Houyhnhnm fields of oats". The Houyhnhnms are rational, equine beings and are masters of the land, contrasting strongly with the Yahoos, savage humanoid creatures who are no better than beasts of burden, or livestock. Whereas the Yahoos represent all that is bad about humans, Houyhnhnms have a settled, calm, reliable and rational society. Gulliver much prefers the Houyhnhnms' company to the Yahoos', even though the latter are biologically closer to him. It is possible to interpret the Houyhnhnms in a number of different ways. One might possibly, for example, regard them as a veiled criticism by Swift of the British Empire's
The Creation of the Humanoids camera and tells the viewer, "Of course, the operation was a success...or "you" wouldn't be here." This final line implies the story was set in the distant past. "The Creation of the Humanoids" is normally dated to 1962, the year of its general release, but one screening in 1961 is documented by an advertising flyer and the film itself displays a 1960 copyright date (MCMLX in Roman numerals), indicating that it was a complete film before the end of that year. Short items in contemporary trade publications indicate that it was being filmed in the summer of 1960 under a