Soon after I heard a general shout, with frequent repetition 30
of the words "Peplom selan," and I felt great
numbers of the people on my left side relaxing the cords to
such a degree that I was able to turn upon my right. But
before this they had daubed my face and both my hands
with a sort of ointment very pleasant to the smell, which in
a few minutes removed all the smart of their arrows.
These circumstances, added to the refreshment I had 5
received by their victuals and drink, which were very
nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight hours
as I was afterward assured; and it was no wonder, for the
physicians, by the emperor's order, had mingled a sleeping
potion in the hogsheads of wine. 10
It seems that upon the first moment I was discovered
sleeping on the ground after my landing, the emperor
had early notice of it by an express, and determined in
council that I should be tied in the manner I have related
(which was done in the night while I slept), that plenty of 15
meat and drink should be sent to me, and a machine
prepared to carry me to the capital city.
This resolution perhaps may appear very bold and
dangerous, and I am confident would not be imitated by
any prince in Europe on the like occasion; however, in 20
my opinion it was extremely prudent as well as generous.
For supposing these people had endeavored to kill me with
their spears and arrows while I was asleep, I should certainly
have awaked with the first sense of smart, which
might so far have roused my rage and strength as to have 25
enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied;
after which, as they were not able to make resistance,
so they could expect no mercy.
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and
arrived to a great perfection in mechanics by the countenance 30
and encouragement of the emperor, who is a renowned
patron of learning. This prince hath several
machines fixed on wheels for the carriage of trees and other
great weights. He often builds his largest men of war,
whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where the
timber grows, and has them carried on these engines three
or four hundred yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters 5
and engineers were immediately set at work to prepare the
greatest engine they had. It was a frame of wood raised
three inches from the ground, about seven feet long and
four wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. The shout
I heard was upon the arrival of this engine, which it seems 10
set out in four hours after my landing. It was brought
parallel to me as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to
raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of
one foot high, were erected for this purpose, and very strong
cords of the bigness of packthread were fastened by hooks15
to many bandages, which the workmen had girt round my
neck, my hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of
the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords
by many pulleys fastened on the poles, and thus in less
than three hours, I was raised and flung into the engine,20
and there tied fast. All this I was told, for while the whole
operation was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by
the force of that soporiferous medicine infused into my
liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses,
each about four inches and a half high, were employed to 25
draw me toward the metropolis, which, as I said, was
half a mile distant.
About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked
by a very ridiculous accident; for the carriage being stopped
a while to adjust something that was out of order, two or30
three of the young natives had the curiosity to see how I
looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine,
and advancing very softly to my face, one of them, an
officer in the guards, put the sharp end of his half-pike
a good way into my left nostril, which tickled my nose like
a straw, and made me sneeze violently; whereupon they
stole off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew 5
the cause of my awaking so suddenly. We made a long
march the remaining part of that day, and rested that
night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half
with torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to
shoot me if I should offer to stir. The next morning at 10
sunrise we continued our march, and arrived within two
hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor
and all his court came out to meet us, but his great
officers would by no means suffer His Majesty to endanger
his person by mounting on my body. 15
At the place where the carriage stopped, there stood an
ancient temple, esteemed to be the largest in the whole
kingdom, which having been polluted some years before by
an unnatural murder, was, according to the zeal of those
people, looked on as profane, and therefore had been applied 20
to common use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried
away. In this edifice it was determined I should lodge.
The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet
high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily
creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, not 25
above six inches from the ground; into that on the left side
the king's smiths conveyed fourscore and eleven chains,
like those that hang to a lady's watch in Europe, and almost
as large, which were locked to my left leg with six and
thirty padlocks. Over against this temple, on the other side 30
of the great highway, at twenty foot distance, there was a
turret at least five foot high. Here the emperor ascended
with at least twenty lords of his court, to have an opportunity
of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see
them. It was reckoned that above an hundred thousand
inhabitants came out of the town upon the same errand;
and in spite of my guards, I believe there could not be fewer 5
than ten thousand, at several times, who mounted upon my
body by the help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon
issued to forbid it upon pain of death. When the workmen
found that it was impossible for me to break loose, they
cut all the strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up 10
with as melancholy a disposition as ever I had in my life.
But the noise and astonishment of the people at seeing me
rise and walk are not to be expressed. The chains that
held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me
not only the liberty of walking backwards and forwards in15
a semicircle, but being fixed within four inches of the gate,
allowed me to creep in, and lie at full length in the temple.
—Gulliver's Travels.
1. Relate briefly what happened to Gulliver after he landed on Lilliput. What devices does Swift use to make this story appear real.
2. Do the little people act exactly like people of our own kind?
3. Swift was a master satirist; that is, he was constantly ridiculing people, things, or customs. Do you find any trace of satire in this selection?