Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.

Gulliver spends more time discoursing with dead historical figures such as Homer, Aristotle, and Descartes. He also speaks with a Roman emperor. After spending five days speaking with men of antiquity, he meets with those who died more recently. Gulliver is able to discover the lineages of the elite of his day and learns how history is embellished by those who have power. Much of how lineage is portrayed in the present does not align with the commoners he visits with. He also witnesses how corruption tends to be passed down through subsequent generations almost as though it is an inborn trait. After his meetings with these people, Gulliver comes to disdain the elite of his own day.

Gulliver leaves Glubbdubdrib and awaits a ship to Luggnagg. After finally arriving in Luggnagg, Gulliver speaks with a customs officer and tells him that he is bound for Japan. He decides to speak Dutch since the Dutch are the only Europeans allowed to enter Japan. The customs officer tells Gulliver that he must wait until approval is granted by the king’s court.

Gulliver then pays a visit to the king, who forces Gulliver to crawl to him and then lick the floor at his feet. Luckily for Gulliver, the floor has been recently cleaned of any dust, as it is known that the king sometimes sprinkles poison on the floor to kill potential rivals and other criminals. The king takes a liking to Gulliver and gives him a stipend to remain in Luggnagg, which Gulliver accepts for three months. However, the desire to return to England outweighs the king’s offers and Gulliver redoubles his efforts to get home.

Gulliver describes the Luggnaggian people as kind and courteous to strangers. One native asks if he has ever seen a “struldbrug,” to which Gulliver answers no. He learns that these are people who have been born immortal and will live forever. When asked how he would live if he was immortal, Gulliver equates this with being young and in good health. He then lists all the ways he would use his immortality to benefit humankind. The person checks Gulliver and says that struldbrugs age the same way all humans do. By the time they are 80, they are generally disregarded by society and put into poor houses. The culture does not esteem or value them. They lose touch with people because after generations pass, people become the equivalent of plants in the way they live and die. They become miserable and eventually long for death, even of the most heinous and excruciating kind, just to escape living. For struldbrugs, immortality is a curse, and because they are so miserable and loathsome, they serve as a reminder that death is not always something to fear and avoid.

Gulliver finally leaves Luggnagg and travels to Japan with a gift of gold from the king. When Gulliver lands in Japan and is questioned by the customs officer, he says that he is a Dutch merchant and explains the story of how he ended up in Luggnagg. Gulliver asks to be excused from the ceremony of trampling on the crucifix and says that it is because the king of Luggnagg would not approve. He is excused from performing the ceremony but also warned not to mention the exemption, as otherwise he risks having his throat cut by Dutch sailors on his voyage to Nangasac, where there is a large Dutch settlement. Gulliver mentions that he went to university in Holland and speaks fluent Dutch, which helps him to blend in and convince others he is Dutch. At long last, as the chapter concludes, Gulliver finally returns home, without incident.