Chapter One. I Arrive in Lilliput

Myself and my family. I decide to travel.

Disaster at sea. Lilliput.

My name is Lemuel Gulliver and this is my story.

My father came from the north of England and I was his middle son: I had two older brothers and two younger brothers. We didn't have much money, but my father sent me to Cambridge University. I was fourteen years old. I was very lucky. I studied hard, but after three years it was time for me to start work. I went to London to work for a famous doctor. In my free time, I studied more. I studied navigation, mathematics and medicine. Why? Because I wanted to be a doctor and I wanted to travel. I finished my studies and I found a job as a doctor on a ship called the Swallow.

I travelled for three and a half years with the Swallow. After these three and a half years, I was tired, so I decided to stay in London. I found a small house and I found some patients. I found a wife. Her name was Mary and she had £400. But life was difficult on dry land. I was a good doctor, but I was too honest. The rich doctors in London weren't very honest. They made a lot of money from their patients – the patients bought a lot of medicines from them. I didn't want to be like them. I had no choice; I had to go back to sea. For the next six

years, I travelled to the East and West Indies. I made a lot of money. On the ship, I spent my free time reading. On dry land, I watched new people and learned new languages.

I had enough money to stay at home with my wife and family. I stayed in London with them and I was happy. But, three years later, I had money problems again. I looked for another ship and found the Antelope. Captain William Pritchard gave me a job. I was a ship's doctor again. The Antelope left from Bristol on May 4th, 1699. Our destination was the South Seas.

The journey went well, until we met a terrible storm. The strong wind was very dangerous: we went up and down and left and right. Twelve men died in the storm. Suddenly, the ship hit rocks near Van Diemen's Land. Disaster! The ship broke in two. Six of us jumped into a small boat. We tried to move away from the ship, but it was hard. We were near land when the wind hit our small boat. Suddenly, I was in the water! I never saw my five friends again. I swam and swam for hours and hours, until I was so tired that I couldn't swim. ‘I'll die here,' I thought.

But what was this? Suddenly I could feel land under my feet. I felt stronger now. Now I could walk. I had to walk for a long time, before I arrived at the shore. It wasn't very windy now and I could see the sun. It was about eight o'clock in the evening. I walked along the beach, looking for houses or some people. I was tired and it was very hot. It was November (November 5th, I think), but that was summer in the South Seas. I decided to sit down. Then, I lay down. The sand

was warm and soft. I went to sleep. I slept for hours, I think about nine hours.

When I woke up it was light. I decided to get up and look for help. I couldn't move my legs! I tried to move my arms, but I couldn't! I tried to move my head, but I couldn't! Then I understood why. Ropes. Thousands of little ropes were over my legs and my arms. The ropes were everywhere, even in my hair. The sun was very hot and its light hurt my eyes. Then, something moved on my leg. It moved across my body, until I could see it. It was a little man, about six inches tall. Now I could feel another forty little men walking all over me. I shouted. They ran away. They were afraid, but so was I. They soon came back. One of them came up to my face again and shouted, ‘Hekina degul!'

His friends repeated the words. I didn't understand their language.

I tried to move. I broke the little ropes on my left arm and tried to catch one of the little men. They ran away again and then I heard a shout, ‘Tolgo Phonac!'

Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain in my left hand. ‘They're throwing arrows!' I thought.

Some arrows went into my hand, some into my body. I tried to free my hair. More terrible pain. Then the arrows stopped, so I tried to free my right arm. The arrows started again. ‘I must stay still,' I thought. ‘I can wait until night. These people are too small to keep me here.' I was right: the arrows stopped again.

Now I could hear a lot of noise. There were more little men. ‘What are they doing?' I thought. ‘They're building something.' Again, I was right. Now I could see a platform made of wood.

The platform was near my head on the right. After an hour, they stopped building. Some of the little men cut the hair on my left, so I could move my head. I looked to the right. I could see four of the little men on the platform. ‘They want to talk to me,' I thought.

One of the men was older and taller than the others. He started to speak, but I couldn't understand. Now I was quite hungry. I put my fingers on my mouth. The man understood. A few minutes later, I felt hundreds of the little men on my body. They had food for me. They put some in my mouth. I ate and ate. Then they brought something delicious to drink. I drank and drank. The little men were so happy that they danced on my body. ‘Hekinah degul!' they shouted.

Then a very important man arrived. He had a letter from the emperor. I understood from his hands, that the emperor wanted to see me. I had to go to the capital city. I also understood that I wasn't free. Suddenly, I felt tired. Why? Sleeping medicine in the wine, they told me later. I slept for about eight hours.

When I woke up, I was in a strange cart on the way to the capital. It took five hundred engineers, nine hundred strong men and fifteen hundred horses to take me there. They were very clever people. We arrived at the capital two days later. The emperor was there to meet me. ‘This is your new home,' he said.

He pointed to an old church. Some of the men put new ropes on my legs, but now I could walk a little.

The next morning, the emperor came to see me again with his family. With him were carts of food and drink. The emperor was taller than all his countrymen and his face was strong. He was about

twenty-eight years old. He spoke to me, but I couldn't understand. I tried English, Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian. No-one could understand me and, after about two hours, they went away. I sat outside the church, watching some soldiers. Suddenly, I felt an arrow near my eye. A group of six little men fired more arrows at me. The soldiers were angry with the little men. I picked up the six men and put five of them in my pocket. I put the other man near my mouth. Now the soldiers were worried. I put the little man down and he ran away.

‘I don't eat little men!' I said, smiling.

One by one, I took the other little men out of my pocket and they all ran away. The soldiers were all very happy indeed. The little people began to trust me. After about two weeks, six hundred beds arrived at my new house. The little men put them all together to make one big bed. After that, I was very comfortable.

Everybody in Lilliput now knew about me. Rich people, lazy people and curious people all came to see me. The emperor often came to see me, too. He also talked to all the important people in the land. Some people were worried: my food was very expensive and I was dangerous. They wanted to kill me. The emperor said no. He remembered the six little men who fired arrows. ‘Find me the best teachers!' he said. ‘This man must learn our language.'

After about three weeks, I could speak the language quite well.

The emperor sometimes came to give me conversation practice. Every time he came, I asked him for my freedom.

‘Be patient,' he always said.

I was now very comfortable with my bed, the language and some new clothes. When the men brought me my new clothes, they made a list of all my things. Later that day, the emperor came to visit. He had thousands of soldiers with him. ‘I want to take your sword,' he said.

I took out my sword slowly. The sunlight caught the sword. The light hurt the soldiers' eyes and they were all afraid. I put the sword on the ground and hundreds of soldiers took it away. After that, I gave my other things to the emperor: my money, my comb and my notebook. The soldiers took them all away. I was lucky. When they made the list of my things, they didn't find my secret pocket. In that pocket were my glasses and a pocket telescope. I didn't tell the emperor about them. I wanted to keep them for myself.