Gulliver's Travels — Chapter 36 in French
By Jonathan Swift
Pendant mon séjour en ce pays des Houyhnhnms, environ trois mois avant mon départ, il y eut une assemblée générale de la nation, une espèce de parlement, où mon maître se rendit comme député de son canton. ONE of these grand assemblies was held in my time, about three months before my departure, whither my master went as the representative of our district. On y traita une affaire qui avait déjà été cent fois mise sur le bureau, et qui était la seule question qui eût jamais partagé les esprits des Houyhnhnms. Mon maître, à son retour, me rapporta tout ce qui s’était passé à ce sujet. In this council was resumed their old debate, and indeed the only debate that ever happened in their country; whereof my master, after his return, gave me a very particular account.
Il s’agissait de décider s’il fallait absolument exterminer la race des yahous. The question to be debated was, whether the yahoos should be exterminated from the face of the earth. Un des membres soutenait l’affirmative, et appuyait son avis de diverses preuves très-fortes et très-solides. Il prétendait que le yahou était l’animal le plus difforme, le plus méchant et le plus dangereux que la nature eût jamais produit ; qu’il était également malin et indocile, et qu’il ne songeait qu’à nuire à tous les autres animaux. One of the members for the affirmative, offered several arguments of great strength and weight; alleging, that as the yahoos were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animal, which nature ever produced, so they were the most restive and indocible, mischievous and malicious: they would privately suck the teats of the Houyhnhnms cows; kill and devour their cats, trample down their oats and grass, if they were not continually watched, and commit a thousand other extravagancies. Il rappela une ancienne tradition répandue dans le pays, selon laquelle on assurait que les yahous n’y avaient pas été de tout temps, mais que, dans un certain siècle, il en avait paru deux sur le haut d’une montagne, soit qu’ils eussent été formés d’un limon gras et glutineux, échauffé par les rayons du soleil, soit qu’ils fussent sortis de la vase de quelque marécage, soit que l’écume de la mer les eût fait éclore ; que ces deux yahous en avaient engendré plusieurs autres, et que leur espèce s’était tellement multipliée que tout le pays en était infecté ; que, pour prévenir les inconvéniens d’une pareille multiplication, les Houyhnhnms avaient autrefois ordonné une chasse générale des yahous ; qu’on en avait pris une grande quantité ; et qu’après avoir détruit tous les vieux, on en avait gardé les plus jeunes, pour les apprivoiser autant que cela serait possible à l’égard d’un animal aussi méchant, et qu’on les avait destinés à tirer et à porter. He took notice of a general tradition, that yahoos had not been always in their country; but that many ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain; whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known; that these yahoos engendered, and their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous, as to overrun and infest the whole nation: that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd; and destroying the elder, every Houyhnhnm kept two young ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, so savage by nature, can be capable of acquiring; using them for draught and carriage: that there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those creatures could not be ylnhniamshy (or aborigines of the land) because of the violent hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as all other animals, bore them; which, although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have arrived at so high a degree, if they had been aborigines; or else they would have long since been rooted out: that the inhabitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the yahoos, had very imprudently neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labour, although they yield to the other in agility of body; and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the yahoos.
Plusieurs autres sénateurs ayant harangué diversement et très-éloquemment sur le même sujet, mon maître se leva et proposa un expédient judicieux, dont je lui avais fait naître l’idée. Several others declared their sentiments to the same purpose, when my master proposed an expedient to the assembly, whereof he had indeed borrowed the hint from me. D’abord il confirma la tradition populaire par son suffrage, et appuya ce qu’avait dit savamment sur ce point d’histoire l’honorable membre qui avait parlé avant lui. Mais il ajouta qu’il croyait que ces deux premiers yahous dont il s’agissait étaient venus de quelque pays d’outre-mer, et avaient été mis à terre, et ensuite abandonnés par leurs camarades ; qu’ils s’étaient d’abord retirés sur les montagnes et dans les forêts ; que, dans la suite des temps leur naturel s’était altéré ; qu’ils étaient devenus sauvages et farouches, et entièrement différens de ceux de leur espèce qui habitent des pays éloignés. He approved of the tradition mentioned by the honourable member, who spoke before; and affirmed, that the two yahoos, said to be first seen among them, had been driven thither over the sea; that coming to land, and being forsaken by their companions, they retired to the mountains, and degenerating by degrees, became in process of time much more savage, than those of their own species in the country whence these two originals came. Pour établir et appuyer solidement cette proposition, il dit qu’il avait chez lui, depuis quelque temps, un yahou très-extraordinaire, dont les membres de l’assemblée avaient sans doute ouï parler, et que plusieurs même avaient vu. The reason of this assertion was, that he had now in his possession a certain wonderful yahoo, (meaning myself) which most of them had heard of, and many of them had seen. Il raconta alors comment il m’avait trouvé d’abord, et comment mon corps était couvert d’une composition artificielle de poils et de peaux de bêtes ; il dit que j’avais une langue qui m’était propre, et que pourtant j’avais parfaitement appris la leur ; que je lui avais fait le récit de l’accident qui m’avait conduit sur ce rivage ; qu’il m’avait vu dépouillé et nu, et avait observé que j’étais un vrai et parfait yahou, si ce n’est que j’avais la peau blanche, peu de poil et des griffes fort courtes. He then related to them, how he first found me; that my body was all covered with an artificial composure of the skins and hairs of other animals: that I spoke in a language of my own, and had thoroughly learned theirs; that I had related to him the accidents, which brought me thither; that when he saw me without my covering, I was an exact yahoo in every part, only of a whiter colour, less hairy, and with shorter claws. il m’a assuré que dans son pays on rendait eunuques les Houyhnhnms dès leur plus tendre jeunesse, que cela les rendait doux et dociles, et que cette opération était aisée et nullement dangereuse. He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade him, that in my own and other countries, the yahoos acted as the governing, rational animal, and held the Houyhnhnms in servitude: that he observed in me all the qualities of a yahoo, only a little more civilized by some tincture of reason; which however was in a degree as far inferiour to the Houyhnhnm race, as the yahoos of their country were to me: that among other things, I mentioned a custom we had of castrating Houyhnhnms when they were young, in order to render them tame; that the operation was easy and safe; that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as industry is taught by the ant, and building by the swallow; (for so I translate the word lyhannh, although it be a much larger fowl) that this invention might be practised upon the younger yahoos here, which, beside rendering them tractable and fitter for use, would in an age put an end to the whole species, without destroying life: that in the mean time the Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the breed of asses, which as they are in all respects more valuable brutes, so they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five years old, which the others are not till twelve.
Voilà ce que mon maître m’apprit des délibérations du parlement. Mais il ne me dit pas une autre particularité qui me regardait personnellement, et dont je ressentis bientôt les funestes effets ; c’est, hélas ! This was all my master thought fit to tell me at that time, of what passed in the grand council. But he was pleased to conceal one particular, which related personally to myself, whereof I soon felt the unhappy effect, as the reader will know in its proper place, and whence I date all the succeeding misfortunes of my life.