# *A Tale of a Tub* — Index stub

> **TL;DR:** **1704** mock-scholarly **religious allegory** (Peter / Martin / Jack); establishes Swift’s **unreliable narrator + apparatus** before *Gulliver*—**form** parallel, **not** evidence that *Gulliver* detail is “only” allegory.

**In local corpus:** Yes — *Select Works* vol. I, 1823 (`33433076096241/`). Page headers: grep `A TALE OF A TUB` under `/home/ari/dev/wget/swift/_extract/The_select_works_of_Jonathan_Swift_containing_the_whole_of/`.

**Published:** 1704 (anonymously). Religious allegory of **Peter, Martin, and Jack** (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist branches) and the **Digression** sections that mock Grub Street, modern learning, and sectarian fashion.

**Summary (one paragraph):** A narrator ostensibly recounts the will of a father who left coats (religion) to three sons with instructions not to alter them; they **innovate** anyway while claiming fidelity. The satire targets **scholasticism**, **biblical interpretation as fashion**, and **church politics**. For the Swift investigation, the work establishes Swift’s early pattern: **mock-scholarly apparatus** and **unreliable narrator**—the same toolkit readers later bring to *Gulliver*, without proving every *Gulliver* detail is only allegory.

**Deeper corpus/edition notes:** [index-swift-select-works-vol1-1823.md](index-swift-select-works-vol1-1823.md) | [Swift hub](page.md)

---

Keywords: #Tale #Tub #Stub