In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver earns the title of Nardac by being the first to urinate on the Lilliputians’ palace during a fire.
The Nardac is a high office in Lilliput, and it is only bestowed upon those who have distinguished themselves by some great action. When Gulliver arrives in Lilliput, he sees that they are having a fire at their palace. He sees that they have no water supply and asks what they do when there is a fire. They tell him that in such cases they urinate on it, and then put out the fire with their tongues.
Gulliver offers to help put out the fire, but he does not know how to do this because he cannot urinate properly (he has not been able to since he was born). However, he decides that if he can make an opening in his body and stick his finger inside it so that it reaches his bladder then he can pee from there just like the Lilliputians do. He does this successfully and then pours his urine onto the flames which puts them out immediately.
To sum up, Swift’s satire is not a novel of morality. It is a satire on human nature, and it is meant to be read by people who are curious about the human condition. The novel was translated into nearly 20 languages and was one of the most popular books in Europe during its first dozen years after publication. Many people found Swift’s satire to be offensive, but others found it to be an important contribution to the development of the English language.
