Chapter Two. My Life in Lilliput

Lilliput. Freedom. War with Blefuscu. Escape to Blefuscu. I return to England.

People in Lilliput seemed more friendly now. Boys and girls played in my hair and they called me Man Mountain. The horses weren't scared of me now. People enjoyed coming to see me: I was now a tourist attraction. One day, the emperor asked me to stand up with my feet apart. He then told his soldiers to march under me. Everyone enjoyed the parade.

‘Now I'll give you your freedom,' the emperor said, ‘But there are some rules. So, there are nine rules. If you agree, you'll be free.'

The emperor gave me a piece of paper.

RULES

1. The Man Mountain must not leave Lilliput without permission.

2. He must not come into the city without permission.

3. He must stay on the roads.

4. He must be careful (our people are very small).

5. He must carry urgent messages for the emperor.

6. He must help us in our war with Blefuscu.

7. He must help us build new houses.

8. He must make a map of our country.

9. He can have food and drink = to 1,724 Lilliputians.

I had no problem with the rules. I asked a friend about how they decided how much food and drink to give me.

‘The best mathematicians in the country decided this,' he said. ‘They thought about your height – you're exactly 12 times taller than us. Your volume is therefore 123. As you know, 123 equals 1,724.'

I checked the mathematics: 12 x 12 x 12 = 1,724. ‘You're very clever people,' I answered, ‘And very good at economics!'

About two weeks later, I had a visitor. His name was Reldresal and he was an important man. He sat in my hand and we talked. He told me about some of the problems in Lilliput. He was worried about political differences. He was also worried about war: war with Blefuscu. ‘The biggest problem', he said, ‘is eggs.'

‘Eggs?' I asked, surprised.

‘Yes, eggs. Big-Endians and Little-Endians.'

I was confused. ‘What are Big-Endians and Little-Endians?'

‘Everyone in Lilliput has boiled eggs for breakfast. In the past, everyone cut their boiled egg at the big end. They were Big-Endians. Then, an emperor cut his finger. He made a law: everyone had to cut their boiled egg at the little end. We became Little-Endians. Some people changed, but other people didn't. There were protests. Some Big-Endians left Lilliput. Today, there are still problems. The Emperor of Blefuscu helps the Big-Endians. So, we're at war with Blefuscu – about eggs.'

‘Can I help?' I asked.

‘I hope so,' answered Reldresal sadly. ‘The Emperor of Blefuscu has a lot of ships. He has more than us and the ships are ready to attack us.'

‘Let me speak to the emperor,' I said. I had an idea.

The Empire of Blefuscu is very near to Lilliput. The channel between the two countries is less than a mile wide and the water isn't very deep. Before I went to see the emperor, I went to the beach. I looked at the Blefuscu ships through my pocket telescope. There were about fifty ships. I went quickly to the palace. I told the emperor my idea and he was very happy indeed. I went home to prepare some small ropes.

The next morning, I went to the shore. I took off my coat and my shoes and swam across the channel. When I got near to the Emperor of Blefuscu's ships, his soldiers were scared. Some of them jumped into the water. Some of them fired arrows at me and I was worried about my eyes. Then I remembered my glasses and put them on. My job was very easy: I put ropes on all the Emperor of Blefuscu's ships. Then I pulled them across the channel to Lilliput.

The Emperor of Lilliput was very happy. He gave me a special reward – I was a Nardac (like a lord, dear reader)! The emperor was so happy that he decided to send me to Blefuscu again. ‘You can kill all the Big-Endians!' he said. ‘Everyone will cut their eggs from the little end, everyone in the world! I'll be emperor of the whole world!'

‘No! That's not right,' I shouted. ‘I can't help you. I don't want to kill people. I don't want to kill people because of eggs!'

The emperor was surprised and then he was angry.

‘Don't trust the emperor,' my friend said later that evening. ‘Some of the emperor's friends are angry with you. You're a Nardac and they want to be Nardacs. They'll say bad things about you. The emperor will change.'

‘I'll be very careful. You can't always trust emperors,' I said.

A few weeks later, the most important Blefuscans came to Lilliput. ‘We must end the war,' they said to the emperor, ‘We don't want to fight anymore. It's time for us to be friends.'

The Emperor of Lilliput said yes. The Emperor of Blefuscu had to pay a lot of money, but the war was over. There was a big dinner to celebrate the end of the war. At the dinner, I met the Emperor of Blefuscu. I liked him and I talked to him for a long time. I was lucky, he was very important to me later.

Now that I was a Nardac, life was different. I didn't build houses now. I had time to learn more about Lilliput. I talked to a lot of people and I learned to write Lilliputian. This was very difficult. Lilliputian writing isn't from left to right like Europeans. It isn't from right to left like Arabic writers. It's diagonal, from one corner of the paper to the other. There are many other differences. For example, Lilliputians believe that the Earth is flat. They also have some very strict laws.

I lived very well in Lilliput. I had three hundred cooks, twenty waiters and lots and lots of other servants. People began to talk. They said I was very expensive. Many of the emperor's friends were angry with me. They began to talk to the emperor. My friend was right – the Emperor of Lilliput began to change.

‘He didn't want to fight for us,' one said.

‘He talked to the Emperor of Blefuscu,' said another.

‘He wants to live in Blefuscu,' said a third man.

‘Oh no! You're right,' said the emperor, ‘He'll fight against us! We must kill him.'

Later that night, my good friend came to see me. ‘You must leave Lilliput,' he said.

‘I know,' I answered. ‘It's too dangerous for me here.'

We made a plan.

That night, I said goodbye to my Lilliputian friend. I swam to Blefuscu. I took a ship and put my things in it. I pulled the ship across the channel with me. The people of Blefuscu were very pleased to see me. They sent a message to the Emperor of Blefuscu. Almost immediately, the emperor and his wife arrived at the shore. The people of Blefuscu were not scared of me.

The emperor was very kind to me, but there was one problem: there was no house for me in Blefuscu, so I slept outside.

Three days later, I went for a walk. I went to the north-east of the island. I saw something in the sea. Was it a boat? I took off my coat and shoes and swam to it. It was a boat. An empty boat and it was my size. I swam back to the shore and went immediately to the city. I asked for a meeting with the emperor. He was happy to see me.

‘Your Majesty,' I began, ‘I need your help.'

‘I'll help you, if I can,' he answered.

‘Thank you, your Majesty. I need twenty ships and three thousand men.'

The emperor was surprised. ‘Why?'

‘There's a big boat in the sea in the north-east. I need your help to bring it here. I can use the boat to return to my country.'

The emperor was very kind. He gave me the ships and the men. We brought the boat back to Blefuscu.

Before I left, the emperor got a letter from Lilliput. The Emperor of Lilliput was very, very angry. ‘Send the Man Mountain back to Lilliput,' he wrote.

The Emperor of Blefuscu sent a letter back. ‘I'm very sorry,' he wrote, ‘but I can't send him back to you. The Man Mountain is very kind. He is a peaceful man. He stopped the war between us.'

The emperor showed me his letter. He asked me to stay in Blefuscu. ‘I'll protect you,' he said.

‘No, I must leave,' I answered.

The emperor helped me. He gave me food and drink for the journey. He also gave me some money. I took some of the little animals with me to show people at home. I wanted to take some of the little men with me too, but the emperor said no.

On 24th September, 1701, at six in the morning, I left Blefuscu.

My journey was very comfortable. The first day, the weather was good. I stopped near a small island and slept for a few hours. The next day was the same. On the third day, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, I saw a ship. To my surprise, the ship was English. I reached the ship about two hours later. The captain was a very kind man.

‘Where are you going?' I asked.

‘England,' he answered. ‘We are returning from Japan.'

Everyone on the ship was curious about my story. They didn't believe that the people on Lilliput were so small. ‘You're mad!' they said.

‘Let me show you something,' I answered.

I showed them my little animals. Now, they believed me.

The journey was very comfortable and we soon arrived home. I made a lot of money with my little animals. I took them to markets in London and I showed them to people. People paid a lot to see them. Then someone bought them for a hundred pounds. Now I was rich.

I stayed with my wife and family and I bought a new house. But I didn't want to stay in England, I wanted to travel. I gave my wife fifteen hundred pounds. I said goodbye to her, my son and my daughter. We were all very sad. I left England again. The name of my ship was the Adventure. I'll tell you all about my adventures on the Adventure in the next chapter.