placed on a
table while Glumdalclitch sits down on a stool beside him, with thirty
people at a time walking through as he performs “tricks.”

Gulliver is exhausted by the journey to the marketplace, but upon

returning to the farmer’s house, he finds that he is to be shown there as
well. People come from miles around and are charged great sums to view
him. Thinking that Gulliver can make him a great fortune, the farmer
takes him and Glumdalclitch on a trip to the largest cities.

The three arrive in the largest city, Lorbrulgrud, and the farmer rents a
room with a table for displaying Gulliver. By now, Gulliver can understand
their language and speak it fairly well. He is shown ten times a day and
pleases the visitors greatly.

Summary: Chapter III

The strain of traveling and performing “tricks” takes its toll on Gulliver,
and he begins to grow very thin. The farmer notices Gulliver’s condition
and resolves to make as much money as possible before Gulliver dies.
Meanwhile, an order comes from the court, commanding the farmer to
bring Gulliver to the queen for her entertainment.

The queen is delighted with Gulliver’s behaviour and buys him from the
farmer for 1,000 gold pieces. Gulliver requests that Glumdalclitch be
allowed to live in the palace as well. Gulliver explains his suffering to the
queen, and she is impressed by his intelligence. She takes him to the king,
who at first thinks he is a mechanical creation. He sends for great scholars
to observe Gulliver, and they decide that he is unfit for survival, since
there is no way he could feed himself. Gulliver tries to explain that he
comes from a country in which everything is in proportion to himself, but
they do not seem to believe him.
Glumdalclitch is given an apartment in the palace and a governess to
teach her, and special quarters are built for Gulliver out of a box. They
also have clothes made for him from fine silk, but Gulliver finds them very
cumbersome. The queen grows quite accustomed to his company, finding
him very entertaining at dinner, especially when he cuts and eats his
meat. He finds her way of eating repulsive, since her size allows her to
swallow huge amounts of food in a single gulp.

The king converses with Gulliver on issues of politics, and laughs at his
descriptions of the goings-on in Europe. He finds it amusing that people of
such small stature should think themselves so important, and Gulliver is at
first offended. He then comes to realize that he too has begun to think of
his world as ridiculous.

The queen’s dwarf is not happy with Gulliver, since he is used to being the
smallest person in the palace and a source of diversion for the royal court.
He drops Gulliver into a bowl of cream, but Gulliver is able to swim to
safety and the dwarf is punished. At another point, the dwarf sticks
Gulliver into a marrowbone, where he is forced to remain until someone
pulls him out.

Summary: Chapter IV
Gulliver describes the geography of Brobdingnag, noting first that since
the land stretches out about 6,000 miles there must be a severe error in
European maps. The kingdom is bounded on one side by mountains and
on the other three sides by the sea. The water is so rough that there is no
trade with other nations. The rivers are well stocked with giant fish, but
the fish in the sea are of the same size as those in the rest of the world—
and therefore not worth catching.

Gulliver is carried around the city in a special traveling-box, and people

always crowd around to see him. He asks to see the largest temple in the
country and is not overwhelmed by its size, since at a height of 3,000 feet
it is proportionally smaller than the largest steeple in England.

Summary: Chapter V
Gulliver is happy in Brobdingnag except for the many mishaps that befall
him because of his diminutive size. In one unpleasant incident, the dwarf,
angry at Gulliver for teasing him, shakes an apple tree over his head. One
of the apples strikes Gulliver in the back and knocks him over. Another
time, he is left outside during a hailstorm and is so bruised and battered
that he cannot leave the house for ten days.

Gulliver and his nursemaid are often invited to the apartments of the
ladies of the court, and there he is treated as a plaything of little
significance. They enjoy stripping his clothes and placing him in their
bosoms, and he is appalled by their strong smell, noting that a Lilliputian
told him that he smelled quite repulsive to them. The women also strip
their own clothes in front of him, and he finds their skin extremely ugly
and uneven.

The queen orders a special boat to be built for Gulliver. The boat is placed
in a cistern, and Gulliver rows in it for his own enjoyment and for the
amusement of the queen and her court.

Yet another danger arises in the form of a monkey, which takes Gulliver
up a ladder, holding him like a baby and force-feeding him. He is rescued
from the monkey, and Glumdalclitch pries the food from his mouth with a
needle, after which Gulliver vomits. He is so weak and bruised that he
stays in bed for two weeks. The monkey is killed and orders are sent out
that no other monkeys be kept in the palace.

Summary: Chapter VI
Gulliver makes himself a comb from the stumps of hair left after the king has
been shaved. He also collects hairs from the king and uses them to weave the
backs of two small chairs, which he gives to the queen as curiosities. Gulliver is
brought to a musical performance, but it is so loud that he can hardly make it
out. Gulliver decides to play the spinet for the royal family, but must contrive a
novel way to do it, since the instrument is so big. He uses large sticks and runs
over the keyboard with them, but he can still strike only sixteen keys.

Thinking that the king has unjustly come to regard England as insignificant and
laughable, Gulliver tries to tell him more about England, describing the
government and culture there. The king asks many questions and is particularly
struck by the violence of the history Gulliver describes. He then takes Gulliver
into his hand and, explaining that he finds the world that Gulliver describes to be
ridiculous, contemptuous, and strange, tells him that he concludes that most
Englishmen sound like “odious Vermin.”

Summary: Chapter VII

Gulliver is disturbed by the king’s evaluation of England. He tries to tell
him about gunpowder, describing it as a great invention and offering it to
the king as a gesture of friendship. The king is appalled by the proposal,
and Gulliver is taken aback, thinking that the king has refused a great
opportunity. He thinks that the king is unnecessarily scrupulous and
narrow-minded for not being more open to the inventions of Gulliver’s
world.

Gulliver finds the people of Brobdingnag in general to be ignorant and

poorly educated. Their laws are not allowed to exceed in words the
number of letters in their alphabet, and no arguments may be written
about them. They know the art of printing but do not have many books,
and their writing is simple and straightforward. One text describes the
insignificance and weakness of Brobdingnagians and even argues that at
one point they must have been much larger.

Summary: Chapter VIII

Gulliver wants to recover his freedom. The king orders any small ship to
be brought to the city, hoping that they might find a woman with whom
Gulliver can propagate. Gulliver fears that any offspring thus produced
would be kept in cages or given to the nobility as pets. He has been in
Brobdingnag for two years and wants to be among his own kind again.

Gulliver is taken to the south coast, and both Glumdalclitch and Gulliver
fall ill. Gulliver says that he wants fresh air, and a page carries him out to
the shore in his traveling-box. He asks to be left to sleep in his hammock,
and the boy wanders off. An eagle grabs hold of Gulliver’s box and flies off
with him, and then suddenly Gulliver feels himself falling and lands in the
water. He worries that he will drown or starve to death, but then feels the
box being pulled. He hears a voice telling him that his box is tied to a ship
and that a carpenter will come to drill a hole in the top. Gulliver says that
they can simply use a finger to pry it open, and he hears laughter. He
realizes that he is speaking to people of his own height and climbs a
ladder out of his box and onto their ship.

Gulliver begins to recover on the ship, and he tries to tell the sailors the
story of his recent journey. He shows them things he saved from
Brobdingnag, like his comb and a tooth pulled from a footman. He has
trouble adjusting to the sailors’ small size, and he finds himself shouting
all the time. When he reaches home, it takes him some time to grow
accustomed to his old life, and his wife asks him to never go to sea again.

Part 3
Summary Part III, Chapters I–III

Summary: Chapter I

Gulliver has been home in England only ten days when a visitor comes to
his house, asking him to sail aboard his ship in two months’ time. Gulliver
agrees and prepares to set out for the East Indies. On the voyage, pirates
attack the ship. Gulliver hears a Dutch voice among them and speaks to
the pirate in Dutch, begging to be set free since he and the pirate are
both Christians. A Japanese pirate tells them they will not die, and Gulliver
tells the Dutchman that he is surprised to find more mercy in a heathen
than in a Christian. The Dutchman grows angry and punishes Gulliver by
sending him out to sea in a small boat with only four days’ worth of food.

Gulliver finds some islands and goes ashore on one of them. He sets up
camp but then notices something strange: the sun is mysteriously
obscured for some time. He then sees a landmass dropping down from the
sky and notices that it is crawling with people. He is baffled by this
floating island and shouts up to its inhabitants. They lower the island and
send down a chain by which he is drawn up.

Summary: Chapter II
Gulliver is immediately surrounded by people and notices that they are all
quite odd. Their heads are all tilted to one side or the other, with one eye
turned inward and the other looking up. Their clothes are adorned with
images of celestial bodies and musical instruments. Some of the people
are servants, and each of them carries a “flapper” made of a stick with a
pouch tied to the end. Their job is to aid conversation by striking the ear
of the listener and the mouth of the speaker at the appropriate times to
prevent their masters’ minds from wandering off.

Gulliver is conveyed to the king, who sits behind a table loaded with
mathematical instruments. They wait an hour before there is some
opportunity to arouse the king from his thoughts, at which point he is
struck with the flapper. The king says something, and Gulliver’s ear is
struck with the flapper as well, even though he tries to explain that he
does not require such actions. It becomes clear that he and the king
cannot speak any of the same languages, so Gulliver is taken to an
apartment and served dinner.

A teacher is sent to instruct Gulliver in the language of the island, and he

is able to learn several sentences. He discovers that the name of the
island is Laputa, which in their language means “floating island.” A tailor
is also sent to provide him with new clothes, and while he is waiting for
these clothes, the king orders the island to be moved. It is taken to a point
above the capital city of the kingdom, Lagado, passing villages along the
way and collecting petitions from the king’s subjects by means of ropes
sent down to the lands below.

The language of the Laputans relies heavily on mathematical and musical

concepts, as they value these theoretical disciplines above everything.
The Laputans despise practical geometry, thinking it vulgar—so much so
that they make sure that there are no right angles in their buildings. They
are very good with charts and figures but very clumsy in practical
matters. They practice astrology and dread changes in the celestial
bodies.

Summary: Chapter III

The island is exactly circular and consists of 10,000 acres of land. At the center
there is a cave for astronomers, containing all their instruments and a lodestone
six yards long. It moves the island with its magnetic force, since it has two
charges that can be reversed by means of an attached control. The mineral that
acts upon the magnet is large enough to allow it to move only over the country
directly beneath it. When the king wants to punish a particular region of the
country, he can keep the island above it, depriving the lands below of sun and
rain. Such measures failed to work in one town, where the rebellious inhabitants
had stored provisions of food in advance. They planned to force the island to
come so low that it would be trapped forever and to kill the king and his officials
in order to take over the government. Instead, the king ordered the island to stop
descending and gave in to the town’s demands. The king is not allowed to leave
the floating island, nor is his family.

Summary: Chapter IV
Gulliver feels neglected on Laputa, since the inhabitants seem interested
only in mathematics and music and are far superior to him in their
knowledge. He is bored by their conversation and wants to leave. There is
one lord of the court whom Gulliver finds to be intelligent and curious, but
who is regarded by the other inhabitants of Laputa as stupid because he
has no ear for music. Gulliver asks this lord to petition the king to let him
leave the island. The petition succeeds, and he is let down on the
mountains above Lagado. He visits another lord, named Munodi, and is
invited to stay at his home.

Gulliver and Munodi visit a nearby town, which Gulliver finds to be

populated by poorly-dressed inhabitants living in shabby houses. The soil
is badly cultivated and the people appear miserable. They then travel to
Munodi’s country house, first passing many barren fields but then arriving
in a lush green area that Munodi says belongs to his estate. He says that
the other lords criticize him heavily for the “mismanagement” of his land.

Munodi explains that forty years ago some people went to Laputa and
returned with new ideas about mathematics and art. They decided to
establish an academy in Lagado to develop new theories on agriculture
and construction and to initiate projects to improve the lives of the city’s
inhabitants. However, the theories have never produced any results and
the new techniques have left the country in ruin. He encourages Gulliver
to visit the academy, which Gulliver is glad to do since he was once
intrigued by projects of this sort himself.

Summary: Chapter V
Gulliver visits the academy, where he meets a man engaged in a project
to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. He also meets a scientist trying to
turn excrement back into food. Another is attempting to turn ice into
gunpowder and is writing a treatise about the malleability of fire, hoping
to have it published. An architect is designing a way to build houses from
the roof down, and a blind master is teaching his blind apprentices to mix
colors for painters according to smell and touch. An agronomist is
designing a method of plowing fields with hogs by first burying food in the
ground and then letting the hogs loose to dig it out. A doctor in another
room tries to cure patients by blowing air through them. Gulliver leaves
him trying to revive a dog that he has killed by supposedly curing it in this
way.
On the other side of the academy there are people engaged in speculative
learning. One professor has a class full of boys working from a machine
that produces random sets of words. Using this machine, the teacher
claims, anyone can write a book on philosophy or politics. A linguist in
another room is attempting to remove all the elements of language
except nouns. Such pruning, he claims, would make language more
concise and prolong lives, since every word spoken is detrimental to the
human body. Since nouns are only things, furthermore, it would be even
easier to carry things and never speak at all. Another professor tries to
teach mathematics by having his students eat wafers that have
mathematical proofs written on them.

Summary: Chapter VI
Gulliver then visits professors who are studying issues of government.
One claims that women should be taxed according to their beauty and
skill at dressing, and another claims that conspiracies against the
government could be discovered by studying the excrement of subjects.
Gulliver grows tired of the academy and begins to yearn for a return to
England.

Summary: Chapter VII

Gulliver tries to travel to Luggnagg, but he finds no ship available. Since
he has to wait a month, he is advised to take a trip to Glubbdubdrib, the
island of magicians. Gulliver visits the governor of Glubbdubdrib, and he
finds that servants who appear and disappear like spirits attend the
governor. The governor tells Gulliver that he has the power to call up any
shade he would like. Gulliver chooses Alexander the Great, who assures
him that he died not from poison but from excessive drinking. He then
sees the Carthaginian general Hannibal and the Roman leaders Caesar,
Pompey, and Brutus.

Summary: Chapter VIII

Gulliver sets apart one day to speak with the most venerated people in
history, starting with Homer and Aristotle. He asks the French
philosophers René Descartes and Pierre Gassendi to describe their
systems to Aristotle, who freely acknowledges his own mistakes while
pointing out that systems of nature will always vary from age to age.

Summary: Chapter IX
Gulliver then returns to Luggnagg, where he is confined despite his desire
to return to England. He is ordered to appear at the king’s court and is
given lodging and an allowance. He learns that subjects are expected to
lick the floor as they approach the king, and that the king sometimes gets
rid of opponents in the court by coating the floor with poison.

Summary: Chapter X
The Luggnaggians tell Gulliver about certain immortal people, children
born with a red spot on their foreheads who are called Struldbrugs.
Gulliver devises a whole system of what he would do if he were immortal,
starting with the acquisition of riches and knowledge. Contrary to his
fantasy, however, he is told that after the age of thirty, most Struldbrugs
grow sad and dejected, and by eighty, they are incapable of affection and
envious of those who are able to die. If two of the Struldbrugs marry, the
marriage is dissolved when one reaches eighty, because “those who are
condemned without any fault of their own to a perpetual continuance in
the world should not have their misery doubled by the load of a wife.” He
meets some of these people and finds them to be unhappy and
unpleasant, and he regrets ever wishing for their state.

Summary: Chapter XI
Gulliver is finally able to depart from Luggnagg, after refusing
employment there, and he arrives safely in Japan. From there he gains
passage on a Dutch ship by pretending to be from Holland and sets sail
from Amsterdam to England, where he finds his family in good health.

Part IV
Summary: Chapter I
Gulliver stays home for five months, but he then leaves his pregnant wife
to set sail again, this time as the captain of a ship called
the Adventure. Many of his sailors die of illness, so he recruits more along
the way. His crewmembers mutiny under the influence of these new
sailors and become pirates. Gulliver is left on an unknown shore, after
being confined to his cabin for several days. In the distance, he sees
animals with long hair, goatlike beards, and sharp claws, which they use
to climb trees. Gulliver decides that these animals are extremely ugly and
sets forth to find settlers, but he encounters one of the animals on his
way.
Gulliver takes out his sword and hits the animal with the flat side of it. The
animal roars loudly, and a herd of others like it attack Gulliver by
attempting to defecate on him. He hides, but then he sees them hurrying
away. He emerges from his hiding place to see that the beasts have been
scared away by a horse. The horse observes Gulliver carefully, and then it
neighs in a complicated cadence. Another horse joins the first and the two
seem to be involved in a discussion. Gulliver tries to leave, but one of the
horses calls him back.

The horses appear to be so intelligent that Gulliver concludes that they

are magicians who have transformed themselves into horses. He
addresses them directly and asks to be taken to a house or village. The
horses use the words “Yahoo” and “Houyhnhnm,” which Gulliver tries to
pronounce.
Summary: Chapter II
Gulliver is led to a house, and he takes out gifts, expecting to meet
people. He finds instead that there are more horses in the house, sitting
down and engaged in various activities. He thinks that the house belongs
to a person of great importance, and he wonders why they should have
horses for servants. A horse looks Gulliver over and says the word
“Yahoo.” Gulliver is led out to the courtyard, where a few of the ugly
creatures Gulliver has seen are tied up. Gulliver is lined up and compared
with one of the creatures, and Gulliver finds that the creature does look
quite human. The horses test Gulliver by offering him various foods: hay,
which he refuses, and flesh, which he finds repulsive but which the Yahoo
devours. The horses determine that he likes milk and give him large
amounts of it to drink.

Another horse comes to dine, and they all take great pleasure in teaching
Gulliver to pronounce words in their language. They cannot determine
what he might like to eat until Gulliver suggests that he could make bread
from their oats. He is given a place to sleep with straw for the time being.

Summary: Chapter III

Gulliver endeavors to learn the horses’ language, and they are impressed
by his intellect and curiosity. After three months, he can answer most of
their questions and tries to explain that he comes from across the sea, but
the horses, or Houyhnhnms, do not believe that such a thing is possible.
They think that Gulliver is some kind of Yahoo, though superior to the rest
of his species. He asks them to stop using that word to refer to him, and
they consent.

Summary: Chapter IV
Gulliver tries to explain that the Yahoos are the governing creatures
where he comes from, and the Houyhnhnms ask how their horses are
employed. Gulliver explains that they are used for traveling, racing, and
drawing chariots, and the Houyhnhnms express disbelief that anything as
weak as a Yahoo would dare to mount a horse that was so much stronger
than it. Gulliver explains that the horses are trained from a young age to
be tame and obedient. He describes the state of humanity in Europe and
is asked to speak more specifically of his own country.

Summary: Chapter V
Over the course of two years, Gulliver describes the state of affairs in
Europe, speaking to his Houyhnhnm master about the English Revolution
and the war with France. He is asked to explain the causes of war, and he
does his best to provide reasons. He is also asked to speak of law and the
justice system, which he does in some detail, criticizing lawyers severely
in the process.
Summary: Chapter VI
The discussion then turns to other topics, such as money and the different
kinds of food eaten in Europe. Gulliver explains the different occupations
in which people are involved, including service professions such as
medicine and construction.

Summary: Chapter VII

Gulliver develops such a love for the Houyhnhnms that he no longer
desires to return to humankind. His master tells him that he has
considered all of Gulliver’s claims about his home country and has come
to the conclusion that Gulliver’s people are not so different from the
Yahoos as they may at first have seemed. He describes all the flaws of the
Yahoos, principally detailing their greed and selfishness. He admits that
Gulliver’s humans have different systems of learning, law, government,
and art but says that their natures are not different from those of the
Yahoos.

Summary: Chapter V
Over the course of two years, Gulliver describes the state of affairs in
Europe, speaking to his Houyhnhnm master about the English Revolution
and the war with France. He is asked to explain the causes of war, and he
does his best to provide reasons. He is also asked to speak of law and the
justice system, which he does in some detail, criticizing lawyers severely
in the process.

Summary: Chapter VI
The discussion then turns to other topics, such as money and the different
kinds of food eaten in Europe. Gulliver explains the different occupations
in which people are involved, including service professions such as
medicine and construction.

Summary: Chapter VII

Gulliver develops such a love for the Houyhnhnms that he no longer
desires to return to humankind. His master tells him that he has
considered all of Gulliver’s claims about his home country and has come
to the conclusion that Gulliver’s people are not so different from the
Yahoos as they may at first have seemed. He describes all the flaws of the
Yahoos, principally detailing their greed and selfishness. He admits that
Gulliver’s humans have different systems of learning, law, government,
and art but says that their natures are not different from those of the
Yahoos.

Summary: Chapter VIII

Gulliver wants to observe the similarities between Yahoos and humans for
himself, so he asks to go among the Yahoos. He finds them to be very
nimble from infancy but unable to learn anything. They are strong,
cowardly, and malicious.

The principle virtues of the Houyhnhnms are their friendship and

benevolence. They are concerned more with the community than with
their own personal advantages, even choosing their mates so as to
promote the race as a whole. They breed industriousness, cleanliness, and
civility in their young and exercise them for speed and strength.

Summary: Chapter IX
Gulliver’s master attends a Grand Assembly of Houyhnhnms, where the
horses debate whether or not to extinguish the Yahoos from the face of
the Earth. Gulliver’s master suggests that instead of killing them, they
should, as the Europeans do with their horses, merely castrate them.
Eventually, unable to breed, the Yahoos will die out, and in the meantime
the Houyhnhnms can breed asses to take their place.

Gulliver then describes further aspects of the Houyhnhnms’ society. They

create excellent poetry, have a sound knowledge of medicinal herbs, build
simple houses, and usually live about seventy or seventy-five years, dying
of old age. They feel no sorrow about death, accepting it as a routine
element of life. They have no writing system and no word to express
anything evil.

Summary: Chapter X
A room is made for Gulliver, and he furnishes it well. He also makes new
clothes for himself and settles into life with the Houyhnhnms quite easily.
He begins to think of his friends and family back home as Yahoos.
However, he is called by his master and told that others have taken
offense at his being kept in the house as a Houyhnhnm. The master has
no choice but to ask Gulliver to leave. Gulliver is very upset to hear that
he is to be banished. He builds a canoe with the help of a fellow-servant
and departs sadly.

Summary: Chapter XI
Gulliver does not want to return to Europe, and so he begins to search for
an island where he can live as he likes. He finds land and discovers
natives there. He is struck by an arrow and tries to escape the natives’
darts by paddling out to sea. He sees a sail in the distance and thinks of
going toward it, but then decides he would rather live with the barbarians
than the European Yahoos, so he hides from the ship. The seamen,
including Don Pedro de Mendez, discover him after landing near his hiding
place. They question him, laughing at his strange horselike manner of
speaking, and cannot understand his desire to escape from their ship. Don
Pedro treats Gulliver hospitably, offering him food, drink, and clothes, but
Gulliver can think of him only as a Yahoo and is thus repulsed by him.
Gulliver is forced to travel back to England, where he returns to his family,
which has been convinced that he is dead. He is filled with disgust and
contempt for them. For a year he cannot stand to be near his wife and
children, and he buys two horses and converses with them for four hours
each day.

Summary: Chapter XII

Gulliver concludes his narrative by acknowledging that the law requires
him to report his findings to the government but that he can see no
military advantage in attacking any of the locations he discovered.
Moreover, he particularly wishes to protect the Houyhnhnms.

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD

o The vicar, Dr. Primrose, narrates the novel, he tells his backstory.
o The vicar decided to marry. He chose a good-natured
Englishwoman -
Deborah - and they loved each other dearly. They live in an elegant home.
o The vicar and Deborah
have six children: in order of decreasing age, George, Olivia, Sophia, Moses, Dick, and Bill.
o He describes the girls as capable of being both vivacious and serious depending on their moods.
o The vicar dotes on his children, and proudly explains how his son George studied at Oxford, and intends
to pursue a learned profession.

CHAPTER 2

o The vicar mentions that he has a fortune of his own, and thus donates his small clergyman's salary to
orphans and widows.
o One of his favorite topics to discuss is that of matrimony. In fact, he has written
and published passionate tracts arguing that a husband or wife should never remarry if his or her partner dies.
o • George, the eldest son, becomes engaged to Miss Arabella Wilmot. Both engaged to Miss Arabella
Wilmot. Both families are overjoyed, and spend months celebrating, even though the couple has not yet
set a date.
o One day, unfortunately, the vicar shows Mr. Wilmot (Arabella's father) his study on matrimony. Mr.
Wilmot vehemently disagrees with the vicar's position, and has in fact been married
more than once.
o The marriage agreement is threatened by the intense argument.
However, in the midst of the argument, the worst news arrives: the vicar's fortune is gone, embezzled by the
merchant who was responsible for guarding it.
• Faced with this new discovery, Mr. Wilmot definitively refuses to grant Arabella's hand to George.

CHAPTER 3

o Finding themselves poor, the vicar's family has few options.

o Therefore, he is encouraged by the offer of a vicar job in a distant neighborhood, which would pay
fifteen
pounds a year and allow the family some farmland to manage.
• The family is discouraged by the prospect of moving, but he reminds them that they are now poor and much
acclimate to fewer luxuries.
. Before they move, he sends George to town, hoping that the young scholar might find some work through which
to support his family.
 o His family sets out for their new home.
o Along the way, they spend the night in an inn. There, the
vicar tells the innkeeper about their situation, and the latter tells them about their new landlord, Squire Thornhill
• At the inn, the vicar and his family meet Mr. Burchell, a young and intelligent man who is also poor, the young
man rides with them to their
new neighborhood, to which he was also traveling.
o Mr. Burchell points out Squire Thornhill's home, and explains how the squire is dependent on the
generosity of his introverted uncle, Sir William Thornhill. The vicar has heard of Sir William, and knows
his excellent reputation
o At one point during the journey, Sophia falls from her horse into a stream. Without a moment's thought,
Mr. Burchell heroically leaps after her and saves her life.

CHAPTER 4
o The vicar describes his new neighbourhood. It is mostly comprised of middle class farmers who are
polite, but lack gentleness and good manners. However, the local citizens are happy to have a new
vicar, and welcome the family.
o Soon enough, the family settles into its new life and routine.
o
CHAPTER V
• The family spends time outside, in a beautiful area, amusing