_I. Among the Giants_
Having been condemned, by nature and fortune, to an active and restless
life, in two months after my return I again left my native country, and
took shipping in the Downs, on the 20th day of June, 1702, in the
_Adventure_, Captain John Nicholas, a Cornishman, commander, bound
for Surat.
We had a very prosperous gale till we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope,
where we landed for fresh water; but discovering a leak, we unshipped
our goods and wintered there; for the captain falling sick of an ague,
we could not leave the Cape till the end of March. We then set sail, and
had a good voyage till we passed the Straits of Madagascar; but having
got northward of that island, and to about five degrees south latitude,
the winds, which in those seas are observed to blow a constant equal
gale between the north and west, from the beginning of December to the
beginning of May, on the 19th of April began to blow with much greater
violence, and more westerly than usual, continuing so for twenty days
together; during which time we were driven a little to the east of the
Molucca Islands,[16] and about three degrees northward of the line, as
our captain found by an observation he took the 2d of May, at which time
the wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm; whereat I was not a little
rejoiced. But he, being a man well experienced in the navigation of
those seas, bid us all prepare against a storm, which accordingly
happened the day following; for a southern wind, called the Southern
monsoon,[17] began to set in, and soon it was a very fierce storm.
[Footnote 16: They could not really have been driven to the east of the
Molucca Islands without passing Sumatra, Java, Borneo or other islands.]
[Footnote 17: _Monsoons_ are winds that blow part of the year in
one direction, and the rest of the year in the opposite direction.]
During this storm, which was followed by a strong wind west-southwest,
we were carried, by my computation, about five hundred leagues to the
east, so that the oldest sailor on board could not tell in what part of
the world we were. Our provisions held out well, our ship was staunch,
and our crew all in good health; but we lay in the utmost distress for
water. We thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than turn
more northerly, which might have brought us to the northwest parts of
Great Tartary, and into the Frozen Sea.
On the 16th day of June, 1703, a boy on the topmast discovered land. On
the 17th we came in full view of a great island, or continent (for we
knew not whether), on the south side whereof was a small neck of land
jutting out into the sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship of
above one hundred tons. We cast anchor within a league of this creek,
and our captain sent a dozen of his men well armed in the longboat, with
vessels for water, if any could be found. I desired his leave to go with
them, that I might see the country, and make what discoveries I could.
When we came to land we saw no river or spring, nor any sign of
inhabitants. Our men therefore wandered on the shore to find out some
fresh water near the sea, and I walked alone about a mile on the other
side, where I observed the country all barren and rocky. I now began to
be weary, and, seeing nothing to entertain my curiosity, I returned
gently down toward the creek; and the sea being full in my view, I saw
our men already got into the boat, and rowing for life to the ship.
I was going to halloo after them, although it had been to little
purpose, when I observed a huge creature walking after them in the sea,
as fast as he could; he waded not much deeper than his knees, and took
prodigious strides; but our men had got the start of him half a league,
and the sea thereabouts being full of sharp-pointed rocks, the monster
was not able to overtake the boat. This I was afterward told, for I
durst not stay to see the issue of that adventure; but ran as fast as I
could the way I first went, and then climbed up a steep hill, which gave
me some prospect of the country. I found it fully cultivated; but that
which first surprised me was the length of the grass, which in those
grounds that seemed to be kept for hay was above twenty foot high.
I fell into a highroad, for so I took it to be, though it served to the
inhabitants only as a footpath through a field of barley. Here I walked
on for some time, but could see little on either side, it being now near
harvest, and the corn rising at least forty foot. I was an hour walking
to the end of this field, which was fenced in with a hedge of at least
one hundred and twenty foot high, and the trees so lofty that I could
make no computation of their altitude. There was a stile to pass from
this field into the next. It had four steps, and a stone to cross over
when you came to the uppermost. It was impossible for me to climb this
stile, because every step was six foot high, and the upper stone above
twenty.
I was endeavoring to find some gap in the hedge, when I discovered one
of the inhabitants in the next field, advancing toward the stile, of the
same size with him whom I saw in the sea pursuing our boat. He appeared
as tall as an ordinary spire steeple, and took about ten yards at every
stride, as near as I could guess. I was struck with the utmost fear and
astonishment, and ran to hide myself in the corn, from whence I saw him
at the top of the stile, looking back into the next field on the right
hand, and heard him call in a voice many degrees louder than a
speaking-trumpet; but the noise was so high in the air that at first I
certainly thought it was thunder. Whereupon seven monsters, like
himself, came toward him with reaping hooks in their hands, each hook
about the largeness of six scythes. These people were not so well clad
as the first, whose servants or laborers they seemed to be; for, upon
some words he spoke, they went to reap the corn in the field where I
lay.
I kept from them at as great a distance as I could, but was forced to
move with extreme difficulty, for the stalks of the corn were sometimes
not above a foot distant, so that I could hardly squeeze my body betwixt
them. However, I made a shift to go forward till I came to a part of the
field where the corn had been laid by the rain and wind. Here it was
impossible for me to advance a step; for the stalks were so interwoven
that I could not creep through, and the beards of the fallen ears so
strong and pointed that they pierced through my clothes into my flesh.
At the same time I heard the reapers not above an hundred yards behind
me. Being quite dispirited with toil, and wholly overcome by grief and
despair, I lay down between two ridges, and heartily wished I might
there end my days. I bemoaned my desolate widow and fatherless children.
I lamented my own folly and willfulness in attempting a second voyage,
against the advice of all my friends and relations. In this terrible
agitation of mind I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose
inhabitants looked upon me as the greatest prodigy that ever appeared in
the world; where I was able to draw an imperial fleet in my hand, and
perform those other actions which will be recorded forever in the
chronicles of that empire, while posterity shall hardly believe them,
although attested by millions. I reflected what a mortification it must
prove to me to appear as inconsiderable in this nation as one single
Lilliputian would be among us. But this I conceived was to be the least
of my misfortunes; for, as human creatures are observed to be more
savage and cruel in proportion to their bulk, what could I expect but to
be a morsel in the mouth of the first among these enormous barbarians
that should happen to seize me? Undoubtedly philosophers are in the
right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than
by comparison. It might have pleased fortune to let the Lilliputians
find some nation, where the people were as diminutive with respect to
them as they were to me. And who knows but that even this prodigious
race of mortals might be equally overmatched in some distant part of the
world, whereof we have yet no discovery.
Scared and confounded as I was, I could not forbear going on with these
reflections, when one of the reapers, approaching within ten yards of
the ridge where I lay, made me apprehend that with the next step I
should be squashed to death under his foot, or cut in two with his
reaping-hook. And therefore when he was again about to move, I screamed
as loud as fear could make me; whereupon the huge creature trod short,
and, looking round about under him for some time, at last espied me as I
lay on the ground. He considered awhile, with the caution of one who
endeavors to lay hold on a small dangerous animal in such a manner that
it may not be able either to scratch or to bite him, as I myself have
sometimes done with a weasel in England.
At length he ventured to take me up behind, by the middle, between his
forefinger and thumb, and brought me within three yards of his eyes,
that he might behold my shape more perfectly. I guessed his meaning, and
my good fortune gave me so much presence of mind that I resolved not to
struggle in the least as he held me in the air above sixty foot from the
ground, although he grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should slip
through his fingers. All I ventured was to raise mine eyes toward the
sun, and place my hands together in a supplicating posture, and to speak
some words in an humble, melancholy tone, suitable to the condition I
then was in; for I apprehended every moment that he would dash me
against the ground, as we usually do any little hateful animal which we
have a mind to destroy. But my good star would have it that he appeared
pleased with my voice and gestures, and began to look upon me as a
curiosity, much wondering to hear me pronounce articulate words,
although he could not understand them. In the meantime I was not able to
forbear groaning and shedding tears, and turning my head toward my
sides; letting him know as well as I could how cruelly I was hurt by the
pressure of his thumb and finger. He seemed to apprehend my meaning;
for, lifting up the lappet of his coat, he put me gently into it, and
immediately ran along with me to his master, who was a substantial
farmer, and the same person I had first seen in the field.
The farmer having (as I supposed by their talk) received such an account
of me as his servant could give him, took a piece of a small straw,
about the size of a walking-staff, and therewith lifted up the lappets
of my coat; which, it seems, he thought to be some kind of covering that
nature had given me. He blew my hairs aside to take a better view of my
face. He called his hinds about him, and asked them, as I afterward
learned, whether they had ever seen in the fields any little creature
that resembled me. He then placed me softly on the ground upon all four,
but I got immediately up, and walked slowly backward and forward, to let
those people see I had no intent to run away.
They all sate down in a circle about me, the better to observe my
motions. I pulled off my hat, and made a low bow toward the farmer. I
fell on my knees, and lifted up my hands and eyes, and spoke several
words as loud as I could; I took a purse of gold out of my pocket, and
humbly presented it to him. He received it on the palm of his hand, then
applied it close to his eye to see what it was, and afterward turned it
several times with the point of a pin (which he took out of his sleeve),
but could make nothing of it. Whereupon I made a sign that he should
place his hand on the ground. I then took the purse, and opening it,
poured all the gold into his palm. There were six Spanish pieces of four
pistoles[18] each, besides twenty or thirty smaller coins. I saw him wet
the tip of his little finger upon his tongue, and take up one of my
largest pieces, and then another; but he seemed to be wholly ignorant
what they were. He made me a sign to put them again into my purse, and
the purse again into my pocket, which, after offering to him several
times, I thought it best to do.
[Footnote 18: A _pistole_ is equivalent to about four dollars.]
The farmer, by this time, was convinced I must be a rational creature.
He spoke often to me; but the sound of his voice pierced my ears like
that of a water-mill, yet his words were articulate enough. I answered
as loud as I could in several languages, and he often laid his ear
within two yards of me; but all in vain, for we were wholly
unintelligible to each other. He then sent his servants to their work,
and taking his handkerchief out of his pocket, he that I desired his son
might be pardoned. The father complied, and the lad took his seat again,
whereupon I went to him, and kissed his hand, which my master took, and
made him stroke me gently with it.
In the midst of dinner my mistress' favorite cat leaped into her lap. I
heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen stocking-weavers at work;
and turning my head I found it proceeded from the purring of this
animal, who seemed to be three times larger than an ox, as I computed by
the view of her head and one of her paws, while her mistress was feeding
and stroking her. The fierceness of this creature's countenance
altogether discomposed me though I stood at the further end of the
table, above fifty foot off; and although my mistress held her fast, for
fear she might give a spring, and seize me in her talons. But it
happened there was no danger; for the cat took not the least notice of
me when my master placed me within three yards of her. And, as I have
been always told, and found true by experience in my travels, that
flying or discovering fear before a fierce animal is a certain way to
make it pursue or attack you, so I resolved, in this dangerous juncture,
to show no manner of concern. I walked with intrepidity five or six
times before the very head of the cat, and came within half a yard of
her; whereupon she draw herself back, as if she were more afraid of me.
I had less apprehension concerning the dogs, whereof three or four came
into the room as it is usual in farmers' houses; one of which was a
mastiff, equal in bulk to four elephants, and a greyhound, somewhat
taller than the mastiff, but not so large.
When dinner was almost done the nurse came in with a child of a year old
in her arms, who immediately spied me, and began a squall that you might
have heard from London Bridge to Chelsea, after the usual oratory of
infants, to get me for a plaything.
The mother, out of pure indulgence, took me up, and put me toward the
child, who presently seized me by the middle and got my head in his
mouth, where I roared so loud that the urchin was frighted, and let me
drop, and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the mother had not
held her apron under me. The nurse, to quiet her babe, made use of a
rattle, which was a kind of hollow vessel filled with great stones, and
fastened by a cable to the child's waist.
The vast creatures are not deformed: for I must do them justice to say
they are a comely race of people; and particularly the features of my
master's countenance, although he was but a farmer, when I beheld him
from the height of sixty foot, appeared very well-proportioned.
When dinner was done my master went out to his laborers, and, as I could
discover by his voice and gesture, gave his wife a strict charge to take
care of me. I was very much tired, and disposed to sleep, which my
mistress perceiving she put me on her own bed, and covered me with a
clean white handkerchief, but larger and coarser than the mainsail of a
man-of-war.
I slept about two hours, and dreamed I was at home with my wife and
children, which aggravated my sorrows when I awaked and found myself
alone in a vast room, between two and three hundred foot wide, and above
two hundred high, lying in a bed twenty yards wide. My mistress was gone
about her household affairs, and had locked me in. The bed was eight
yards from the floor. I wished to get down, but durst not presume to
call; and if I had it would have been in vain, with such a voice as
mine, at so great a distance as from the room where I lay to the kitchen
where the family kept.
[Illustration: THE BABY SEIZED GULLIVER]
While I was under these circumstances two rats crept up the curtains,
and ran smelling backward and forward on the bed. One of them came up
almost to my face, whereupon I rose in a fright, and drew out my
hanger[19] to defend myself. These horrible animals had the boldness to
attack me on both sides, and one of them held his forefeet at my collar;
but I had the good fortune to rip up his belly before he could do me any
mischief. He fell down at my feet; and the other, seeing the fate of his
comrade, made his escape, but not without one good wound on the back,
which I gave him as he fled, and made the blood run trickling from him.
After this exploit I walked gently to and fro on the bed, to recover my
breath and loss of spirits. These creatures were of the size of a large
mastiff, but infinitely more nimble and fierce; so that, if I had taken
off my belt before I went to sleep, I must have infallibly been torn to
pieces and devoured. I measured the tail of the dead rat, and found it
to be two yards long, wanting an inch; but it went against my stomach to
drag the carcass off the bed, where it lay still bleeding; I observed it
had yet some life, but with a strong slash across the neck I thoroughly
despatched it.[20]
[Footnote 19: _Hanger_ is the name given to a kind of short, broad
sword which was formerly carried.]
[Footnote 20: Gulliver told how, as he was returning from Lilliput, an
ordinary rat carried off a Lilliputian sheep; here he tells of rats
large enough to kill and eat a man. It is by such violent contrasts as
these that Swift impresses on us the difference in size between the
Lilliputians and the giants.]
Soon after my mistress came into the room, who, seeing me all bloody,
ran and took me up in her hand. I pointed to the dead rat, smiling, and
making other signs to show I was not hurt; whereat she was extremely
rejoiced, calling the maid to take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs,
and throw it out of the window. Then she set me on a table, where I
showed her my hanger all bloody, and wiping it on the lappet of my coat,
returned it to the scabbard.
I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these and the
like particulars, which, however insignificant they may appear to
groveling vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge
his thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as
well as private life, which was my sole design in presenting this and
other accounts of my travels to the world; wherein I have been chiefly
studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments of learning or of
style. But the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression
on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my memory, that, in committing it
to paper, I did not omit one material circumstance: however, upon a
strict review, I blotted out several passages of less moment, which were
in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious and trifling,
whereof travelers are often, perhaps not without justice, accused.
My mistress had a daughter of nine years old, a child of towardly parts
for her age, very dexterous at her needle, and skillful in dressing her
baby.[21] Her mother and she contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for
me against night; the cradle was put into a small drawer of a cabinet,
and the drawer placed upon a hanging shelf for fear of the rats. This
was my bed all the time I stayed with those people, though made more
convenient by degrees, as I began to learn their language, and make my
wants known. She made me seven shirts and some other linen, of as fine
cloth as could be got, which indeed was coarser than sackcloth; and
these she constantly washed for me with her own hands. She was likewise
my schoolmistress, to teach me the language; when I pointed to anything
she told me the name of it in her own tongue, so that in a few days I
was able to call for whatever I had a mind to. She was very
good-natured, and not above forty foot high, being little for her age. I
called her my _Glumdalclitch,_ or little nurse, and I should be guilty
of great ingratitude if I omitted this honorable mention of her care and
affection toward me, which I heartily wish it lay in my power to requite
as she deserves.
[Footnote 21: That is, her doll.]
A most ingenious artist, according to my directions, in three weeks
finished for me a wooden chamber, of sixteen foot square, and twelve
high, with sash windows, a door, and two closets, like a London
bedchamber. The board that made the ceiling was to be lifted up and down
by two hinges, to put in a bed, ready furnished by her majesty's
upholsterer, which Glumdalclitch took out every day to air, made it with
her own hands, and letting it down at night, locked up the roof over me.
A workman, who was famous for little curiosities, undertook to make me
two chairs, with backs and frames, of a substance not unlike ivory, and
two tables, with a cabinet to put my things in. The room was quilted on
all sides, as well as the floor and the ceiling, to prevent any accident
from the carelessness of those who carried me, and to break the force of
a jolt when I went in a coach. I desired a lock for my door, to prevent
rats and mice from coming in. The smith made the smallest that ever was
seen among them, for I have known a larger at the gate of a gentleman's
house in England. I made a shift to keep the key in a pocket of my own,
fearing Glumdalclitch might lose it.
_III. Adventures at the Royal Court_
I should have lived happily enough in that country if my littleness had
not exposed me to several ridiculous and troublesome accidents; some of
which I shall venture to relate. Glumdalclitch often carried me into the
gardens of the court in a smaller box, and would sometimes take me out
of it, and hold me in her hand, or set me down to walk. I remember the
queen's dwarf followed us one day into those gardens, and my nurse
having set me down, he and I being close together, near some dwarf apple
trees, I must needs show my wit, by a silly allusion between him and the
trees, which happens to hold in their language as it does in ours.
Whereupon, the malicious rogue, watching his opportunity when I was
walking under one of them, shook it directly over my head, by which a
dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came
tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to
stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face; but I received no other
hurt, and the dwarf was pardoned at my desire, because I had given the
provocation.
Another day Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grassplot to divert
myself, while she walked at some distance with her governess. In the
meantime there suddenly fell such a violent shower of hail that I was
immediately, by the force of it, struck to the ground; and when I was
down the hailstones gave me such cruel bangs all over the body, as if I
had been pelted with tennis balls; however, I made a shift to creep on
all four, and shelter myself, by lying flat on my face, on the lee-side
of a border of lemon-thyme; but so bruised from head to foot that I
could not go abroad in ten days. Neither is this at all to be wondered
at, because nature in that country, observing the same proportion
through all her operations, a hailstone is near eighteen hundred times
as large as one in Europe; which I can assert upon experience, having
been so curious as to weigh and measure them.
But a more dangerous accident happened to me in the same garden, where
my little nurse, believing she had put me in a secure place (which I
often entreated her to do, that I might enjoy my own thoughts), and
having left my box at home to avoid the trouble of carrying it, went to
another part of the gardens, with her governess and some ladies of her
acquaintance. While she was absent, and out of hearing, a small white
spaniel, belonging to one of the chief gardeners, having got by accident
into the garden, happened to range near the place where I lay; the dog
following the scent came directly up, and taking me in his mouth, ran
straight to his master, wagging his tail, and set me gently on the
ground. By good fortune he had been so well taught that I was carried
between his teeth without the least hurt, or even tearing my clothes.
But the poor gardener, who knew me well, and had a great kindness for
me, was in a terrible fright; he gently took me up in both his hands,
and asked me how I did, but I was so amazed and out of breath that I
could not speak a word. In a few minutes I came to myself, and he
carried me safe to my little nurse, who by this time had returned to the
place where she left me, and was in cruel agonies when I did not appear
nor answer when she called. She severely reprimanded the gardener on
account of his dog.
This accident absolutely determined Glumdalclitch never to trust me
abroad for the future out of her sight. I had been long afraid of this
resolution, and therefore concealed from her some little unlucky
adventures that happened in those times when I was left by myself. Once
a kite hovering over the garden made a stoop at me, and if I had not
resolutely drawn my hanger, and run under a thick espalier, he would
have certainly carried me away in his talons.
Another time, walking to the top of a fresh molehill, I fell to my neck
in the hole through which that animal had cast up the earth, and coined
some lie, not worth remembering, to excuse myself for spoiling my
clothes. I likewise broke my right shin against the shell of a snail,
which I happened to stumble over, as I was walking alone, and thinking
on poor England.
I cannot tell whether I were more pleased or mortified to observe, in
those solitary walks, that the smaller birds did not appear to be at all
afraid of me, but would hop about within a yard distance, looking for
worms and other food, with as much indifference and security as if no
creature at all were near them. I remember, a thrush had the confidence
to snatch out of my hand, with his bill, a piece of cake that
Glumdalclitch had just given me for my breakfast. When I attempted to
catch any of these birds they would boldly turn against me, endeavoring
to peck my fingers, which I durst not venture within their reach; and
then they would turn back unconcerned, to hunt for worms or snails, as
they did before. But one day I took a thick cudgel, and threw it with
all my strength so luckily at a linnet that I knocked him down, and
seizing him by the neck with both my hands, ran with him in triumph to
my nurse. However, the bird, who had only been stunned, recovering
himself, gave me so many boxes with his wings on both sides of my head
and body, though I held him at arm's length, and was out of the reach of
his claws, that I was twenty times thinking to let him go. But I was
soon relieved by one of our servants, who wrung off the bird's neck, and
I had him next day for dinner. This linnet, as near as I can remember,
seemed to be somewhat larger than an English swan.
The queen, who often used to hear me talk of my sea voyages, and took
all occasions to divert me when I was melancholy, asked me whether I
understood how to handle a sail or an oar, and whether a little exercise
of rowing might not be convenient for my health. I answered that I
understood both very well; for although my proper employment had been to
be surgeon or doctor to the ship, yet often upon a pinch I was forced to
work like a common mariner. But I could not see how this could be done
in their country, where the smallest wherry was equal to a first-rate
man-of-war among us; and such a boat as I could manage would never live
in any of their rivers. Her majesty said, if I would contrive a boat,
her own joiner should make it, and she would provide a place for me to
sail in. The fellow was an ingenious workman, and by my instructions, in
ten days finished a pleasure-boat, with all its tackling, able
conveniently to hold eight Europeans. When it was finished the queen was
so delighted that she ran with it in her lap to the king, who ordered it
to be put into a cistern full of water, with me in it, by way of trial,
where I could not manage my two sculls, or little oars, for want of
room.
But the queen had before contrived another project. She ordered the
joiner to make a wooden trough of three hundred foot long, fifty broad,
and eight deep; which, being well pitched, to prevent leaking, was
placed on the floor, along the wall, in an outer room of the palace. It
had a cock near the bottom to let out the water, when it began to grow
stale; and two servants could easily fill it in half an hour. Here I
often used to row for my own diversion, as well as that of the queen and
her ladies, who thought themselves well entertained with my skill and
agility. Sometimes I would put up my sails, and then my business was
only to steer, while the ladies gave me a gale with their fans; and,
when they were weary, some of their pages would blow my sail forward
with their breath, while I showed my art by steering starboard or
larboard as I pleased. When I had done, Glumdalclitch always carried
back my boat into her closet, and hung it on a nail to dry.
One time, one of the servants, whose office it was to fill my trough
every third day with fresh water, was so careless as to let a huge frog
(not perceiving it) slip out of his pail. The frog lay concealed till I
was put into my boat, but then, seeing a resting place, climbed up, and
made it lean so much on one side that I was forced to balance it with
all my weight on the other, to prevent overturning. When the frog was
got in it hopped at once half the length of the boat; and then over my
head, backward and forward, daubing my face and clothes with odious
slime. The largeness of its features made it appear the most deformed
animal that can be conceived. However, I desired Glumdalclitch to let me
deal with it alone. I banged it a good while with one of my sculls, and
at last forced it to leap out of the boat.
[Illustration: A GALE WITH THEIR FANS]
But the greatest danger I ever underwent in that kingdom was from a
monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of the kitchen. Glumdalclitch
had locked me up in her closet, while she went somewhere upon business
or a visit. The weather being very warm, the closet window was left
open, as well as the windows and the door of my bigger box, in which I
usually lived, because of its largeness and conveniency. As I sat
quietly meditating at my table I heard Something bounce in at the closet
window, and skip about from one side to the other: whereat, although I
was much alarmed, yet I ventured to look out, but not stirring from my
seat; and then I saw this frolicsome animal frisking and leaping up and
down, till at last he came to my box, which he seemed to view with great
pleasure and curiosity, peeping in at the door and every window. I
retreated to the further corner of my room or box; but the monkey,
looking in at every side, put me into such a fright that I wanted
presence of mind to conceal myself under the bed, as I might easily have
done. After some time spent in peeping, grinning, and chattering, he at
last espied me; and, reaching one of his paws in at the door, as a cat
does when she plays with a mouse, although I often shifted place to
avoid him, he at length caught hold of the lappet of my coat (which,
being made of that country cloth, was very thick and strong), and
dragged me out. He took me up in his right forefoot, and held me, just
as I have seen the same sort of creature do with a kitten in Europe; and
when I offered to struggle he squeezed me so hard that I thought it more
prudent to submit. I have good reason to believe that he took me for a
young one of his own species, by his often stroking my face very gently
with his other paw. In these diversions he was interrupted by a noise at
the closet door, as if somebody were opening it, whereupon he suddenly
leaped up to the window at which he had come in, and thence upon the
leads and gutters, walking upon three legs, and holding me in the
fourth, till he clambered up to a roof that was next to ours. I heard
Glumdalclitch give a shriek at the moment he was carrying me out. The
poor girl was almost distracted; that quarter of the palace was all in
an uproar; the servants ran for ladders; the monkey was seen by hundreds
in the court sitting upon the ridge of a building, holding me like a
baby in one of his forepaws, and feeding me with the other, by cramming
into my mouth some victuals he had squeezed out of the bag on one side
of his chaps, and patting me when I would not eat; whereat the rabble
below could not forbear laughing; neither do I think they justly ought
to be blamed, for without question the sight was ridiculous enough to
everybody but myself.
Some of the people threw up stones, hoping to drive the monkey down; but
this was strictly forbidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been
dashed out.
The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several men, which the
monkey observing, and finding himself almost encompassed, not being able
to make speed enough with his three legs, let me drop on a ridge tile,
and made his escape. Here I sat for some time, three hundred yards from
the ground, expecting every moment to be blown down by the wind, or to
fall by my own giddiness, and come tumbling over and over from the ridge
to the eaves; but an honest lad, one of my nurse's footmen, climbed up,
and, putting me into his breeches pocket, brought me down safe.
I was so weak and bruised in the sides by the squeezes given me by this
odious animal that I was forced to keep my bed a fortnight. The king,
queen, and all the court, sent every day to inquire after my health; and
her majesty made me several visits during my sickness. The monkey was
killed, and an order made that no such animal should be kept about the
palace.
When I attended the king after my recovery, to return him thanks for his
favors, he was pleased to rally me a good deal upon this adventure. He
asked me what my thoughts and speculations were while I lay in the
monkey's paw; how I liked the victuals he gave me; his manner of
feeding; and whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach.
He desired to know what I would have done upon such an occasion in my
own country.
I told his majesty that in Europe we had no monkeys, except such as were
brought for curiosities from other places, and so small that I could
deal with a dozen of them together, if they presumed to attack me. And
as for that monstrous animal with whom I was so lately engaged (it was
indeed as large as an elephant), if my fear had suffered me to think so
far as to make use of my hanger (looking fiercely, and clapping my hand
upon the hilt as I spoke), when he poked his paw into my chamber,
perhaps I should have given him such a wound as would have made him glad
to withdraw it with more haste than he put it in. This I delivered in a
firm tone, like a person who was jealous lest his courage should be
called in question. However, my speech produced nothing else besides a
loud laughter, which all the respect due to his majesty from those about
him could not make them contain. This made me reflect how vain an
attempt it is for a man to endeavor doing himself honor among those who
are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him. And yet I have
seen the moral of my own behavior very frequent in England since my
return; where a little, contemptible varlet, without the least title to
birth, person, wit, or common sense, shall presume to look with
importance, and put himself upon a foot with the greatest persons of the
kingdom.[22]
[Footnote 22: Gulliver's hatred of mankind betrays him, even in the
midst of his mildest satire, into such sharp, biting remarks as
this.]
[Illustration: GULLIVER AND THE KING]
_IV. A Wonderful Escape_
I had always a strong impulse that I should some time recover my
liberty, though it was impossible to conjecture by what means, or to
form any project with the least hope of succeeding. The ship in which I
sailed was the first ever known to be driven within sight of that coast,
and the king had given strict orders that if at any time another
appeared it should be taken ashore, and, with all its crew and
passengers, brought in a tumbrel to the capital. I was indeed treated
with much kindness; I was the favorite of a great king and queen, and
the delight of the whole court; but it was upon such a foot as ill
became the dignity of human kind. I could never forget those domestic
pledges I had left behind me. I wanted to be among people with whom I
could, converse upon even terms, and walk about the streets and fields
without fear of being trod to death like a frog or a young puppy. But my
deliverance came sooner than I expected, and in a manner not very
common; the whole story and circumstances of which I shall faithfully
relate.
I had now been two years in the country; and about the beginning of the
third Glumdalclitch and I attended the king and queen in a progress to
the south coast of the kingdom. I was carried, as usual, in my
traveling-box, a very convenient closet of twelve foot wide.
And I had ordered a hammock to be fixed, by silken ropes, from the four
corners at the top, to break the jolts when a servant carried me before
him on horseback, as I sometimes desired; and would often sleep in my
hammock while we were upon the road. On the roof of my closet, not
directly over the middle of the hammock, I ordered the joiner to cut out
a hole of a foot square, to give me air in hot weather, as I slept;
which hole I shut at pleasure with a board that drew backward and
forward through a groove.
When we came to our journey's end, the king thought proper to pass a few
days at a palace he hath near Flanflasnic, a city within eighteen
English miles of the seaside. Glumdalclitch and I were much fatigued: I
had gotten a small cold, but the poor girl was so ill as to be confined
to her chamber. I longed to see the ocean, which must be the only scene
of my escape, if ever it should happen. I pretended to be worse than I
really was, and desired leave to take the fresh air of the sea, with a
page whom I was very fond of, and who had sometimes been trusted with
me. I shall never forget with what unwillingness Glumdalclitch
consented, nor the strict charge she gave the page to be careful of me,
bursting at the same time into a flood of tears, as if she had some
foreboding of what was to happen.
The boy took me out in my box, about half an hour's walk from the
palace, toward the rocks on the seashore.[23] I ordered him to set me
down, and lifting up one of my sashes, cast many a wistful, melancholy
look toward the sea. I found myself not very well, and told the page
that I had a mind to take a nap in my hammock, which I hoped would do me
good. I got in, and the boy shut the window close down, to keep out the
cold. I soon fell asleep, and all I can conjecture is, that while I
slept the page, thinking no danger could happen, went among the rocks to
look for bird's eggs, having before observed him from my window
searching about, and picking up one or two in the clefts.
[Footnote 23: Here again we have a striking contrast--the "half an
hour's walk" of eighteen miles set over against the day and a
half's ride of one-half mile in Lilliput.]
Be that as it will, I found myself suddenly awaked with a violent pull
upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box for the
conveniency of carriage. I felt my box raised very high in the air, and
then borne forward with prodigious speed. The first jolt had like to
have shaken me out of my hammock, but afterward the motion was easy
enough. I called out several times as loud as I could raise my voice,
but all to no purpose.
I looked toward my windows, and could see nothing but the clouds and
sky. I heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and
then began to perceive the woeful condition I was in; that some eagle
had got the ring of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on
a rock, like a tortoise in a shell, and then pick out my body, and
devour it: for the sagacity and smell of this bird enable him to
discover his quarry at a great distance, though better concealed than I
could be within a two-inch board.
In a little time I observed the noise and flutter of wings to increase
very fast, and my box was tossed up and down, like a sign in a windy
day. I heard several bangs or buffets, as I thought, given to the eagle
(for such, I am certain, it must have been that held the ring of my box
in his beak), and then, all on a sudden, felt myself falling
perpendicularly down for above a minute, but with such incredible
swiftness that I almost lost my breath. My fall was stopped by a
terrible squash, that sounded louder to my ears than the cataract of
Niagara; after which I was quite in the dark for another minute, and
then my box began to rise so high that I could see light from the tops
of my windows. I now perceived that I was fallen into the sea. My box,
by the weight of my body, the goods that were in it, and the broad
plates of iron fixed for strength at the four corners of the top and
bottom, floated above five foot deep in water. I did then, and do now,
suppose that the eagle, which flew away with my box, was pursued by two
or three others, and forced to let me drop, while he was defending
himself against the rest, who hoped to share in the prey. The plates of
iron fastened at the bottom of the box (for those were the strongest)
preserved the balance while it fell, and hindered it from being broken
on the surface of the water. Every joint of it was well grooved; and the
door did not move on hinges, but up and down like a sash, which kept my
closet so tight that very little water came in. I got, with much
difficulty, out of my hammock, having first ventured to draw back the
slip-board on the roof, already mentioned, contrived on purpose to let
in air, for want of which I found myself almost stifled.
How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdalclitch, from whom
one single hour had so far divided me! And I may say with truth, that,
in the midst of my own misfortunes, I could not forbear lamenting my
poor nurse, the grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of
the queen, and the ruin of her fortune. Perhaps many travelers have not
been under greater difficulties and distress than I was at this
juncture, expecting every moment to see my box dashed in pieces, or, at
least, overset by the first violent blast, or a rising wave. A breach in
one single pane of glass would have been immediate death: nor could
anything have preserved the windows, but the strong lattice wires,
placed on the outside, against accidents in traveling. I saw water ooze
in at several crannies, although the leaks were not considerable, and I
endeavored to stop them as well as I could. I was not able to lift up
the roof of my closet, which otherwise I certainly should have done, and
sat on top of it; where I might at least preserve myself some hours
longer, than by being shut up (as I may call it) in the hold. Or, if I
escaped these dangers for a day or two, what could I expect but a
miserable death of cold and hunger? I was four hours under these
circumstances, expecting, and indeed wishing, every moment to be my
last.
There were two strong staples fixed upon that side of my box which had
no window, and into which the servant, who used to carry me on
horseback, would put a leathern belt, and buckle it about his waist.
Being in this disconsolate state, I heard, or at least thought I heard,
some kind of grating noise on that side of my box where the staples were
fixed; and soon after I began to fancy that the box was pulled or towed
along in the sea; for I now and then felt a sort of tugging, which made
the waves rise near the tops of my windows, leaving me almost in the
dark. This gave me some faint hopes of relief, although I was not able
to imagine how it could be brought about. I ventured to unscrew one of
my chairs, which were always fastened to the floor; and having made a
hard shift to screw it down again, directly under the slipping-board
that I had lately opened, I mounted on the chair, and, putting my mouth
as near as I could to the hole, I called for help in a loud voice, and
in all the languages I understood. I then fastened my handkerchief to a
stick I usually carried, and, thrusting it up the hole waved it several
times in the air, that, if any boat or ship were near, the seamen might
conjecture some unhappy mortal to be shut up in this box.
I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly perceived my closet
to be moved along; and in the space of an hour, or better, that side of
the box where the staples were, and had no windows, struck against
something that was hard. I apprehended it to be a rock, and found myself
tossed more than ever. I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my
closet like that of a cable, and the grating of it as it passed through
the ring. I then found myself hoisted up, by degrees, at least three
foot higher than I was before. Whereupon I again thrust up my stick and
handkerchief, calling for help till I was almost hoarse. In return to
which I heard a great shout repeated three times, giving me such
transports of joy as are not to be conceived but by those who feel them.
I now heard a trampling over my head, and somebody calling through the
hole with a loud voice, in the English tongue, if there be anybody
below, let them speak.
I answered, I was an Englishman, drawn, by ill fortune, into the
greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and begged, by all
that was moving, to be delivered out of the dungeon I was in. The voice
replied, I was safe, for my box was fastened to their ship, and the
carpenter should immediately come and saw a hole in the cover, large
enough to pull me out. I answered, that was needless, and would take up
too much time; for there was no more to be done, but let one of the crew
put his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the sea into the
ship, and so into the captain's cabin. Some of them, upon hearing me
talk so wildly, thought I was mad; others laughed; for indeed it never
came into my head that I was now got among people of my own stature and
strength. The carpenter came, and, in a few minutes, sawed a passage
about four foot square, then let down a small ladder, upon which I
mounted, and from thence was taken into the ship in a very weak
condition.
The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand questions,
which I had no inclination to answer. I was equally confounded at the
sight of so many pigmies, for such I took them to be, after having so
long accustomed mine eyes to the monstrous objects I had left. But the
captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, an honest, worthy Shropshireman, observing
I was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a cordial to
comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own bed, advising me to take a
little rest, of which I had great need.
Before I went to sleep I gave him to understand that I had some valuable
furniture in my box, too good to be lost; a fine hammock--an handsome
field bed--two chairs--a table--and a cabinet. That my closet was hung
on all sides, or rather quilted with silk and cotton; that, if he would
let one of the crew bring my closet into his cabin, I would open it
there before him, and show him my goods. The captain, hearing me utter
these absurdities, concluded I was raving; however (I suppose to pacify
me), he promised to give order as I desired, and going upon deck, sent
some of his men down into my closet, from whence (as I afterward found)
they drew up all my goods, and stripped off the quilting; but the
chairs, cabinet, and bedstead, being screwed to the floor, were much
damaged by the ignorance of the seamen, who tore them up by force. Then
they knocked off some of the boards for the use of the ship, and when
they had got all they had a mind for, let the hull drop into the sea,
which, by reason of many breaches made in the bottom and sides, sunk to
rights.[24] And, indeed, I was glad not to have been a spectator of the
havoc they made, because I am confident it would have sensibly touched
me, by bringing former passages into my mind, which I had rather forget.
[Footnote 24: _To rights_ means _directly_.]
I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams of the place I
had left, and the dangers I had escaped. However, upon waking, I found
myself much recovered. It was now about eight o'clock at night, and the
captain ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too
long. He entertained me with great kindness, observing me not to look
wildly, or talk inconsistently; and, when we were left alone, desired I
would give him a relation of my travels, and by what accident I came to
be set adrift in that monstrous wooden chest. He said that about twelve
o'clock at noon, as he was looking through his glass, he spied it at a
distance, and thought it was a sail, which he had a mind to make, being
not much out of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit, his own
beginning to fall short; that, upon coming nearer, and finding his
error, he sent out his longboat to discover what it was; that his men
came back in a fright, swearing that they had seen a swimming house;
that he laughed at their folly, and went himself in the boat, ordering
his men to take a strong cable along with them; that the weather being
calm, he rowed round me several times, observed my windows, and the wire
lattice that defended them; that he discovered two staples upon one
side, which was all of boards, without any passage for light. He then
commanded his men to row up to that side, and fastening a cable to one
of the staples, ordered them to tow my chest, as they called it, toward
the ship. When it was there, he gave directions to fasten another cable
to the ring fixed in the cover, and to raise up my chest with pulleys,
which all the sailors were not able to do above two or three foot. He
said they saw my stick and handkerchief thrust out of the hole, and
concluded that some unhappy man must be shut up in the cavity.
I asked whether he or the crew had seen any prodigious birds in the air
about the time he first discovered me. To which he answered, that
discoursing this matter with the sailors while I was asleep, one of them
said he had observed three eagles flying toward the north, but remarked
nothing of their being larger than the usual size; which, I suppose,
must be imputed to the great height they were at; and he could not guess
the reason of my question. I then asked the captain how far he reckoned
we might be from land. He said by the best computation he could make, we
were, at least, an hundred leagues. I assured him that he must be
mistaken by almost half, for I had not left the country from whence I
came above two hours before I dropped into the sea. Whereupon, he began
again to think that my brain was disturbed, of which he gave me a hint,
and advised me to go to bed in a cabin he had provided.
I assured him I was well refreshed with his good entertainment and
company, and as much in my senses as ever I was in my life. He then grew
serious, and desired to ask me freely, whether I were not troubled in
mind by the consciousness of some enormous crime, for which I was
punished, at the command of some prince, by exposing me in that chest;
as great criminals, in other countries, have been forced to sea in a
leaky vessel, without provisions; for although he should be sorry to
have taken so ill a man into his ship, yet he would engage his word to
set me safe on shore at the first port where we arrived. He added that
his suspicions were much increased by some very absurd speeches I had
delivered at first to the sailors, and afterward to himself, in relation
to my closet or chest, as well as by my odd looks and behavior while I
was at supper.
I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I faithfully did,
from the last time I left England to the moment he first discovered me.
And as truth always forceth its way into rational minds, so this honest,
worthy gentleman, who had some tincture of learning and very good sense,
was immediately convinced of my candor and veracity.
But further to confirm all I had said, I entreated him to give order
that my cabinet should be brought, of which I had the key in my pocket;
for he had already informed me how the seamen disposed of my closet. I
opened it in his own presence, and showed him the small collection of
rarities I made in the country from whence I had been so strangely
delivered. There was a comb I had contrived out of the stumps of the
king's beard, and another of the same materials, but fixed into a paring
of her majesty's thumb-nail, which served for the back. There was a
collection of needles and pins, from a foot to half a yard long; four
wasp's stings, like joiner's tacks; a gold ring, which one day she made
me a present of, in a most obliging manner, taking it from her little
finger, and throwing it over my head like a collar. I desired the
captain would please to accept this ring in return of his civilities,
which he absolutely refused. I showed him a corn that I had cut off,
with my own hand, from a maid of honor's toe; it was the bigness of a
Kentish pippin, and grown so hard that, when I returned to England, I
got it hollowed into a cup, and set in silver. Lastly, I desired him to
see the breeches I had then on, which were made of a mouse's skin.
I could force nothing on him but a footman's tooth, which I observed him
to examine with great curiosity, and found he had a fancy for it. He
received it with abundance of thanks, more than such a trifle could
deserve. It was drawn by an unskillful surgeon in a mistake, from one of
Glumdalclitch's men, who was afflicted with the toothache, but it was as
sound as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it in my cabinet. It
was about a foot long and four inches in diameter.
The captain wondered at one thing very much, which was, to hear me speak
so loud; asking me whether the king or queen of that country were thick
of hearing. I told him it was what I had been used to for above two
years past, and that I wondered as much at the voices of him and his
men, who seemed to me only to whisper, and yet I could hear them well
enough. But when I spoke in that country it was like a man talking in
the street to another looking out from the top of a steeple, unless when
I was placed on a table, or held in any person's hand.
I told him I had likewise observed another thing, that, when I first got
into the ship, and the sailors stood all about me, I thought they were
the most contemptible little creatures I had ever beheld. For, indeed,
while I was in that prince's country I could never endure to look in a
glass after mine eyes had been accustomed to such prodigious objects,
because the comparison gave me so despicable a conceit of myself.
The captain said that while we were at supper he observed me to look at
everything with a sort of wonder, and that I often seemed hardly able to
contain my laughter, which he knew not well how to take, but imputed it
to some disorder in my brain.
I answered, it was very true: and I wondered how I could forbear when I
saw his dishes of the size of a silver threepence, a leg of pork hardly
a mouthful, a cup not so big as a nutshell; and so I went on, describing
the rest of his household stuff and provisions, after the same manner.
For, although the queen had ordered a little equipage of all things
necessary for me, while I was in her service, yet my ideas were wholly
taken up with what I saw on every side of me, and I winked at my own
littleness as people do at their own faults.
The captain understood my raillery very well, and merrily replied with
the old English proverb, that he doubted mine eyes were bigger than my
belly, for he did not observe my stomach so good, although I had fasted
all day; and continuing in his mirth, protested, that he would have
gladly given a hundred pounds to have seen my closet in the eagle's
bill, and afterward in its fall from so great a height into the sea,
which would certainly have been a most astonishing object, worthy to
have the description of it transmitted to future ages; and the
comparison of Phaëthon[25] was so obvious that he could not forbear
applying it, although I did not much admire the conceit.
[Footnote 25: _Phaëthon_ was, according to Greek mythology, the son
of Apollo, the sun god. One day he prevailed upon his father to allow
him to mount the chariot of the sun and drive the white cloud-horses
across the heavens. He was unable to guide his steeds, however, and they
worked great havoc by dragging the sun up and down and from one side of
the sky to the other. Finally, Jupiter hurled the youth into a river.]
The captain having been at Tonquin was in his return to England driven
north-eastward to the latitude of 44 degrees, and of longitude 143. But
meeting a trade-wind two days after I came on board him, we sailed
southward a long time, and coasting New Holland kept our course
west-southwest, and then south-south-west till we doubled the Cape of
Good Hope. Our voyage was very prosperous, but I shall not trouble the
reader with a journal of it. The captain called in at one or two ports,
and sent in his long boat for provisions and fresh water, but I never
went out of the ship, till we came into the Downs which was on the third
day of June, 1706, about nine months after my escape. I offered to leave
my goods in security for payment of my freight; but the captain
protested he would not receive one farthing. We took kind leave of each
other, and I made him promise he would come to see me at my house. I
hired a horse and guide for five shillings, which I borrowed of the
captain.
As I was on the road, observing the littleness of the horses, the trees,
the cattle, and the people, I began to think myself in Lilliput. I was
afraid of trampling on every traveler I met, and often called aloud to
have them stand out of the way, so that I had like to have gotten one or
two broken heads for my impertinence.
When I came to my own house, for which I was forced to inquire, one of
the servants opening the door, I bent down to go in (like a goose under
a gate), for fear of striking my head. My wife ran out to embrace me,
but I stooped lower than her knees, thinking she could otherwise never
be able to reach my mouth. My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, but I
could not see her till she arose, having been so long used to stand with
my head and eyes erect to above sixty feet; and then I went to take her
up with one hand by the waist. I looked down upon the servants, and one
or two friends who were in the house, as if they had been pigmies, and I
a giant. I told my wife, "she had been too thrifty, for I found she had
starved herself and her daughter to nothing." In short, I behaved myself
so unaccountably that they were all of the captain's opinion when he
first saw me, and concluded I had lost my wits. This I mention as an
instance of the great power of habit and prejudice.
In a little time, I and my family and friends came to a right
understanding; but my wife protested I should never go to sea any more;
although my evil destiny so ordered, that she had not power to hinder
me.