Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. TITELBLATT

2. IMPRESSUM

3. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

4. A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.

5. PART I. A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.

6. CHAPTER I.

7. CHAPTER II.

8. CHAPTER III.

9. CHAPTER IV.

10. CHAPTER V.

11. CHAPTER VI.

12. CHAPTER VII.

13. CHAPTER VIII.

14. PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.

15. CHAPTER I.

16. CHAPTER II.

17. CHAPTER III.

18. CHAPTER IV.

19. CHAPTER V.

20. CHAPTER VI.

21. CHAPTER VII.

22. CHAPTER VIII.

23. PART III. A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND JAPAN.

24. CHAPTER I.

25. CHAPTER II.

26. CHAPTER III.

27. CHAPTER IV.

28. CHAPTER V.

29. CHAPTER VI.

30. CHAPTER VII.

31. CHAPTER VIII.

32. CHAPTER IX.

33. CHAPTER X.

34. CHAPTER XI.

35. PART IV. A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS.

36. CHAPTER I.

37. CHAPTER II.

38. CHAPTER III.

39. CHAPTER IV.

40. CHAPTER V.

41. CHAPTER VI.

42. CHAPTER VII.

43. CHAPTER VIII.

44. CHAPTER IX.

45. CHAPTER X.

46. CHAPTER XI.

47. CHAPTER XII.

48. GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (ENGLISCH)

Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels / Gullivers Reisen
Zweisprachige Ausgabe
Übersetzt von Franz Kottenkamp

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THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

DER HERAUSGEBER AN DEN LESER.

THE author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my ancient and intimate friend;

Lemuel Gulliver, der Verfasser dieser Reisen, ist mein alter, intimer Freund,

there is likewise some relation between us on the mother’s side.

auch verwandtschaftliche Beziehungen bestehen zwischen uns von mütterlicher Seite.

About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary of the concourse of curious people coming to him at his house in Redriff,

Vor etwa drei Jahren kaufte Herr Gulliver, der des Besuches neugieriger Leute in seinem Haus in Redriff müde wurde,

made a small purchase of land, with a convenient house, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, his native country;

etwas Land mit einem geeigneten Haus nahe bei Newark in Nottinghamshire, seinem Heimatland,

where he now lives retired, yet in good esteem among his neighbours.

wo er jetzt zurückgezogen, aber von seinen Nachbarn sehr geachtet, lebt.

Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father dwelt, yet I have heard him say his family came from Oxfordshire;

Obwohl Herr Gulliver in Nottinghamshire geboren war, wo sein Vater wohnte, habe ich ihn doch sagen hören, daß seine Familie aus Oxfordshire stamme;

to confirm which, I have observed in the churchyard at Banbury in that county, several tombs and monuments of the Gullivers.

zur Bestätigung dessen habe ich auf dem Friedhof zu Banbery in jener Grafschaft mehrere Grabsteine und Denkmäler der Gullivers gesehen.

Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of the following papers in my hands, with the liberty to dispose of them as I should think fit. I have carefully perused them three times.

Bevor er Redriff verließ, vertraute er mir die folgenden Papiere zu meiner freien Verfügung an. Ich habe sie sorgfältig dreimal durchgelesen.

The style is very plain and simple; and the only fault I find is, that the author, after the manner of travellers, is a little too circumstantial.

Der Stil ist sehr klar und einfach; der einzige Fehler, den ich finde, ist, daß der Verfasser nach Art der Reisenden ein wenig zu umständlich vorgeht.

There is an air of truth apparent through the whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for his veracity,

Über dem Ganzen liegt ein Schimmer offensichtlicher Wahrheit; und wirklich war der Verfasser wegen seiner Wahrheitsliebe so berühmt,

that it became a sort of proverb among his neighbours at Redriff, when any one affirmed a thing,

daß es unter seinen Nachbarn zu Redriff zur sprichwörtlichen Redensart wurde

to say, it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.

zu sagen: »Es ist so wahr, als ob Herr Gulliver es gesagt hätte«, wenn einer etwas behauptete.

By the advice of several worthy persons, to whom, with the author’s permission, I communicated these papers,

Auf Anraten mehrerer ehrenwerter Personen, denen ich mit des Verfassers Erlaubnis diese Papiere mitteilte,

I now venture to send them into the world,

wage ich es jetzt, sie in die Welt hinausgehen zu lassen in der Hoffnung,

hoping they may be, at least for some time, a better entertainment to our young noblemen,

daß sie wenigstens für eine Zeitlang für unsere jungen Edelleute eine bessere Unterhaltung sein mögen

than the common scribbles of politics and party.

als das übliche Geschreibsel über Politik und Gesellschaft.

This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds

Dieser Band wäre mindestens zweimal so groß geworden, hätte ich es nicht gewagt, zahllose Stellen zu streichen, die von Wind, Ebbe

and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages,

und Flut handeln wie auch von den Veränderungen und Einflüssen innerhalb mehrerer Reisen

together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors;

zusammen mit den ausführlichen Schilderungen der Führung eines Schiffes bei Sturmwetter in der Seemannssprache;

likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; wherein I have reason to apprehend, that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied.

desgleichen die Erwähnung von Längen- und Breitengraden. Hier glaube ich befürchten zu müssen, daß Herr Gulliver etwas unzufrieden sein wird;

But I was resolved to fit the work as much as possible to the general capacity of readers.

aber ich war entschlossen, das Werk soviel als möglich der allgemeinen Aufnahmefähigkeit der Leser anzupassen.

However, if my own ignorance in sea affairs shall have led me to commit some mistakes, I alone am answerable for them.

Wenn mich jedoch meine eigene Unkenntnis in Seeangelegenheiten zu einigen Fehlern verleitet haben soll, so bin ich dafür allein verantwortlich;

And if any traveller hath a curiosity to see the whole work at large,

und wenn ein Reisender darauf versessen ist, das ganze umfangreiche Werk,

as it came from the hands of the author, I will be ready to gratify him.

wie es aus der Hand seines Verfassers kam, zu sehen, so bin ich bereit, ihm Genüge zu tun.

As for any further particulars relating to the author, the reader will receive satisfaction from the first pages of the book.

Für alle weiteren Einzelheiten über den Verfasser wird der Leser aus den ersten Seiten dieses Buches Befriedigung schöpfen können.

RICHARD SYMPSON.

A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.

EIN BRIEF VON KAPITÄN GULLIVER AN SEINEN VETTER SYMPSON.

Written in the Year 1727.

Geschrieben im Jahre 1727.

I HOPE you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it,

Ich hoffe, daß Du, sooft Du dazu aufgefordert werden solltest, bereit bist, öffentlich anzuerkennen,

that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels,

daß Du mich durch Deine wiederholte dringende Bitte veranlaßt hast, einen sehr lockeren und ungenauen Bericht über meine Reise zu veröffentlichen

with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style,

in der Absicht, einen jungen Mann von der oder jener Universität zu gewinnen, um sie zu ordnen und den Stil zu verbessern,

as my cousin Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.”

so wie es mein Vetter Dampier auf meinen Rat in seinem Buch »Eine Reise um die Welt« tat.

But I do not remember I gave you power to consent that any thing should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted;

Aber ich erinnere mich nicht, daß ich Dir die Ermächtigung gab, irgendwelchen Auslassungen oder gar Hinzufügungen zuzustimmen;

therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that kind; particularly a paragraph about her majesty

daher erkläre ich hier mit Bezug auf letztere, daß ich nichts mit ihnen zu tun habe, besonders nicht mit einem Abschnitt über Ihre Majestät,

Queen Anne, of most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem her more than any of human species.

die Königin Anna hochseligen und ruhmreichen Andenkens, obwohl ich sie wirklich mehr verehrte und achtete als irgend jemanden.

But you, or your interpolator, ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination,

Aber Du oder Dein Textfälscher hätten bedenken sollen, daß, da es nicht meiner Neigung entsprach,

so was it not decent to praise any animal of our composition before my master Houyhnhnm: And besides, the fact was altogether false;

es auch nicht schicklich war, irgendein Lebewesen unserer Art über meinen Meister Hauyhnhnm hinaus zu loben; und zudem war der Sachverhalt gänzlich falsch;

for to my knowledge, being in England during some part of her majesty’s reign, she did govern by a chief minister;

denn meines Wissens – ich war während eines Teils der Regierung Ihrer Majestät in England – regierte sie wirklich durch einen Hauptminister,

nay even by two successively, the first whereof was the lord of Godolphin, and the second the lord of Oxford;

ja sogar durch zwei aufeinanderfolgende, von denen der erste Lord Godolphin und der zweite Lord Oxford war;

so that you have made me say the thing that was not.

so daß Du mich also hast etwas sagen lassen, was gar nicht zutrifft.

Likewise in the account of the academy of projectors,

In gleicher Weise hast Du in dem Bericht über die Akademie der Plänemacher

and several passages of my discourse to my master Houyhnhnm, you have either omitted some material circumstances,

und in mehreren Stellen meiner Unterredung mit meinem Meister Hauyhnhnm entweder wesentliche Umstände weggelassen

or minced or changed them in such a manner, that I do hardly know my own work.

oder sie derart zerhackt oder verändert, daß ich kaum mein eigenes Werk wiedererkenne.

When I formerly hinted to you something of this in a letter, you were pleased to answer that you were afraid of giving offence;

Wenn ich Dich früher auf so etwas in einem Brief aufmerksam machte, antwortetest Du freundlicherweise, »daß Du befürchtetest, beleidigend zu wirken,

that people in power were very watchful over the press, and apt not only to interpret,

daß einflußreiche Leute sehr über die Presse wachten und imstande seien, nicht nur etwas herauszulesen,

but to punish every thing which looked like an innuendo (as I think you call it).

sondern auch alles zu bestrafen, was wie eine Anspielung aussah« (so nennst Du es wohl).

But, pray how could that which I spoke so many years ago, and at about five thousand leagues distance,

Aber, bitte, wie konnte das, was ich vor so vielen Jahren sprach und in einer Entfernung von über 5000 Meilen,

in another reign, be applied to any of the Yahoos, who now are said to govern the herd;

in einem anderen Reich, bezogen werden auf einen der Yähus, die jetzt die Herde regieren sollen;

especially at a time when I little thought, or feared, the unhappiness of living under them?

besonders zu einer Zeit, da ich wenig von dem Unglück unter ihnen zu leben hielt oder befürchtete?

Have not I the most reason to complain, when I see these very Yahoos carried by Houyhnhnms in a vehicle,

Habe ich nicht den meisten Grund, mich zu beklagen, wenn ich sehe, wie gerade diese Yähus von Hauyhnhnms in einem Fahrzeug gefahren werden,

as if they were brutes, and those the rational creatures?

als ob diese das wilde Vieh und jene die vernunftbegabten Geschöpfe wären?

And indeed to avoid so monstrous and detestable a sight was one principal motive of my retirement hither.

Und wirklich, die Vermeidung eines so ungeheuren und verabscheuungswürdigen Anblickes war ein Hauptbeweggrund dafür, daß ich mich hierher zurückzog.

Thus much I thought proper to tell you in relation to yourself, and to the trust I reposed in you.

So viel schien mir erwähnenswert für Dich selbst und für das von mir in Dich gesetzte Vertrauen.

I do, in the next place, complain of my own great want of judgment,

An zweiter Stelle beklage ich mich über meinen eigenen großen Mangel an Urteilskraft,

in being prevailed upon by the entreaties and false reasoning of you and some others, very much against my own opinion,

da ich durch die Bitten und falschen Beweisführungen von Deiner und anderer Seite sehr gegen meine eigene Meinung dazu gebracht wurde,

to suffer my travels to be published.

die Veröffentlichung meiner Reisen zu dulden.

Pray bring to your mind how often I desired you to consider, when you insisted on the motive of public good,

Bitte, erinnere Dich, wie oft ich wünschte, Du würdest, wenn Du auf dem Motiv des öffentlichen Wohles bestündest, bedenken,

that the Yahoos were a species of animals utterly incapable of amendment by precept or example: and so it has proved;

daß die Yähus eine Gattung von Lebewesen waren, die ausgesprochen unfähig waren, sich durch Vorschrift oder Beispiel verbessern zu lassen; und so hat es sich auch erwiesen;

for, instead of seeing a full stop put to all abuses and corruptions, at least in this little island, as I had reason to expect;

denn anstatt wenigstens auf dieser kleinen Insel zu sehen, wie all den Mißbräuchen und Verderbnissen Einhalt geboten wurde, was ich mit gutem Grund erwarten konnte,

behold, after above six months warning, I cannot learn that my book has produced one single effect according to my intentions.

kann ich – sieh da, nach halbjähriger Warnung – nicht in Erfahrung bringen, daß mein Buch einen einzigen zweckentsprechenden Erfolg hervorgebracht hat.

I desired you would let me know, by a letter, when party and faction were extinguished; judges learned and upright;

Ich wünschte, Du würdest mich durch einen Brief wissen lassen, wann die Gesellschaft und Partei ausgelöscht wurden; die Richter gebildet und aufrecht;

pleaders honest and modest, with some tincture of common sense, and Smithfield blazing with pyramids of law books;

die Verteidiger ehrbar und bescheiden und mit einem Anstrich von gesundem Menschenverstand, und Pyramiden von Gesetzesbüchern auf dem Smithfield-Platz verbrannt;

the young nobility’s education entirely changed; the physicians banished;

der jungen Adligen Erziehung gänzlich geändert; die Ärzte verbannt;

the female Yahoos abounding in virtue, honour, truth, and good sense;

die weiblichen Yähus an Tugend, Ehre, Wahrheit und Takt überströmend;

courts and levees of great ministers thoroughly weeded and swept; wit, merit, and learning rewarded;

Höfe und Empfänge großer Minister gründlich ausgerottet und weggefegt; Witz, Verdienst und Wissenschaft belohnt;

all disgracers of the press in prose and verse condemned to eat nothing

alle Beschimpfer der Presse in Prosa und Dichtung dazu verurteilt, nichts

but their own cotton, and quench their thirst with their own ink.

als ihr eigenes Gespinst zu essen und ihren Durst mit ihrer eigenen Tinte zu löschen.

These, and a thousand other reformations, I firmly counted upon by your encouragement;

Auf diese und eintausend andere Reformen rechnete ich fest dank Eurer Förderung,

as indeed they were plainly deducible from the precepts delivered in my book.

da sie in der Tat aus den in meinem Buch gegebenen Anleitungen leicht zu bewerkstelligen waren.

And it must be owned, that seven months were a sufficient time to correct every vice

Und es muß zugegeben werden, daß sieben Monate eine hinreichende Zeit waren, um alle Laster

and folly to which Yahoos are subject, if their natures had been capable of the least disposition to virtue or wisdom.

und Torheiten, denen die Yähus unterworfen sind, zu heilen, wenn nur ihre Natur der geringsten Neigung zur Tugend oder Klugheit fähig gewesen wäre.

Yet, so far have you been from answering my expectation in any of your letters;

Indes bist Du so weit davon entfernt gewesen, meinen Erwartungen in einem Deiner Briefe zu entsprechen,

that on the contrary you are loading our carrier every week with libels, and keys, and reflections, and memoirs, and second parts;

daß Du im Gegenteil jede Woche unseren Boten mit Schmähschriften, Schlüsseln, Reflexionen und Memoiren sowie Fortsetzungen überhäufst;

wherein I see myself accused of reflecting upon great state folk; of degrading human nature

worin ich mich selbst der üblen Nachrede über große Staatsmänner, der Herabwürdigung der Menschennatur

(for so they have still the confidence to style it), and of abusing the female sex.

(denn so nennen sie es noch vertrauensvoll) und des Mißbrauches des weiblichen Geschlechtes angeklagt sehe.

I find likewise that the writers of those bundles are not agreed among themselves;

Auch finde ich, daß die Schreiber jener Bündel von Schriften unter sich selbst nicht einig sind;

for some of them will not allow me to be the author of my own travels;

denn einige von ihnen wollen nicht zugeben, daß ich der Verfasser meiner eigenen Reisen bin,

and others make me author of books to which I am wholly a stranger.

und andere wieder machen mich zum Verfasser von Büchern, mit denen ich gar nichts zu tun habe.

I find likewise that your printer has been so careless

Ferner finde ich, daß Dein Drucker so nachlässig gewesen ist,

as to confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my several voyages and returns;

daß er die Zeiten und Daten meiner verschiedenen Reisen und Heimfahrten verwechselt und vertauscht hat,

neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, nor day of the month:

indem er weder die richtige Jahreszahl noch den richtigen Monat, noch den Monatstag einsetzt;

and I hear the original manuscript is all destroyed since the publication of my book;

und ich höre, daß das Originalmanuskript seit der Veröffentlichung meines Buches ganz zerstört ist;

neither have I any copy left: however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may insert,

auch habe ich keine Kopie übrig. Ich habe Dir aber einige Korrekturen gesandt, die Du einfügen kannst,

if ever there should be a second edition: and yet I cannot stand to them;

wenn jemals eine zweite Auflage in Frage kommen sollte; und doch kann ich nicht darauf bestehen,

but shall leave that matter to my judicious and candid readers to adjust it as they please.

sondern muß diese Sache meinen urteilsfähigen und aufrichtigen Lesern überlassen, sie nach ihrem Gutdünken in Ordnung zu bringen.

I hear some of our sea Yahoos find fault with my sea-language, as not proper in many parts, nor now in use. I cannot help it.

Ich hörte, daß einige unserer See-Yähus meine Seesprache tadeln als in vieler Hinsicht nicht angemessen und jetzt außer Gebrauch. Ich kann daran nichts ändern.

In my first voyages, while I was young, I was instructed by the oldest mariners, and learned to speak as they did.

Auf meinen ersten Reisen, als ich noch jung war, wurde ich von den ältesten Seeleuten unterrichtet und lernte sprechen wie sie.

But I have since found that the sea Yahoos are apt, like the land ones,

Aber seitdem habe ich gefunden, daß die See-Yähus wie die Land-Yähus geneigt sind,

to become new-fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; insomuch,

in ihren Worten erneuerungssüchtig zu werden, welch letztere sie jährlich ändern, und zwar so sehr, daß,

as I remember upon each return to my own country their old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new.

wie ich mich erinnere, bei jeder Rückkehr in meine Heimat ihr alter Dialekt so verändert war, daß ich kaum den neuen verstehen konnte.

And I observe, when any Yahoo comes from London out of curiosity to visit me at my house,

Und ich beobachtete, daß, wenn Yähus von London kommen, um aus Neugier mich in meinem Heim zu besuchen,

we neither of us are able to deliver our conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other.

wir beide außerstande sind, unsere Gedanken in einer dem anderen verständlichen Weise auszudrücken.

If the censure of the Yahoos could any way affect me, I should have great reason to complain,

Wenn die Kritik der Yähus mich irgendwie treffen könnte, so hätte ich allen Grund, mich darüber zu beklagen,

that some of them are so bold as to think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain,

daß einige von ihnen so dreist sind, mein Reisebuch nur für eine Einbildung meines eigenen Gehirnes zu halten;

and have gone so far as to drop hints, that the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia.

und einige sind sogar so weit gegangen, die Bemerkung fallenzulassen, daß die Hauyhnhnms und Yähus kein bißchen mehr Existenz haben als die Einwohner von Utopien.

Indeed I must confess, that as to the people of Lilliput, Brobdingrag

Ich muß wirklich gestehen, daß ich im Hinblick auf die Leute von Liliput, Brobdingrag

(for so the word should have been spelt, and not erroneously Brobdingnag),

(denn so sollte das Wort geschrieben werden und nicht – irrtümlicherweise Brobdingnag)

and Laputa, I have never yet heard of any Yahoo so presumptuous as to dispute their being, or the facts I have related concerning them;

und Laputa noch niemals von einem Yähu gehört habe, der so anmaßend gewesen wäre, ihr Dasein oder die auf sie bezüglichen Tatsachen in Zweifel zu ziehen;

because the truth immediately strikes every reader with conviction.

weil die Wahrheit jedem Leser sofort mit Überzeugungskraft in die Augen springt.

And is there less probability in my account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos,

Und liegt vielleicht weniger Wahrscheinlichkeit in meinem Bericht von den Hauyhnhnms oder Yähus,

when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many thousands even in this country,

wenn es, was letztere betrifft, offenbar ist, daß es so viele Tausende sogar in diesem Lande gibt,

who only differ from their brother brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use a sort of jabber, and do not go naked?

die sich von ihren ungeschlachten Brüdern in Hauyhnhnms-Land nur dadurch unterscheiden, daß sie eine Art Geplapper anwenden und nicht nackt gehen?

I wrote for their amendment, and not their approbation.

Ich schrieb zu ihrer Besserung und nicht zu ihrer Billigung.

The united praise of the whole race would be of less consequence to me,

Das vereinigte Lob der ganzen Rasse würde für mich von geringerer Bedeutung sein

than the neighing of those two degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from these,

als das Wiehern von jenen beiden entarteten Hauyhnhnms, die ich in meinem Stall habe, weil ich von diesen,

degenerate as they are, I still improve in some virtues without any mixture of vice.

so degeneriert sie auch sind, immer noch etwas in einigen makellosen Tugenden für meine Besserung lernen kann.

Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity?

Sollten diese elenden Geschöpfe wirklich meinen, ich sei so entartet, um meine Wahrheitsliebe zu verteidigen?

Yahoo as I am, it is well known through all Houyhnhnmland,

Ich bin nun einmal ein Yähu, und jeder weiß im ganzen Hauyhnhnm-Land,

that, by the instructions and example of my illustrious master, I was able in the compass of two years

daß ich durch die Belehrungen und das Beispiel meines erlauchten Meisters imstande war, im Laufe von zwei Jahren

(although I confess with the utmost difficulty)

(obwohl, wie ich gestehe, mit der größten Schwierigkeit)

to remove that infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and equivocating,

jene teuflische Gewohnheit des Lügens, Überlistens, Täuschens und der zweideutigen Rede von mir abzulegen,

so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my species; especially the Europeans.

die zutiefst im Seelengrunde meiner sämtlichen Artgenossen, besonders der Europäer, verwurzelt ist.

I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any further.

Bei dieser verdrießlichen Gelegenheit hätte ich noch andere Klagen vorzubringen, aber ich unterlasse es, mir selbst oder Dir noch weiteren Kummer zu bereiten.

I must freely confess, that since my last return, some corruptions of my Yahoo nature have revived

Ich muß offen gestehen, daß seit dem letztenmal einige Verdorbenheiten der Yähu-Natur in mir wieder aufgelebt sind,

in me by conversing with a few of your species, and particularly those of my own family, by an unavoidable necessity;

und zwar durch den Umgang mit einigen ihrer Vertreter, und besonders – wie ganz unvermeidlich – mit denen meiner eigenen Familie;

else I should never have attempted so absurd a project as that of reforming the Yahoo race in this kingdom:

sonst hätte ich niemals ein so verrücktes Projekt wie das der Besserung der Yähu-Rasse in diesem Königreiche versucht;

But I have now done with all such visionary schemes for ever.

aber ich bin nun für immer und ewig fertig mit solchen Zukunftsplänen.

April 2, 1727

2. April 1727.

THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

THE author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my ancient and intimate friend; there is likewise some relation between us on the mother’s side. About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary of the concourse of curious people coming to him at his house in Redriff, made a small purchase of land, with a convenient house, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, his native country; where he now lives retired, yet in good esteem among his neighbours.

Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father dwelt, yet I have heard him say his family came from Oxfordshire; to confirm which, I have observed in the churchyard at Banbury in that county, several tombs and monuments of the Gullivers.

Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of the following papers in my hands, with the liberty to dispose of them as I should think fit. I have carefully perused them three times. The style is very plain and simple; and the only fault I find is, that the author, after the manner of travellers, is a little too circumstantial. There is an air of truth apparent through the whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for his veracity, that it became a sort of proverb among his neighbours at Redriff, when any one affirmed a thing, to say, it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.

By the advice of several worthy persons, to whom, with the author’s permission, I communicated these papers, I now venture to send them into the world, hoping they may be, at least for some time, a better entertainment to our young noblemen, than the common scribbles of politics and party.

This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; wherein I have reason to apprehend, that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied. But I was resolved to fit the work as much as possible to the general capacity of readers. However, if my own ignorance in sea affairs shall have led me to commit some mistakes, I alone am answerable for them. And if any traveller hath a curiosity to see the whole work at large, as it came from the hands of the author, I will be ready to gratify him.

As for any further particulars relating to the author, the reader will receive satisfaction from the first pages of the book.

RICHARD SYMPSON.

A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.
Written in the Year 1727.

I HOPE you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.” But I do not remember I gave you power to consent that any thing should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted; therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that kind; particularly a paragraph about her majesty Queen Anne, of most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem her more than any of human species. But you, or your interpolator, ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination, so was it not decent to praise any animal of our composition before my master Houyhnhnm: And besides, the fact was altogether false; for to my knowledge, being in England during some part of her majesty’s reign, she did govern by a chief minister; nay even by two successively, the first whereof was the lord of Godolphin, and the second the lord of Oxford; so that you have made me say the thing that was not. Likewise in the account of the academy of projectors, and several passages of my discourse to my master Houyhnhnm, you have either omitted some material circumstances, or minced or changed them in such a manner, that I do hardly know my own work. When I formerly hinted to you something of this in a letter, you were pleased to answer that you were afraid of giving offence; that people in power were very watchful over the press, and apt not only to interpret, but to punish every thing which looked like an innuendo (as I think you call it). But, pray how could that which I spoke so many years ago, and at about five thousand leagues distance, in another reign, be applied to any of the Yahoos, who now are said to govern the herd; especially at a time when I little thought, or feared, the unhappiness of living under them? Have not I the most reason to complain, when I see these very Yahoos carried by Houyhnhnms in a vehicle, as if they were brutes, and those the rational creatures? And indeed to avoid so monstrous and detestable a sight was one principal motive of my retirement hither.

Thus much I thought proper to tell you in relation to yourself, and to the trust I reposed in you.

I do, in the next place, complain of my own great want of judgment, in being prevailed upon by the entreaties and false reasoning of you and some others, very much against my own opinion, to suffer my travels to be published. Pray bring to your mind how often I desired you to consider, when you insisted on the motive of public good, that the Yahoos were a species of animals utterly incapable of amendment by precept or example: and so it has proved; for, instead of seeing a full stop put to all abuses and corruptions, at least in this little island, as I had reason to expect; behold, after above six months warning, I cannot learn that my book has produced one single effect according to my intentions. I desired you would let me know, by a letter, when party and faction were extinguished; judges learned and upright; pleaders honest and modest, with some tincture of common sense, and Smithfield blazing with pyramids of law books; the young nobility’s education entirely changed; the physicians banished; the female Yahoos abounding in virtue, honour, truth, and good sense; courts and levees of great ministers thoroughly weeded and swept; wit, merit, and learning rewarded; all disgracers of the press in prose and verse condemned to eat nothing but their own cotton, and quench their thirst with their own ink. These, and a thousand other reformations, I firmly counted upon by your encouragement; as indeed they were plainly deducible from the precepts delivered in my book. And it must be owned, that seven months were a sufficient time to correct every vice and folly to which Yahoos are subject, if their natures had been capable of the least disposition to virtue or wisdom. Yet, so far have you been from answering my expectation in any of your letters; that on the contrary you are loading our carrier every week with libels, and keys, and reflections, and memoirs, and second parts; wherein I see myself accused of reflecting upon great state folk; of degrading human nature (for so they have still the confidence to style it), and of abusing the female sex. I find likewise that the writers of those bundles are not agreed among themselves; for some of them will not allow me to be the author of my own travels; and others make me author of books to which I am wholly a stranger.

I find likewise that your printer has been so careless as to confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my several voyages and returns; neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, nor day of the month: and I hear the original manuscript is all destroyed since the publication of my book; neither have I any copy left: however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may insert, if ever there should be a second edition: and yet I cannot stand to them; but shall leave that matter to my judicious and candid readers to adjust it as they please.

I hear some of our sea Yahoos find fault with my sea-language, as not proper in many parts, nor now in use. I cannot help it. In my first voyages, while I was young, I was instructed by the oldest mariners, and learned to speak as they did. But I have since found that the sea Yahoos are apt, like the land ones, to become new-fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; insomuch, as I remember upon each return to my own country their old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new. And I observe, when any Yahoo comes from London out of curiosity to visit me at my house, we neither of us are able to deliver our conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other.

If the censure of the Yahoos could any way affect me, I should have great reason to complain, that some of them are so bold as to think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain, and have gone so far as to drop hints, that the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia.

Indeed I must confess, that as to the people of Lilliput, Brobdingrag (for so the word should have been spelt, and not erroneously Brobdingnag), and Laputa, I have never yet heard of any Yahoo so presumptuous as to dispute their being, or the facts I have related concerning them; because the truth immediately strikes every reader with conviction. And is there less probability in my account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many thousands even in this country, who only differ from their brother brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use a sort of jabber, and do not go naked? I wrote for their amendment, and not their approbation. The united praise of the whole race would be of less consequence to me, than the neighing of those two degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from these, degenerate as they are, I still improve in some virtues without any mixture of vice.

Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity? Yahoo as I am, it is well known through all Houyhnhnmland, that, by the instructions and example of my illustrious master, I was able in the compass of two years (although I confess with the utmost difficulty) to remove that infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my species; especially the Europeans.

I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any further. I must freely confess, that since my last return, some corruptions of my Yahoo nature have revived in me by conversing with a few of your species, and particularly those of my own family, by an unavoidable necessity; else I should never have attempted so absurd a project as that of reforming the Yahoo race in this kingdom: But I have now done with all such visionary schemes for ever.

April 2, 1727