Chapter 3.
The author studies the Hohenheim language.
He gives the short account of his voyage.
My main goal was to learn the language which my master, his children and every servant of his house were eager to teach me.
I pointed to everything and asked the name of it.
I then wrote these words down in my journals.
I also worked hard to correct my bad accent.
The Hohenheims pronounce through the nose or throat, and their language is more graceful than any other I know.
The curiosity of my master was so great that he spent many hours trying to teach me.
He was convinced that I must be a yahoo.
But my cleanliness and good manners surprised him, for they were qualities completely opposite to those of the yahoos.
The yahoos caused much trouble and were considered completely unteachable.
My master was most confused by my clothes.
He was not sure whether or not they were part of my body.
He wanted to learn where I came from and how I gained the appearance of reason, and wished to hear the story from my own mouth.
The nature of my clothing was revealed by accident.
One morning my master sent the sorrel nag for me.
I was fast asleep and the cloth I used to cover me had fallen off on one side.
The noise the nag made woke me quickly.
He delivered his message in a shaky voice, after which he went to my master and gave a very confused account of what he'd seen.
When I went to visit my master, he told me what the servant had reported that I was not the same thing when I slept, as I appeared to be at other times.
With the limited language I had learned, I told my master that those of my kind always covered their bodies in order to avoid either hot or cold weather.
I offered to show him this, asking only his permission not to undress myself completely.
My master could not understand why we should hide what nature had given.
He said that neither he nor his family were ashamed of their parts, but that I could do as I pleased.
At this, I pulled off my shoes, socks, and pants, and let my shirt down to my waist.
My master lifted up my clothing and looked at each piece carefully.
He examined my body closely, walking around me several times, and then declared me to be a perfect Yahoo.
He said that I differed from most of my species only in the whiteness, the smoothness of my skin and the lack of hair on certain parts of my body, the shape and sharpness of my claws and my habit of walking about on two feet.
I expressed my uneasiness with being called a yahoo, an animal for which I had such a complete hatred.
I begged him to stop using that word to talk about me and requested that the secret of clothing might be known to none but him.
All of this he kindly agreed to, asking only that I hide nothing else from him.
After about ten weeks' time, I was finally able to understand most of my master's questions, and in another three months I was able to give him more complete answers.
I told him that I came from over the sea, from a far place populated by many of my kind.
I explained that I had come in a great hollow vessel made from the bodies of trees.
I also told him that my companions had forced me to land on this coast and then left me to fend for myself.
After listening to my story, he told me that I must be mistaken or that I said the thing which was not, for they have no word for lying in their language.
He thought it impossible that there could be a country beyond the sea or that a group of animals such as myself could move a wooden vessel out upon the water.
He was sure that no Hohenheim could make such a vessel and would certainly not trust a yahoo to manage it.
He asked me who made the ship and how it was possible that the Hohenheims of my country would leave it to their management.
I told him that I could go no further in my story unless he gave me his word that he would not be offended.
He agreed.
And I went on assuring him that the ship was made by creatures like myself who, in all of my travels, were the only rational animals I had seen.
I told him that I was as surprised to see the Hohenheims act like rational beings as he was to find signs of reason in a yahoo.
I told him that if fortune ever restored me to my native country, my countrymen would hardly think it possible that a Hohenheim should be the ruling creature and the Yahu the slave.
My master listened to me with an expression of great uneasiness.
He wished to know whether we had Hohenheims among us and what was their employment.
I told him that we had great numbers and that in summer they were kept in the fields and in winter they were kept in houses with oats and hay.
I begged him at this point to excuse me from speaking any further, for I was certain the account he received from me would be highly displeasing.
He commanded me to go on, asking me to tell him the best and the worst.
I admitted that the Hohenheims among us were called horses and considered the most attractive and graceful animals we had.
Then I told him that, when owned by persons of quality, they were often used for racing or drawing chariots.
They were treated very well and taken good care of until they became too old or diseased.
I described our manner of riding horses as well as I could, including our use of saddles, spurs and whips.
I added that we fastened plates of a hard substance called iron at the bottom of the hooves to prevent them from being broken.
My master was offended and wondered how we dared to ride on a Hohenheim's back, as surely the weakest servant in his house could shake off the strongest Yahu.
I answered that our horses were trained strictly from three to four years of age and that they were disciplined if they proved ill-behaved.
It is impossible to explain his anger at our treatment of the Hohenheim race.
He could hardly believe the account I had given him.
He observed also that every animal in this country naturally hated the yahoos.
Even supposing us to have the gift of reason, he could not see how it were possible to cure the natural hatred all creatures had for us, nor could he see how we could tame animals and make them servants.
At that, he said he would debate the matter no further.
He was far more curious to know my own story, the country where I was born and the course my life had taken.
