Thank you. It's a relief to see you're the same size as I am.
I'm glad it gives you pleasure.
Forgive my ignorance, but where are we?
On the Flying Island of Laputa.
I was flying. Travelling several hundred feet above the ground.
How big was this flying island?
Huge. At least half a mile across.
But floating in the air as though it were no heavier than a cloud.
And people lived on it?
The greatest minds in the universe!
Conditions were cramped, it was like a warship.
People lived in tiny cabins and came out now and then onto the decks.
Excuse me.
Noble sirs.
These masters are contemplating the universe.
- Do you wish to enter a discourse? - Well, yes.
Permit me, sir.
What's your opinion on the sun's health?
Well, it seemed fine last time I looked.
- What about the spots? - Spots?
Volcanoes on the surface are sending out smoke.
The volcanoes become more violent, the spots decay, and...
Yes. Forgive my ignorance, but where exactly are we?
If we're flying towards the sun, we must be travelling west.
You think so? What a fascinating theory.
No, I was...
An interesting man.
You gave them a lot to think about.
Perhaps you wish to rest before the "End of the World" Ball tonight?
Tom. Breakfast.
Tom! Breakfast!
You will not leave the table until you eat something.
Do you see the harm he's done?
Tom. Tom!
I'll see to him.
Stop this behaviour towards Dr Bates!
I will not have this disobedience. Come and eat your breakfast!
I won't tell you again.
Look, I know why you're doing this, but it won't achieve anything.
Nothing your father told you is true. He made it up to amuse you.
He's very ill - that's why he can't come home.
'I can't change that, much as I want to.
'Your silence will not help him.'
What did they eat?
Perhaps they grew mushrooms, in the clouds!
Don't revel in your ignorance.
The intellectuals of Laputa were far too busy having great thoughts
to be burdened with farming.
They would travel, collecting Brain Taxes from their subjects.
The island would descend over a village or estate.
Buckets would be lowered to be filled with food and drink.
This is where you'll sleep, sir.
But there appears to be no bed, or table...or anything that...
We must have you measured for your costume, sir.
- Costume? - For the ball.
'Brilliant intellectuals employed techniques unknown to our tailors.
'Painstakingly they measured the circumference of my ears,
'the distance between my toes,
'the length of my eyelashes and even my shadow.
'Hard to understand, then, the result.'
Hello. I hope you're settling in.
I ordered you winched up.
Oh, thank you.
I'm Prince Munodi.
Forgive me, your Highness.
Oh, no, don't bother with that. Nobody else does.
I'm the most stupid person in Laputa.
I'm sure that can't be true.
It is. I'm only tolerated because I'm the Rajah's son.
Could I speak with your father? I'm trying to find my way home.
He's thinking, in the observatory.
He'll see you later. I'm performing tonight. Must dash.
You wouldn't want to see him.
If you try to see him, it will agitate him further.
You say the same thing each day.
He gets worse each day. More disturbed and violent.
I know. You believe I'm trying to keep you away from him.
I don't...
Yes, you do, Mary. I only did what I thought was best for Lemuel.
When I took him away, I felt guilty. Had I acted in haste? Selfishly?
Perhaps I am a coward.
If I'd sailed the world, you might have chosen me.
When I see how broken he is,
I wonder if I am not the wiser man, for all my cowardice.
If I cannot see him, I will write to him. Will you take my letters?
Of course, Mary. Of course.
Answer me this. Do you believe he'll recover?
Yes. Yes, of course.
Don't you?
I wish I could say yes.
The Rajah will see you now.
What? Why?
Ow! Thank you. I can manage.
Thank you, that will not be necessary.
I am a traveller from...
Excuse me. Majesty?
I'm trying to get back to England.
Ing-land?
You know of it?
Do you like it?
England, Majesty? It's my home.
No, the music.
The music of the spheres.
I confess I strain to hear anything.
Then we must adapt your ears to hear more clearly.
I am undeserving of such honour.
Indeed.
Forgive yet another interruption, but I need to get home.
Perhaps someone else knows England. It is small but of great importance.
The Academy knows everything.
Everything worth knowing.
- And much more besides. - How will I find it?
Smashed into smithereens.
In a thousand pieces.
For I have compared the figures of the moon and the zodiac
and I can announce that a comet will collide with the sun
at three minutes past three.
Good heavens!
That phenomenon coincides exactly with your arrival.
- What is your name? - Gulliver, Majesty.
We shall name this unspeakable catastrophe "Gulliver's Orb".
Too kind.
'I have failed you. I should never have sent you away.
'Please believe how hard it was.
'I only want you to be well again.
'My deepest wish is that you will return and live with us.
'To have you and lose you again is almost unbearable.
'If you refuse to see me, then at least write. Just a few words.
'I will always love you.'
'To prepare for the end of the world the Rajah commissioned a symphony.
'I confess I found the music too intellectual for my taste.'
I thought you were playing in the concert.
I was asked to leave. My instrument kept playing in tune.
Intellect isn't everything, surely, your Majesty?
It is here.
Well, at least the world is ending tomorrow.
'The world, about to end!'
I couldn't sleep.
I lay tossing and turning, waiting for oblivion, trying to make peace.
Finally, I fell asleep.
I woke the next morning and rushed to my cabin window.
Clouds still scudded. Sun still shone. Birds still flapped.
The world hadn't ended.
I wish I shared your excitement. I rather hoped it would.
'By ingenious movements of a giant magnet,
'the island could be made to rise or fall.
'The only disadvantage to this was that when the lodestone was moved,
'the compasses moved as well, so they had no idea where they were.'
Where are we flying now?
The next collecting point is my mother's estate.
When we get there is another matter.
You look apprehensive.
There'll be trouble. Mother and Father always disagree.
She's down-to-earth. Father always has his head in the clouds.
They've been apart for a long time. I had an unhappy childhood.
Excuse me...
Ah, your Highness. What's happening?
My mother is refusing to send up Brain Taxes. Come on!
Father...
If she wants war, she'll get it. I'll apply my intellect to the task.
She doesn't want war. She just doesn't want us to take her food.
Not that I know anything.
We'll stay over her land and deprive them of rain until their crops die.
I am a genius.
Isn't there a river running through the royal estate?
I knew that!
The Rajah and his intellectuals debated the right course of action,
while the island bore down on the Munodi estate.
I wonder what my idiot husband will do now.
I have it. We must bomb them.
Bomb Mother?
Bomb your wife?
BOMBS AWAY!
Bombs? Very well. Two can play at that game.
She had built a massive magnet
tall as a house and mounted on a truck drawn by 12 carthorses.
This was cranked up until it was aimed directly at the island.
Then the horses started to drag the magnet away until...
Father! We're descending too fast! And at a very straight angle...
not that I know anything.
Do you want the dunce's cap again?
Shouldn't we just leave, before there's any more trouble?
Right. Go to your cabin and read your navigation books.
I think we should have lunch.
Lunch?
Or perhaps something to nibble.
Your Majesty, the island is falling apart. Do something!
I see no reason to rush into action.
Your Highness, what should we do?
I'm the last one to solve a crisis.
You're not. What should we do?
Well, if I wasn't so stupid, I'd try reversing the lodestone.
Brilliant! You're a genius.
Am I?
Reverse the lodestone!
REVERSE THE LODESTONE!
The island juddered to a halt for an instant.
Then the two opposing magnets sent it hurtling back up.
We're rising again. That vindicates my decision not to act in haste.
By waiting, the problem has solved itself!
Interesting.
How are you feeling today?
I'm sorry I missed your lecture. I hear it was spectacular.
How is Mary? When is she coming?
Give her time. It's been disturbing for her.
Will she not even write?
I fear not. In truth, I think she's frightened of what you've become.
I need to see her. I know she'll understand if I can explain.
I think I can change her mind. But you must play your part...
and accept you are not well enough to receive visitors.
Not today, nor the day after, nor the day after that.
Your recovery will take some considerable time.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
Your bag came this morning with a note from my son.
Oh, thank you.
How is he?
I have to report your son has failed all his examinations.
He's considered a complete idiot.
Good. There's hope for him yet.
Are you a man of great intelligence?
I fear not.
Excellent.
Compared to your husband's brain, my intelligence is negligible.
He is an imbecile.
But one of breathtaking intellect.
What use are flowers to intellect? If he had his way, there'd be none.
He'd tear them up to measure their mass, circumference and volume.
Why don't you stay?
I miss the pleasure of unintelligent male company.
If only I could.
But I must try to find the Academy, where I can get directions home.
- The Academy? - You know of it?
I wish it had never been built.
My husband installed the most brilliant minds in the world there.
- Where's the harm in that? - They've brought ruin on this land.
Everything outside my estate is devastated.
Why?
Because the Academy decided that the new world cannot be built,
until the old one is exterminated.
'I set off for the Academy.
'There was no grand entrance, just a slit of a doorway, cut into stone.
'I entered the residence of the professors of speculative learning.
'The first place I came across was the School of Language.'
Oh, come in. Sit down.
Now, speaking is a corrosion of the lungs and to be avoided.
I've devised a method
whereby one carries the objects one needs to converse
and points at them. Simple.
These two farmers are making a transaction over a lamb.
No, it's about the weather.
Er, about whether one can walk his sheep over the other's land.
It seems this farmer is furious.
No, he's proposing marriage!
I think.
Excuse me. I'm trying to find out how to get to England.
Go to the Room of Answers.
'I passed the School of Politics, full of informers and accusers.'
Look. A seemingly innocent note from a boy to his grandfather.
"Our brother Tom has just got the piles." What does that mean?
Rearrange the letters. "Resist! A plot is brought home. The tour."
'They were mad, all mad.
'So obsessed with their own worlds, they had forgotten reality.'
Excuse me, is this the Room of Answers?
Ah, you've arrived at last. Put some of these in there.
I...I need to find...
You see, I need...
Excuse me. What are you doing?
What does it look like?
I'm extracting sunlight from cucumbers.
Just another eight years and I'll have the problem solved.
Stay and help. Do stay and help. It'll be so much more exciting.
'People tried to build houses from the roof downwards, like spiders.
'In one room, hogs were trained to plough fields by digging up acorns.
'Hundreds of professors tackling every problem known to man.
'But no ideas were finished,
'and meanwhile, the country lay in ruins.'
Is this the Room of Answers?
Please, I have to know the way home.
You'll never find it, because, in your heart, you don't want to.
NO!
That's not true!
Subdue him!
It's all right. I'm sure he didn't realise what he was doing.
Down you go.
'This was the most desolate place to which my travels had brought me.'
You're insane.
Yes, I know.
I mean you're insane to be outside the Academy, unarmed and on foot.
If the Struldbruggs had found you, you'd be dead.
Who are they?
They live beneath the volcano.
They're everywhere, under our feet.
They torture and kill for sport.
You'd do better to cut your throat than let them take you alive.
Thank you. I'll remember that.
I am the Lord of Glubbdubdrib.
My name is Lemuel Gulliver.
I'm trying to find my way home to England.
I don't suppose you've heard of it.
Of course I have. I've just come from the port of Maldonada
on the other side of the volcano.
A Dutch vessel there is bound for Portsmouth. It sails in a few days.
For Portsmouth?
- Home... - I shall take you there.
Thank you.
But tonight you must be my guest.
Oh...
Yes. Thank you.
You are so lucky I saw you before the Struldbruggs.
I bought you some candles. I do not approve of this treatment of you.
But other doctors have superiority.
They have determined that you spend a week away from human society.
No, I can't stay a week in here.
I'm doing everything I can to get you out.
- You have to help me get better. - Of course...
and you have to trust me.
Now, take this.
It will calm you and let you sleep. Have some whenever you want.
Please bring me paper and ink. I'll write down everything.
A splendid idea. Alas, you are to be forbidden these things.
I'll bring you chalk to mark off the days. Now, take the medicine.
Your health.
Do you live alone?
Quite alone. I am an historian. I need the utmost peace to study.
An historian! I believe the study of history to be the key to wisdom.
I'd love to browse in your library.
Library?
I've no interest in books.
I study history purely from the source.
How is such a thing possible?
My dear friend, you look very tired.
Quite exhausted, in fact.
Do have another glass of wine.
Forgive my rudeness, but I'm suddenly very tired.
Might I retire for the night?
Of course. Take your wine with you.
It might help you to sleep.
I think there's going to be a storm.
You slept through the storm, sir?
I must have. Where's your master?
He is resting. He studies at night.
- He will join you for dinner. - Thank you.
You mentioned taking me to the port today.
Did I? Oh, yes. Sadly, it's not possible.
In the storm, a fence was broken and my horses escaped.
My servants are out looking for them. They won't have got far.
We'll ride to the port tomorrow. Don't worry.
I was writing to your father. I thought you might add a few words.
Perhaps you will touch his heart where I can't.
Tell him of your silent protest.
I'm sure he'll recognise his own stubbornness in yours.
You can even say how unfair I'm being, if you like.
Write what you want.
I want him to come home.
I wonder, sir...
Don't think me ungrateful for your hospitality, but...
When might we go to the port?
My servants are looking for the horses. Don't worry.
We'll ride there tomorrow.
Tell me,
when might we go to the port?
My servants are out looking for the horses. Don't worry.
We'll ride there tomorrow.
Did I ask this yesterday?
You only arrived yesterday.
It always seems to be dinnertime.
I always seem to sit down and then ask, "When might we go to the port?"
My servants are looking for the horses.
Don't worry. We'll ride there tomorrow.
'The wine was drugged. That's why I remembered nothing.
'I drank none that night, and waited to see what happened.'
Are you sleeping now? Good. Arise and come with me.
I stand at the gates of life and death.
Come forward. Come forward, spirits!
Here is life.
Alexander the Great! Great warrior. Leader of men.
Smell blood. Smell life.
I summon you!
Who called me and why? I'm in the middle of fighting Darius.
- Who summoned me? - I summoned you, great leader.
I wish to confirm, in all humility,
some small details of your long and illustrious history.
Our scholars record that you met a terrible death by poisoning.
No, I died of a fever brought on by excessive drinking.
Where do you keep the wine?
Wait!
'Alexander the Great! I listened as he boasted of his military genius,
'his strength and cunning,
'until he got so drunk, he fell over.
'I bore witness to the resurrection of the greatest heroes of history.
'But I was astounded to see how many villains
'had been raised to the highest positions of trust, power and dignity
'and how many revolutions were due to contemptible accidents.'
Observing how easily these men of history were summoned,
I began to see a way to gain my liberty.
Come forward, spirits.
Come forward.
Here is life. Life!
Michelangelo! Mark Antony! Leonardo! I summon you.
EUREKA!
That's it. I've solved it! I've solved it! Ha ha!
- How did they all get here? - I have no idea, sir.
Outrageous. It is so difficult to make them go back.
Socrates, if souls exist after death, why not also before birth..?
Mark Antony, I order you to return!
Cleopatra, you must go back. I beg you.
AH!
Who's that?
A Caesar, I think. I'm only trying to alleviate my boredom.
I declare this territory to be under my direct rule.
I sent you back. Stay dead this time!
ADVANCE!
Is there no end? What now?
Open the doors!
I hardly dare say, sir.
Whom have you summoned?
I wished to ask Commander Hannibal about his adventures in the Alps.
All right. Get out of here. Leave me alone.
The door is locked.
'I ran until my lungs were bursting and I thought I would drop dead.
'How long had I been delayed?'
'Could I reach the port in time? Did it even exist?
'Or was it another fantasy?'
Yes?
Sorry for my bad behaviour.
Mother says to give this letter to my father.
Good news! I've persuaded the doctors to return you to your cell,
provided that I become more involved in treating you.
I have reconstructed my journal.
But that's wonderful.
It explains all that has happened...
and why I feel the way I do.
You've finished your medicine. We must get you some more...
You must show this to the doctors.
Of course.
Clean all this nonsense off the walls immediately.
Yes, sir.
Tom! What are you doing?
He's hiding them. He's hiding them!
Hiding what?
Your letters.
You dare to trespass on our land?
Enjoy the view. This is the last daylight you'll see.
You are the guest of the immortal Struldbruggs.
No, please. I must get to the port. It's my last chance to get home.
Wait! There's been a mistake! I was just trying to catch a boat.
I was not trespassing! Please let me leave.
Crawl forth, seekers of immortality.
No, no. I don't seek it!
Grovel before the Immortal Gatekeeper.
What gift have you brought me? I can't quite see.
I'm afraid I haven't...brought one.
It will take me years to devise the manner of your death. Take him away.
Wait! I do have something!
A giant wasp sting!
A wasp sting?
'A giant wasp sting.'
In a thousand years, I've never seen such a thing.
Mary, I didn't expect to see you here.
You should've warned me. This is not a suitable time.
How is he today?
Well, much the same.
You gave him my last letter?
Of course. I saw him read it.
Your letters mean a great deal to him. He reads them many times.
I understand how hard it is for you to stay at home and wait.
But if he is to recover fully, we must trust the doctors.
You're a liar.
It's for the best.
- I understand your anger. - You do not.
Your letters would have upset him.
I'm taking him home.
Would that it were so simple.
But he cannot leave without a formal hearing.
Then I insist a hearing takes place.
Of course. I do not wish to keep a sane man confined.
I'll speak to the doctors. We'll do it tomorrow. Come and see.
I don't anticipate any problem settling the matter.
In my grasp. Man's greatest desire - to cheat death.
Ordinary people must seem like flowers,
blooming and dying in a few days.
Immortality!
Welcome to the immortal world.
This is the source of the life everlasting.
Drink from this water and you will never fear death. Never.
But I have to get home. There's a ship in the port.
I only have minutes before it sails.
Minutes? What are minutes?
You have no need for such petty considerations.
I was offered immortality. Man's dream.
Without the fear of death, I could learn the truths of existence.
I could get riches and wisdom, read every book written,
study the planets and stars.
I'd watch the rise and fall of republics and kings
and with my knowledge, offer advice to all. I could do anything!
It's true. I have been there. And seen what you describe.
The Struldbruggs.
Yes? Then I am not mad.
No. And as I drank, I saw the King riding a walrus, high up in the sky.
What have you been taking?
I don't know. It's medicine.
You're a doctor. Why are you taking something you don't know about?
I know what it is.
Laudanum.
Drink! Taste immortality.
Why is your hand shaking so badly?
What's wrong with her?
Nothing.
What's wrong with everyone?
Drink the water!
You'll defy nature. You'll outlive the stars. You'll be like a God.
You can't see me, can you?
I'm alive. The water keeps us alive.
You're blind. You're all blind!
No, some of us can make out shapes.
We'll never die. That's what matters. We never die.
Never die.
That's all that matters, cheating death.
No! NO!
'I ran like the wind. The port was surely not far.
'When I reached the jetty, I leapt, leapt!'
I made it! I was going home, finally. England!
Surely now, after all the misfortunes I'd suffered,
nothing could go wrong.
That night, I couldn't eat anything.
Mary, I need some of my medicine.
No. No.
I feel very sick.
My mouth is red and swollen and I can't lift my arms.
Everyone complains of the same condition.
Perhaps I brought the fever on board.
In a week it spread through the ship.
I got sicker and sicker, but I refused to die.
Not after everything I'd come through.
Too warm and then too cold in the same instant.
Of the officers, only two others survived.
Bodies were rolled overboard
by people too weak to perform a decent ceremony.
Everyone stopped working.
The ship just drifted, sails down, and I...
Mary, I must have some of my medicine.
You're doing so well.
We lost three-quarters of our men.
We were forced to find a port and take on fresh crew. Some real rogues.
They quickly took over the ship
and imprisoned me and the other two officers.
They would have killed us.
That night, I escaped and jumped overboard, and began to swim.
'I swam as long as I could until, at the point of exhaustion,
'I was cast up on a deserted shore.'
How do you feel this morning?
I am still here, if that's what you mean.
Lemuel, you must be honest with me. We are different now.
If you...no longer care for me,
you must simply tell me, and I will try to understand.
It's a start.
We must get you ready for the doctors.
Don't be afraid. Speak the truth.
Admit the fantasies, say they're over and...they'll send you home.
Are you listening to me?
AH!
The work we do here at Bedlam is humane and yet disciplined.
Ah!
Please come in.
Yahoos!
Ladies and gentlemen, before you today is a most exceptional patient.
Why are these people here?
Why not? They are governors of the hospital, medical students.
You did not say it would be public.
Mary, I cannot reorganise the hospital for your convenience.
I want to go back to my cell. This place is full of Yahoos.
What is your name?
What?
State your full name.
Lemuel Gulliver.
Stand up, please.
Then perhaps Dr Bates will inform us about your condition.
May I say something first?
Yes.
My husband shouldn't be here.
He's an intelligent man, a doctor and a ship's surgeon.
Eight years ago, he was the only survivor of a shipwreck.
Washed up on a strange shore,
near starving, forced to drink seawater, he suffered delusions.
He invented people to talk to.
We might do the same, faced with the terror of being totally alone.
He's been very sick, but he's a sane man,
a good man. And he belongs at home with his family.
Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you.
If you're a magician and you've changed yourself into a horse,
I want you to know I'm just a poor Englishman, lost and alone.
I would like to ride on your back to the nearest village or town.
No, wait!
Please wait!
You see before you one of the most unusual cases
it has been my sad privilege to examine.
I have my own observations about it.
But I would prefer that the patient himself explain a little.
I'm sure you'll find what he has to say...instructive.
Come. This hearing is at your request. Everyone is waiting.
What is it to be today? More giants? Flying islands?
- I don't want to say anything. - Really?
Surely you've had some more fine talks with Plato or Aristotle.
Don't disappoint us.
Nothing to say?
Very well, escort him back to his cell.
I...I...
I...don't...eat...hay.
I beg your pardon?
I don't eat hay.
No, thank you.
Do you have any milk?
You know, from cows.
Is this where I must sleep?
At least it isn't with those horrible savages.
I can't sleep here! See how they tried to attack me! And the smell!
What if they set on me in the night, those...?
Yahoo.
Ya-hoos?
YAHOO!
Yahoos?
Man.
I'm a m...
MAN.
Yes, yes. Man.
You can talk.
What sort of being are you? Are you a horse?
Houyhnhnm.
Hou... Hou... Houyhnhnm?
Houyhnhnm.
Houyhnhnm!
That's quite enough of that.
Horses that talked?
That built houses? That milked cows? Kept pets?
Silence! This is a medical examination.
I know that any man would laugh at such a story.
But listen before you pass judgement.
In the name of reason, which is surely the purpose of this assembly,
I ask for your attention.
In the name of reason, then, tell us these horses didn't talk.
They talked.
'I struggled to learn the language of the Houyhnhnms.
'I was a poor student.
'Mistress, the mare who found me,
'learned my speech faster than I hers.'
They are the most extraordinary creatures any man ever met.
They have no vices, conflicts or disagreements.
Everything is resolved by the exercise of reason. Simple reason.
The name Houyhnhnm means "perfection of nature".
You're not here to lecture us but to be examined. Sit down.
They have a strange custom,
that when two of them meet, there is silence before they speak.
This made me consider what I had to say much more carefully.
I tried to give Mistress an explanation of our society -
how I was a doctor who heals the sick.
But she could not understand the concept of disease,
something absent from their society.
I can't begin to describe all the human sicknesses possible.
We feed on many things which work against each other.
We eat when we are not hungry and drink strong liquor without thirst.
'Often Mistress seemed uneasy, finding it hard to believe my words.'
When I tried to explain what I meant by "lying" she was shocked.
She told me speech was to make us understand, to receive information.
And if anyone said the thing which is not - a lie -
then that purpose was defeated.
- Sir, what is your implication? - None, sir.
I merely point out that she could conceive of no purpose to lying,
which is so perfectly understood and universally practised by humans.
'She found it hard to understand
'what I meant by power, government and war.
'For law, punishment and a thousand things their language had no word.'
Horses in my country are like Yahoos in yours, beasts of burden.
We put iron on their feet so they can walk our stony roads,
and saddles so they can be ridden.
- By Yahoos? - They had no choice!
Horses are broken when they're young.
Males are castrated at two, to take down their spirits.
If they show disobedience, they are whipped, or kicked with spurs.
They pull our loads and plough our fields.
Rich ladies ride them in parks, and we race them for our entertainment.
And when they get too old to work or to be ridden for fun,
they are butchered, skinned and sold for dog meat.
And what's wrong with that? What is your argument, sir?
The proposition is that this society of horses is superior to our own.
Is that so, sir?
I'm not suggesting it, I'm insisting!
The Yahoos, on the other hand, seemed to have no virtues whatsoever.
'The Houyhnhnm language has no word for evil,
'but everything that is bad has "Yahoo" added to it.
'There are a lot of such words.'
'Fortunately, the Houyhnhnms saw no resemblance between my appearance
'and that of the brutish Yahoos.
'Until one morning.'
Yahoo!
No, no. No, I'm not a Yahoo!
These are my clothes, they cover my body.
Everyone in my country wears clothes.
- Why? - Well, because of modesty.
Imagine if men and women went around naked!
We'd... We'd be preoccupied with sex.
Yahoo!
No, we're civilised.
We wear clothes to... Well, clothes tell you how important someone is.
If you're wealthy you wear clothes of flimsy material,
silk or lace, that need to be cleaned constantly.
You buy new clothes all the time.
Obviously, it's unpardonable for a lady to wear a dress more than once.
I don't have any dresses, because...
I'm a man and men don't wear dresses.
Oh, dear. Can we change the subject?
You mean your horse friend didn't understand the need for clothes?
Precisely.
- Do you? - What do you mean?
Why not be seen as God made us?
Every Christian knows it would be immodest.
Would these ladies and gentlemen be incapable of modesty
if they were not wearing clothes?
They would be Yahoos? Some of the Houyhnhnms agreed with you, sir.
'They were concerned that I was a Yahoo,
'and should be treated as one.
'I told Mistress that if together we could study these creatures,
'it would become apparent that I had nothing in common with them.
'and we could clear up this confusion once and for all.
'Day One - Leadership.
'Each herd had a ruling Yahoo.
'I wondered how the Yahoos picked their leader.
'In our country we seek to elect the most intelligent amongst us.
'The Yahoos picked the most mischievous.'
This leader would choose a favourite
whose job was to lick his master's feet and posterior
and drive the female Yahoos to his kennel.
What are you implying?
He would continue in office until an even worse candidate could be found.
Then the Yahoos in the district would come and discharge excrement on him.
I am warning you!
Day Two - Aggression.
'The bestial Yahoos fight for no reason at all.
'Whereas, as I explained to Mistress, we only fight for a good reason.
'Such as, because our enemies are much weaker than us,
'or we desire all their land.'
Day Three - Mating.
I fear I may shock you with my experience of their practices,
but I believe it's vital that you share my deep revulsion
at the antics of our neighbours.
The red-haired males and females of the species
were more highly sexed than the rest,
so I should have been on my guard.
'It was a hot day, and I thought the Yahoo herd had moved on,
'so I decided to take advantage of the cool water.'
'What frightened me, beyond the violence,
'was that I could be mistaken by a female on heat for another Yahoo.'
'Could I deny my true nature? Was this the real man, a brute?'
When I saw myself in the lake, I wanted to turn away in disgust.
Enough of this nonsense!
We know enough to make our...
Then there came a terrible temptation.
'Mistress took me to a cliff I'd not visited before,
'where the Yahoos were digging stones out of the clay.'
'She explained how the Yahoos coveted these strange rocks
'and asked me why.'
In my country, they're called diamonds.
What are they for?
I have no idea. Primitive people like shiny things.
They have no value?
None whatsoever.
Liar! What a liar I was.
That night I made a pick from a flint head.
I crept back to the quarry.
All night long I hacked away to get at the diamonds.
Do you know why I left my wife to go to sea? Do you?
I couldn't earn enough as a doctor at home,
so I took a surgeon's wages from a shipping company.
Here I was, in this strange country, holding a fortune in my hands.
I'd never have to work again.
I'm rich! Rich.
I can have anything I want.
'But what did I want?
I thought of only one thing - home,
of waking in my own bed with my wife and the things that I knew around me.
Now I was rich enough to give Mary everything.
Except I couldn't leave.
Now that I could have what I wanted, all I wanted was to stay here.
I would rather live with these Houyhnhnms than with my own wife.
Without other people, I'd lost all my vices.
There was no one to envy or steal from or flatter or brag or lie to.
And if I left this place what could happen except my corruption?
That's my grand country house!
That's my fine clothes!
And the servants to dress me!
And my hunting and my fishing and my vintage wines!
Because I'm never going back!
I'm going to become a Houyhnhnm!
That night I slept with a peace I hadn't experienced for years.
I didn't hear the Yahoos creep up and steal my clothes.
Yahoos on the rampage.
They had found a trough of fermenting apples and drunk the lot.
They smashed everything in their path.
My coat! Give me...
'The Houyhnhnm Council reached its judgement. I must leave them forever.
'Until I left, I must remain with my own kind.'
How long do I have?
Until the full moon.
Mistress!
Is that it, then?
Am I really just another Yahoo in the end? Am I?!
'I worked long days.
'I had resolved to leave, the sooner the better.'
'I built a boat of skins.
'I loaded it up with vegetables, rabbits and other provisions.'
We love words, we humans.
We use so many, so easily, until they've lost all their meaning.
But when I say, as the last day dawned,
that my heart was breaking...
I have never known such awful pain and loneliness.
You are more Houyhnhnm than Yahoo.
'As I sailed off, the Houyhnhnms cried out to me from the beach.
'I didn't turn to look.
'It is a sound that will stay with me for the rest of my life.'
'When I could no longer see land I threw all my food overboard.
'I had decided not to return home. I couldn't live with humans again.
'After many hours a shadow came across my boat.
'I realised that Death had come to claim me.'
No.
Go away! Go!
Ah, no! No!
I stayed in my cabin the entire voyage, talking to no one.
I ate the foul Yahoo food only to survive.
I washed myself whenever I touched anything, until I reached England.
This is the most extraordinary story.
Coupled with Doctor Bates's notes, I've never heard a story like it.
When my husband came here he was very disturbed.
And I think he's been encouraged to believe his fantasies really existed.
But that's over now, he's purged himself.
Lemuel is not insane.
I want him to come home, and I know that is his wish also.
You say your husband is not insane.
Then do you believe his fantastical stories?
I believe he has suffered greatly.
But do you believe him? It is a simple question.
I believe he has much to teach us...
I ask you again! Do you believe him or not?
Who in this room has been harmed by him?
You ask me if I believe him, and my answer is this.
I believe in him.
I believe Lemuel is a truly good man. I believe he is an honest man.
And I believe his journey has made him a better man.
Tell me the crime he has committed that merits this terrible punishment.
What if his stories are true or not? What does it matter?
He had a thirst, a raging, unquenchable thirst
to see the world and drink everything in it.
And now that thirst is quenched.
Perhaps he has drunk more than any man could swallow,
but who are we to judge him?
Who are we to doubt his word and compel him to remain here?
You have asked your questions, and now I ask mine.
Who in this room has been harmed by him?
He is harming himself.
It is our Christian duty to keep him here until we cure him.
Your motives for keeping him here are anything but Christian.
How dare you question me!
He's insane, he must be locked up.
He is a lunatic, gibbering against Mankind,
tearing down all shreds of decency and modesty,
filthy in word and thought!
He has a hatred against the human race
and a mind fuelled with images from the dunghill!
Are we to stand by and hear our nature libelled and besmirched?
I have tried to speak the truth as I saw it.
What arrogance! What presumption!
To show men what they are and teach them!
You are either a liar or a lunatic. Which is it?
GENTLEMEN!
This is a hospital, not a prison.
Our ambition is not to confine people, but to cure them.
Lemuel Gulliver, you are clearly suffering from a disease of the mind.
This journey happened only in your head.
All we ask is that you acknowledge this.
When you have done that, then you may leave. What do you say?
Then I may leave?
Of course.
Every single thing I have told you is the truth and happened to me.
Why do you persist?!
You say you saw all these things that no one else has ever seen.
Have you one shred of proof?
- I did have... - No! He has no proof!
- Isn't it enough that I say so? - No, it is not enough.
We shall review your case next year at the same time.
Keepers, take him back to his cell.
Listen, I'm telling the truth! Why won't anyone believe me?
Who is this child?
Thomas, what are you doing here?
Go back to your mother, boy.
I thought he'd gone, but he was in the garden eating grass.
I found him again this morning.
'We never saw Bates again.
'I heard he had gone abroad, but I don't know if it's true.
'The house is still in his name, but he never returned to claim it.
'The first money I laid out when I returned
'was to buy two young horses'
'They understand me tolerably well, and I converse with them every day.
'It was many months before I could look in a mirror without disgust.
'But my family let me walk at my own pace and showed me a kindness
'that is perhaps greater than reason might allow.
'Until, at last, I was able to play with my son, Tom, like a true father
'and be again a husband to my wife, Mary,
'to whom I owe my life and freedom.
'All the Yahoo vices I can begin to accustom myself to once more.
'Except for pride, and that I cannot tolerate.
'I see myself for what I truly am.
'I lost eight years of my life
'and yet the moments I have had, the marvels I have witnessed,
'the wonderful truths I have seen!
'You see, when night falls and you close your eyes to sleep and dream,
'I have seen the things you can only dream about.
'I have been there.
'I was lost at sea for a long time.
'But I have been there. Oh, yes.
'All the way, and back.'