This chapter's epigraph comes from a line in Gulliver's Travels, in which Gulliver says, "I am the beast king. I am the king of the world. I belong to the beast." This is a reference to the fact that the beast is the king, not the king's son. The line also refers to a famous passage in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in which the king is described as a "delinquent" , or "unconquered," beast. The king is the "king" of all the beasts, not only of the earth, but also of the sea. When the king enters the room, Gulliver is shocked to find that he is not a merchant, but an "alpha," or a "beast