Once upon a time there was a man called Gulliver. He was a ship’s doctor and often sailed to distant lands far away from home. But on one voyage, on board the merchant ship the ‘Antelope’, he had no idea just how far the ship would carry him, or what amazing adventures awaited him.
After many months at sea, the ship sailed close to the shores of an unknown land. Suddenly, a terrible storm broke and the wind blew the Antelope on to the rocks. Immediately the ship split in two and sank. Wild with panic, the ship’s crew threw themselves overboard. But only Gulliver managed to swim through the raging surf to the safety of the shore. All the other sailors were drowned.
Pulling himself out of the water, Gulliver dragged himself up the beach. Then, completely exhausted, he fell into a deep sleep. How long he slept he did not know, for when he woke the sun was shining fiercely into his eyes. With a groan he tried to stretch himself. But to his horror he found he could not move. His arms and legs and thick hair were tied firmly to the ground!
Then he felt something crawling up his leg. Lifting his head as best he could, Gulliver saw a tiny man - no bigger than his little finger - walking on his chest. Then to his astonishment he saw at least forty more of these little creatures clambering all over his body - and they were armed with tiny bows and arrows.
With a great roar Gulliver tried to wrench himself free. He roared so loudly that many of the little men fell off his body, and the others ran away. But when they saw that Gulliver could not break loose. They turned and let fly a shower of arrows, small and sharp as pins.
"Ow! Ow! Ouch!" cried Gulliver as the arrows hit him in the face. Then another volley hit him in the chest and hands. Wriggling and writhing in pain, Gulliver tried desperately to break the thousand threads that bound him to the ground.
But it was no use struggling: the bonds were too strong. Eventually, Gulliver gave up. He lay quietly on the ground and gradually fell asleep. After a while, the sound of hammering roused him. Turning his head as far as he could, he saw that a little wooden stage had been built by the side of his head and that a well-dressed man was slowly climbing on to it.
"Hillo bigismo ad popples Lilliput! Ig Golbasto magnifellus Emperoribory……" the man shouted into Gulliver’s ear.
"I don’t understand," said Gulliver. "Did you say your country is called Lilliput?"
Gulliver tried to make the little man understand that he was hungry and thirsty. But when they brought him a drink, it was drugged!
While he slept, five hundred carpenters and engineers built a low, wooden cart to carry him away to see the Emperor of Lilliput. Nine hundred men with poles were needed to lift him on to the cart and more than a thousand horses to pull it to the city.
The procession stopped just outside the city, next to the ruins of an ancient temple. Here Gulliver was taken and heavy chains were attached to his legs, fastened with hundreds of padlocks.
Waking from his sleep, Gulliver found that the ropes around his body had all been cut. Slowly he got to his feet and looked around. To his amazement he saw a whole city in miniature - with houses, streets and parks - lying at his feet. And all around were thousands of little people staring up at him open-mouthed.
Apart from the crowd stood a magnificent little horse. Mounted grandly on its back sat the Emperor. Taller and more handsome than any of the other people Gulliver had seen so far, the Emperor of Lilliput wore a helmet of gold, encrusted with jewels and decorated with a feathery plume. In his hand he held a sword almost half his height, with a diamond-studded hilt.
The horse reared up in terror when it saw Gulliver, so the Emperor dismounted and walked very grandly round Gulliver’s enormous feet.
Close to the temple stood a high tower. Almost as tall as Gulliver himself, it was by far the tallest building in Lilliput. The Emperor and his courtiers climbed its stairs to have a better look at Gulliver. Then they spoke to him through loud-hailers. But though Gulliver spoke to them in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, they seemed not to understand a word he said - and he could not understand them. The Emperor came down from the tower, and clapped his hands. Immediately, twenty carts piled high with meat and bread were brought to the giant.
Looking down on the assembled crowd, Gulliver could pick out the ladies-in-waiting by their rich robes. As they curtsied to him their satin cloaks and silver trains shimmered. They all looked so pretty that Gulliver wanted to pick one up and take a closer look at their doll-sized costumes. But he was far too polite.
The ladies of the court in their beautiful gowns looked shocked and covered their eyes when they saw Gulliver picking up each cart in turn and gulping down the food. And when he swallowed whole barrels of wine some of them actually fainted.
At last the royal visit ended and Gulliver was left alone in the temple - alone except for the hundreds of tiny soldiers guarding him.
But not everyone in Lilliput was happy with having a giant chained up so close to the city. That evening, a party of six men crept past the guards and attacked Gulliver with their arrows, spears and knives. Quickly the Emperor’s bodyguards rounded them up and tied their hands behind their backs. With the handle of his sharp pike, the captain of the guard drove the attackers closer and closer to Gulliver’s outstretched hands. "They tried to kill you, giant," he seemed to be saying. "You deal with them!"
Gulliver swept his attackers up in his hand and pushed five of them into his pocket. The sixth he lifted up and held before his open mouth as if about to swallow him. How the man shrieked and yelled!
But Gulliver was really very gentle. He set his attackers down on the ground and then stood the other five beside him. As quick as a flash, they ran off as fast as their little legs would carry them.
All Lilliput was amazed by Gulliver’s gentleness towards the men who had tried to kill him. They ran with the news to the Emperor’s court. All the ministers of state were there, gathered to discuss what should be done with the strange giant washed up on the shores of Lilliput.
"Ehg, likigubal biggisimo evidally," said the Emperor, which means: "He’s obviously a friendly giant, there’s nothing to fear." But chained up in the temple, Gulliver felt very lonely and wished he could escape and return home to his wife and children.
When the people of Lilliput found out that Gulliver meant them no harm and was a gentle, friendly man, they untied him and set him free.
"But you must turn out your pockets," said the Emperor, "so we know you are not carrying any dangerous weapons."
Gulliver, who could now understand the Lilliput language, emptied his pockets and placed all their contents on the ground. The Emperor was so amazed - and so puzzled - by what he saw, that he allowed all the people of Lilliput to come and see the wonderful objects for themselves.
"Now you must promise to live in peace with everyone in Lilliput," said Emperor Golbasto, "and promise to defend Lilliput against its enemies."
"I’m surprised to hear you have enemies, your majesty," said Gulliver politely.
"Oh yes! We’re at war with the people of Blefuscu. Didn’t you know? They live on an island far out across the sea."
Standing on tip-toe, Gulliver could see the island. It was not really very far away at all - just separated from Lilliput by a narrow stretch of water.
In the shelter of the island’s cliffs lay the harbour of Blefuscu - and in it a fleet of fifty mighty warships, no bigger than the toy boats Gulliver had played with as a boy.
"Bring me fifty iron bars,’’ said Gulliver, and the people of Lilliput sweated and strained under the weight of fifty girders. They were hardly bigger than pins. Gulliver bent each one in turn into the shape of a fish-hook.
"Now bring me the strongest rope in the country," he said. And the Lilliputians brought him the fine thread that he wanted. Gulliver tied the thread to the fish-hooks, and waded into the sea.
It took him only a few minutes to swim across to Blefuscu. Then, reaching shallow water, Gulliver stood up and waded towards the shore.
Thirty thousand Blefuscan soldiers and sailors were assembled on the beach ready to invade Lilliput. But the sight of Gulliver rising from the waves struck terror into thirty thousand hearts.
"Giganticus!" the screamed, thinking that Lilliput had found a dreadful giant to fight for them. "Lillipeopli terriferous gigantico sedigor. Killy us ewill!" And the sailors on the fifty warships jumped overboard and swam for their lives. Soldiers threw down their bows and arrows, and fled inland to hide in the mountains of Blefuscu.
Gulliver stood in the surf and shook himself. Then he took out his hooks and threads, and secured them to the prow of each warship in the harbour. He cut their anchor chains with his pen knife and then, gathering the fifty threads in both hands, he drew the ships out of the harbour and across the channel back to Lilliput.
The people of Lilliput cheered themselves hoarse when they saw Gulliver wading ahead of the fleet, the fifty tiny ropes over his shoulder. As he came ashore they shouted, "Three cheers for the Man Mountain. He’s saved Lilliput."
Gulliver brought the ships safely to the Royal Harbour, and then went to visit the Emperor. "Now tell me," he said, crouching down by the palace. "Why is Lilliput at war with Blefuscu?"
"Because they’re so wicked!" said Emperor Golbasto, still dancing with delight at the news of the victory. "They eat their boiled eggs from the round end! Can you imagine it! A disgusting habit! But now they’re beaten. We’ll force them to eat their eggs from the pointed end."
Gulliver could hardly believe it. "You went to war about that!" he cried. "If I’d known, I’d never have helped you." Suddenly, he felt very lonely among these people. And he wanted to go home.
He felt sorry for the defeated Blefuscans, and decided to visit the island and apologise. But when the Emperor Golbasto heard what Gulliver had done, he was furious.
"It’s treason," he screamed, "that’s what it is! He’s a traitor to Lilliput! I’ll put him to death! Poison his drink! Burn down his house! He’s probably eating a boiled egg this very minute from the round end!"
The Prime Minister pointed out that it was rather useful having a giant around. "I don’t think we ought to kill the Man Mountain, your majesty."
"All right," snapped Golbasto, "I’ll put out his eyes instead."
The court trumpeter was sent to make the announcement. Gulliver had just got back from Blefuscu and was lying in the sun while his clothes dried. The trumpeter stood close to his ear and played a fanfare.
"O foreign and treacherous Man Mountain," he read aloud from a scroll, "the glorious Emperor Golbasto has decided to spare your life…"
Gulliver sat up and stared at the herald.
"But because you are a traitor to the nation of Lilliput, the royal archers will shoot out your eyes with their sharpest arrows at noon tomorrow. God save Golbasto!"
Gulliver snatched up his few belongings and ran through the city to the harbour. And there lay Golbasto’s own royal Galleon - the largest ship in the whole Lilliputian fleet.
Packing his jacket, piston and hat into the Galleon, Gulliver pushed it out of the narrow harbour and swam out to sea. Not once did he look back at the shores of Lilliput, and soon he could hear the waves rolling around him.
After a while he struggled into the Galleon. It was the size of a baby’s cradle, and his arms and legs drooped over the side. The wind and the tide carried him across many miles of ocean, and lulled by the gentle movement of the water Gulliver fell into a deep sleep.
Then, from the crow’s-nest of a merchant ship, a sailor spotted the Galleon through his telescope. At first he thought it was a barrel washed overboard. But then he saw Gulliver.
Immediately a rowing boat was lowered to pick him up.
Gulliver thanked the captain for rescuing him and tucking the Galleon under his arm went below to the cabin. For the first time in months, Gulliver would sleep in a proper bed! And each night, on the long journey home, he dined at the captain’s table and told him all about his extraordinary adventures in Lilliput.
Story Time � 1984-1989 by Rubicon Press CC