PART TWOThe Beetle and the Snake
The master horse ordered a sorrel nag, one of his servants, to untie the largest of these animals and take him into a yard. The beast and I were brought together,and our countenances diligently compared, both by master and servant, who thereupon repeated several times the word Yahoo. My horror and astonishment are not to be described, when I observed, in this abominable animal, a perfect human figure.
—JONATHAN SWIFT
Gulliver’s Travels
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly ferrous clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who ma
