Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
PART I. A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.
CHAPTER III.
The author diverts the emperor, and his nobility of both sexes, in a very uncommon
manner. The diversions of the court of Lilliput
described.
The author has his liberty granted him upon certain conditions.
My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on the emperor and his court, and
indeed upon the army and people in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting
my liberty in a short time.
I took all possible methods to cultivate this favourable disposition.
The natives came, by degrees, to be less apprehensive of any danger from me.
I would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance on my hand; and at last
the boys and girls would venture to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair.
I had now made a good progress in understanding and speaking the language.
The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows,
wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence.
I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a slender
white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the ground.
Upon which I shall desire liberty, with the reader's patience, to enlarge a little.
This diversion is only practised by those persons who are candidates for great
employments, and high favour at court.
They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not always of noble birth,
or liberal education.
When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens,)
five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and
the court with a dance on the rope; and
whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the office.
Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill, and to
convince the emperor that they have not lost their faculty.
Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope, at least an
inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire.
I have seen him do the summerset several times together, upon a trencher fixed on a
rope which is no thicker than a common packthread in England.
My friend Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, is, in my opinion, if
I am not partial, the second after the treasurer; the rest of the great officers
are much upon a par.
These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great numbers are
on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates
break a limb.
But the danger is much greater, when the ministers themselves are commanded to show
their dexterity; for, by contending to excel themselves and their fellows, they
strain so far that there is hardly one of
them who has not received a fall, and some of them two or three.
I was assured that, a year or two before my arrival, Flimnap would infallibly have
broke his neck, if one of the king's cushions, that accidentally lay on the
ground, had not weakened the force of his fall.
There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown before the emperor and
empress, and first minister, upon particular occasions.
The emperor lays on the table three fine silken threads of six inches long; one is
blue, the other red, and the third green.
These threads are proposed as prizes for those persons whom the emperor has a mind
to distinguish by a peculiar mark of his favour.
The ceremony is performed in his majesty's great chamber of state, where the
candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former,
and such as I have not observed the least
resemblance of in any other country of the new or old world.
The emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the horizon, while
the candidates advancing, one by one, sometimes leap over the stick, sometimes
creep under it, backward and forward,
several times, according as the stick is advanced or depressed.
Sometimes the emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister the other;
sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself.
Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out the longest in
leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the blue-coloured silk; the red is given to the
next, and the green to the third, which
they all wear girt twice round about the middle; and you see few great persons about
this court who are not adorned with one of these girdles.
The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily led before
me, were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting.
The riders would leap them over my hand, as I held it on the ground; and one of the
emperor's huntsmen, upon a large courser, took my foot, shoe and all; which was
indeed a prodigious leap.
I had the good fortune to divert the emperor one day after a very extraordinary
manner.
I desired he would order several sticks of two feet high, and the thickness of an
ordinary cane, to be brought me; whereupon his majesty commanded the master of his
woods to give directions accordingly; and
the next morning six woodmen arrived with as many carriages, drawn by eight horses to
each.
I took nine of these sticks, and fixing them firmly in the ground in a quadrangular
figure, two feet and a half square, I took four other sticks, and tied them parallel
at each corner, about two feet from the
ground; then I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect; and
extended it on all sides, till it was tight as the top of a drum; and the four parallel
sticks, rising about five inches higher
than the handkerchief, served as ledges on each side.
When I had finished my work, I desired the emperor to let a troop of his best horses
twenty-four in number, come and exercise upon this plain.
His majesty approved of the proposal, and I took them up, one by one, in my hands,
ready mounted and armed, with the proper officers to exercise them.
As soon as they got into order they divided into two parties, performed mock
skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew their swords, fled and pursued, attacked
and retired, and in short discovered the best military discipline I ever beheld.
The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling over the stage; and the
emperor was so much delighted, that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated
several days, and once was pleased to be
lifted up and give the word of command; and with great difficulty persuaded even the
empress herself to let me hold her in her close chair within two yards of the stage,
when she was able to take a full view of the whole performance.
It was my good fortune, that no ill accident happened in these entertainments;
only once a fiery horse, that belonged to one of the captains, pawing with his hoof,
struck a hole in my handkerchief, and his
foot slipping, he overthrew his rider and himself; but I immediately relieved them
both, and covering the hole with one hand, I set down the troop with the other, in the
same manner as I took them up.
The horse that fell was strained in the left shoulder, but the rider got no hurt;
and I repaired my handkerchief as well as I could: however, I would not trust to the
strength of it any more, in such dangerous enterprises.
About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I was entertaining the court
with this kind of feat, there arrived an express to inform his majesty, that some of
his subjects, riding near the place where I
was first taken up, had seen a great black substance lying on the around, very oddly
shaped, extending its edges round, as wide as his majesty's bedchamber, and rising up
in the middle as high as a man; that it was
no living creature, as they at first apprehended, for it lay on the grass
without motion; and some of them had walked round it several times; that, by mounting
upon each other's shoulders, they had got
to the top, which was flat and even, and, stamping upon it, they found that it was
hollow within; that they humbly conceived it might be something belonging to the man-
mountain; and if his majesty pleased, they
would undertake to bring it with only five horses.
I presently knew what they meant, and was glad at heart to receive this intelligence.
It seems, upon my first reaching the shore after our shipwreck, I was in such
confusion, that before I came to the place where I went to sleep, my hat, which I had
fastened with a string to my head while I
was rowing, and had stuck on all the time I was swimming, fell off after I came to
land; the string, as I conjecture, breaking by some accident, which I never observed,
but thought my hat had been lost at sea.
I entreated his imperial majesty to give orders it might be brought to me as soon as
possible, describing to him the use and the nature of it: and the next day the
waggoners arrived with it, but not in a
very good condition; they had bored two holes in the brim, within an inch and half
of the edge, and fastened two hooks in the holes; these hooks were tied by a long cord
to the harness, and thus my hat was dragged
along for above half an English mile; but, the ground in that country being extremely
smooth and level, it received less damage than I expected.
Two days after this adventure, the emperor, having ordered that part of his army which
quarters in and about his metropolis, to be in readiness, took a fancy of diverting
himself in a very singular manner.
He desired I would stand like a Colossus, with my legs as far asunder as I
conveniently could.
He then commanded his general (who was an old experienced leader, and a great patron
of mine) to draw up the troops in close order, and march them under me; the foot by
twenty-four abreast, and the horse by
sixteen, with drums beating, colours flying, and pikes advanced.
This body consisted of three thousand foot, and a thousand horse.
His majesty gave orders, upon pain of death, that every soldier in his march
should observe the strictest decency with regard to my person; which however could
not prevent some of the younger officers
from turning up their eyes as they passed under me: and, to confess the truth, my
breeches were at that time in so ill a condition, that they afforded some
opportunities for laughter and admiration.
I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty, that his majesty at length
mentioned the matter, first in the cabinet, and then in a full council; where it was
opposed by none, except Skyresh Bolgolam,
who was pleased, without any provocation, to be my mortal enemy.
But it was carried against him by the whole board, and confirmed by the emperor.
That minister was galbet, or admiral of the realm, very much in his master's
confidence, and a person well versed in affairs, but of a morose and sour
complexion.
However, he was at length persuaded to comply; but prevailed that the articles and
conditions upon which I should be set free, and to which I must swear, should be drawn
up by himself.
These articles were brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in person attended by two
under-secretaries, and several persons of distinction.
After they were read, I was demanded to swear to the performance of them; first in
the manner of my own country, and afterwards in the method prescribed by
their laws; which was, to hold my right
foot in my left hand, and to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown
of my head, and my thumb on the tip of my right ear.
But because the reader may be curious to have some idea of the style and manner of
expression peculiar to that people, as well as to know the article upon which I
recovered my liberty, I have made a
translation of the whole instrument, word for word, as near as I was able, which I
here offer to the public.
"Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue, most mighty Emperor of
Lilliput, delight and terror of the universe, whose dominions extend five
thousand blustrugs (about twelve miles in
circumference) to the extremities of the globe; monarch of all monarchs, taller than
the sons of men; whose feet press down to the centre, and whose head strikes against
the sun; at whose nod the princes of the
earth shake their knees; pleasant as the spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful
as autumn, dreadful as winter: his most sublime majesty proposes to the man-
mountain, lately arrived at our celestial
dominions, the following articles, which, by a solemn oath, he shall be obliged to
perform:- "1st, The man-mountain shall not depart from our dominions, without our
license under our great seal.
"2d, He shall not presume to come into our metropolis, without our express order; at
which time, the inhabitants shall have two hours warning to keep within doors.
"3d, The said man-mountain shall confine his walks to our principal high roads, and
not offer to walk, or lie down, in a meadow or field of corn.
"4th, As he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost care not to trample upon
the bodies of any of our loving subjects, their horses, or carriages, nor take any of
our subjects into his hands without their own consent.
"5th, If an express requires extraordinary despatch, the man-mountain shall be obliged
to carry, in his pocket, the messenger and horse a six days journey, once in every
moon, and return the said messenger back
(if so required) safe to our imperial presence.
"6th, He shall be our ally against our enemies in the island of Blefuscu, and do
his utmost to destroy their fleet, which is now preparing to invade us.
"7th, That the said man-mountain shall, at his times of leisure, be aiding and
assisting to our workmen, in helping to raise certain great stones, towards
covering the wall of the principal park, and other our royal buildings.
"8th, That the said man-mountain shall, in two moons' time, deliver in an exact survey
of the circumference of our dominions, by a computation of his own paces round the
coast.
"Lastly, That, upon his solemn oath to observe all the above articles, the said
man-mountain shall have a daily allowance of meat and drink sufficient for the
support of 1724 of our subjects, with free
access to our royal person, and other marks of our favour.
Given at our palace at Belfaborac, the twelfth day of the ninety-first moon of our
reign." I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and
content, although some of them were not so
honourable as I could have wished; which proceeded wholly from the malice of Skyresh
Bolgolam, the high-admiral: whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was
at full liberty.
The emperor himself, in person, did me the honour to be by at the whole ceremony.
I made my acknowledgements by prostrating myself at his majesty's feet: but he
commanded me to rise; and after many gracious expressions, which, to avoid the
censure of vanity, I shall not repeat, he
added, "that he hoped I should prove a useful servant, and well deserve all the
favours he had already conferred upon me, or might do for the future." The reader may
please to observe, that, in the last
article of the recovery of my liberty, the emperor stipulates to allow me a quantity
of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 1724 Lilliputians.
Some time after, asking a friend at court how they came to fix on that determinate
number, he told me that his majesty's mathematicians, having taken the height of
my body by the help of a quadrant, and
finding it to exceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one, they concluded
from the similarity of their bodies, that mine must contain at least 1724 of theirs,
and consequently would require as much food
as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians.
By which the reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity of that people, as well as
the prudent and exact economy of so great a prince.