Gulliver's Travels: Part 3, Chapter 4 - Summary

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SUMMARY

      The author is treated with great hospitality on the island yet he feels neglected as the prince and the people are not interested in any topic of conversation except mathematics and music. Only the women, tradesmen, flappers and court pages would give the author reasonable answers. Ironically, these very people are considered as the most contemptible and low minded creatures. By now the author has learned their language to a great extent. He meets a great lord at court who is highly honored for being related to the king but is generally regarded as a fool for his imperfect knowledge of music. This lord shows keen interest in learning about the laws and customs, the manners and learnings of other nations. On Gulliver’s request, this ford persuades the king to grant the author leave to depart. The king bids him farewell with gifts worth two hundred English pounds, a protector and a letter of recommendation to Munodi, a friend of his in Lagado, the metropolis. When the author visits the town with Munodi, he is surprised to see strangely built buildings and wild-looking people clad in rags. There is no corn or grass although the soil looks fertile. The author is curious to know the reason of all this. Munodi, who was once the governor of Lagado, asks him if he would like to visit his country house, and the author readily consents. The author is amazed and pleased to see neatly built houses and fields containing vineyards, ripe corn and meadows in his estate. Munodi’s house is also a beautiful example of ancient architecture. Munodi tells the author that he might have to destroy his plantation and all the houses built in his country including his own to please the king and his intelligent courtiers. Munodi also tells him how it all began some forty years ago when certain persons went up to Laputa and came back with new ideas on science, arts, language, mechanics, etc. and with a royal patent erected an academy of projectors. Very strange experiments began to be conducted in the academy since then on public expense forcing the common people to live in severe poverty. But none of those projects has reached perfection yet. The author also learns about Munodi’s mill which was destroyed by a club of those projectors some seven years ago on the pretext of making it better but later on the project collapsed and Munodi held responsible for it. Munodi recommends the author to a friend to show him the academy since his own reputation there is not so good.

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