Gulliver's Travels   (In Lilliput)
 I am Lemuel Gulliver.  I was born in England.  When I grew up, I had a
great wish to go round the world, and in the year 1699, I got on board
a ship bound for the South Seas.  For some time things went all right.
But one day a great storm drove us far to the south and at last the
ship ran on a rock and split her bow.  We let down a boat and left the
wreck.  But a big wave sank the boat, and I lost sight of my poor
friends.
 I swam on and on, and just when I felt I must give myself up, I found
I could touch the sand.  I was now safe.  When I came ashore, I lay
down in the grass, and at once went to sleep, as I was so tired.
 When I awoke, the sun was shining in the sky.  I tried to rise, but,
to my surprise, I could not move hand or foot.  I found my chest as
well as my arms and legs was fastened to the ground by thin but strong
cords.  Even my hair was made so fast to pegs that I could not turn my
head.  Soon I felt something creep up my left leg.  It came over my
chest and stood near my chin.  I bent down my eyes as much as I could,
and saw a little soldier about six inches tall.  He had a tiny bow and
arrows in his hands.
 Then I felt many more of these small men come up, I gave such a shout
of wonder that the small people ran off in great fear.
 Some time after that, I heard a great shouting, and knew by the sound
of voices around me that more and more men were coming up.  Soon I
heard loud knocks close to my ear, and found that they were building a
stage there.
 When this was made, a man, who seemed to be great, got on it, and
spoke to the men on the groud.  At once about fifty of the soldiers ran
forward and cut the strings that held my head and hands.  Then the man
made a long speech.  Of course, I did not know what he said, but, as I
was very hungry, I showed him by sings that I wanted something to eat.
 Soon a crowd of small people brought me all kinds of meat and bread
and two casks of wine.  I found they were very good.
 When I had finished eating, there came an officer of high rank, and,
by signs, he let me know that I was to go to a far-off place.  Then
they gave me a drink, in which they seemed to have put a drug, and I
soon went off to sleep.
 I woke up with a loud sneeze, which made a lot of the small men run
off my chest in fear.  I now found I was on a cart drawn by fifteen
hundred of the King's best horese.
 When we were near a town, which was the capital of the land known as
Lilliput, the King and his Court came out to see the wonderful sight.
 I was put in an old temple, where I was fastened by chains, but as it
was long, I could walk up and down in front of it.  Great crowds were
there all day to see me, and the King and his Court were so kind as to
tell the men to bring food and drink for me.  Cart-loads of food and
wine were brought at once, and the King and his Court all stood around
and watched me eating.
 After the King had gone away, the people of the town were still at
hand.  Some of them were very rude, and one of them even shot an arrow
at me.
 The chief man of the guard took six of these rude men, bound them hand
and foot, and pushed them where I could reach them.  Five of them I put
into my pockets, but made as if I would eat the sixth.  The poor man
cried for help, and when I took out a big knife, all the people, even
the soldiers, were in great fear.  But I only cut the man's bonds and
let him run away. I did the same with the rest of them, and from that
time they were all quite friendly to me.
 In the meantime I heard that the Court had had long talks as to what
was to be done with me.  They were afraid that to keep and feed me
would make food and drink scarce in the land.  But when the King heard
that I had set the rude men free, he said:
 "Keep him, and give him as much food and drink as he needs every day."
 When I had my meals, hundreds of people waited on me.  I took up twen-
ty waiters on my big table which I had made for myself, and these men
then drew up by ropes and pulleys all the food and drink that one
hundred other servants had brought under the table.
 One  day two officers came to search my pockets.  I took them up in my
hand, and put them in my pockets.  They found my watch and called it "a
living thing which makes a noise like a water-mill."  The King made his
wise men look at it.  Some of them thought it must be a god, and some a
kind of animal, but none could tell what it was.
 My pistol was also quite strange to them, and to show them how to use
it, I had to fire it in front of the King and the Court.  On my shoot-
ing it, hundreds of the small  people fell down as if they were dead.
The King was a brave man and stood his ground, but it took him a long
time to get his breath back.
 One of the sports the King liked best was rope-dancing, and so all the
great men of the land were great rope-dancers.  It was said that the
highest official in the Court could turn head over heels on a rope
better than anyone else!
 The King also had three silk threads, one blue, another red, and the
third green.  When he held out a stick, the great men would run under,
or jump over it, as the King held it up, or let it down.  They had to
be quick at this, and one who did it best got the blue thread, the next
the red, and the next the green.  It was great fun to me to see the
chief men of the Court do such things as these.
 One day I thought I would give the King a show.  So I made a stage out
of some poles and a handkerchief.  Then I put some horsemen on this,
and made them drill.  This pleased the King so much that at last he
came up on the stage, and made the men drill in front of him.
 For some days all went well, but one day a fierce horse made a hole in
the handkerchief, and fell through on to the ground.  I had to stop my
show as I could not trust my stage any longer.
 A few days after this, the King held a review of troops.  For this I
had to stand up and stretch my legs as far as I could.  Then the troops
with their bands and flags marched through the arch made by my legs.
It was indeed a gay sight.
 Up to this time I had been kept in chains.  How glad I was when at
last I heard I was to bo set free!  But I had first to vow - not to
leave the land till the King said I might, not to tread on the small
people, and to help the King in his wars and some other things.
 As soon as I was free, I went to see the town.  It had all around it a
wall two feet and a half high and one foot wide.  At every ten feet
there was a strong fort where soldiers guarded the town.  I took off my
coat as I was afraid the tails might brush  the roofs off the houses.
Then I got over the wall, and went down the chief streets, each of them
just five feet wide.  Wherever I went, the tops of the houses were full
of people watching me pass by.
 About two weeks after I was set free, a great man came from the King
and said to me:
 "Though the land seems at peace, it is not so.  We are at war with the
people of Blefuscu.  They are now going to send a great flect to Lilli-
put."
 "Why are these two lands at war?"  I asked.
 "The people of Lilliput," said he, "always break their eggs at the big
end.  But one day the King's son cut his hand when breaking his egg in
this way.  So the King ordered that in future they should break their
eggs at the small end.  Some will not do this and have fled to Blefus-
cu.  The Emperor there has taken their part and made war on Lilliput.
So the King now wants you to help him."
 "I am ready to do so," I answered.  I found out that  the sea between
these two lands was not more than six feet deep.  I also made out where
the fleet lay and how large it was.
 Then I had iron hooks made, and put one on each of a lot of strong
ropes.  With these in my hands I went into the sea, and in half an hour
I came where the fleet lay.  When the men of the fleet saw me coming,
they shouted for fear and fled from the ships, as I had thought they
would do.  I then put a hook on each ship, and tied all the ropes in a
knot at one end.
 While I was doing this, the enemy on the shore shot arrows at me, and
a great many stuck in my face and hands.  So I put on my eye-glasses,
and could do my work with no risk to my eyes.  I then drew the whole
flect through the sea.
 All this time the King of Lilliput and his Court stood waiting on the
shore.  They gave a great shout of joy when they saw me coming back
with the enemy's flect.  When I landed, the King was so pleased that on
the spot he gave me the highest rank in the country.
 The King was so proud of my success that he soon said to me:
 "Take the whole land of Blefoscu and make the people there break their
eggs at the small end."
 "This I will not do.  I cannot help you make slaves of free men in
this way," said I.
 Now, the Emperor of Blefuscu saw that he could not hope to win.  So he
sent some men to Lilliput to make peace.
 "Our Emperor says he would like to see you if you will come to his
Court," they said to me.
 "I will go," I andwered.
 One day I told the King I had a wish to go to Blefuscu.  He said I
might go, but his manner was so cold that I could not help noticing it.
Afterwards I found out that some men had told him false tales of my
meetings with the men from Blefuscu.
 One night a firend of mine came to see me and said:
 "You ought to leave here as soon as you can.  You will be put to death
on the charge of your falschood to the King because you have not done
as he told you to, and also you are getting ready to go to Blefuscu
though he has not sent you leave in writing.  You should make your mind
what to do."
 When I heard this, I had a mind to pull down the town.  But as most of
the people had been kind to me, I gave it up.
 At last I wrote a note to the King, saying that I would go to Blefuscu
for a few days, and set out at once.
 When I arrived in Blefuscu, the Emperor and his whole Court came out
to meet me, and I told them how glad I was to come to see them.  They
were all very kind to me.
 When I had been there three days, I saw some large thing floating on
the sea.  I swam out to it, and found it was a large boat upside down.
I soon got it to shore and had it the right side up.  I was very glad
to have this boat because I knew I could easily get off in it.  When
the Emperor heard this, he said he would help me fit it out.
 While we were at this, the King of Lilliput sent for me.
 "He shall be bound hand and foot, and sent back," said he.
 "I cannot bind him, and besides, he has found a great ship in which he
can leave for home," the Emperor answered.
 When my boat was ready, I laid in a large store of food, and put on
board some of the small beasts of the land.  I wished to take some of
the small people as well.  But the Emperor would not let me do this.
 Then I said good-bye to the Emperor and his people.  As I left him,
the Emperor gave me some gold coins and his picture at full length.
 I set sail, and in two days I met a ship.  To my great joy, it was an
English ship on her way home from Japan.  When I was safe on board, I
told them my strange tale.  At first they did not believe me.  But when
I showed them my coins and my live beasts, they knew I told the truth.
 It took me some months to reach home near London.