For the last 250 years people everywhere have enjoyed reading about Lemuel Gulliver's travels in the strange countries of Lilliput and Brobdingnag. The people of these countries, with all their curiously human failings, come to life in Martin Aitchison's vivid illustrations. Here is a story to make you laugh—but to make you think, too.

Gulliver's Travels

by Jonathan Swift

My travels began on May 4th 1699. I said goodbye to my wife and two children and set sail from Bristol as ship's doctor bound for the South Seas.

All went well for the first few weeks. Then there was a bad storm and the ship was wrecked. Six of the crew, of whom I was one, got into a little boat and began to row to an island nearby. Suddenly a huge wave upset the boat, and all the other men were lost. Only I, Lemuel Gulliver, was left.

I swam as long as I could and at last, just as I could swim no more, my feet touched the bottom. I waded through the water to the shore, where there was no sign of houses or people.

I walked about half a mile further, but still saw no one. Tired out, I lay down on the short, soft grass and went to sleep.

When I woke up it was daylight. I lay still for a moment wondering where I was, then tried to get up. I could not move my arms or my legs or my head! I was tied to the ground! There was a buzzing noise near me but I could not see what was making it.

Suddenly I felt something moving on my left leg. It walked up me and stopped close by my chin. I looked down as well as I could (for my hair was tied to the ground), and saw a tiny man, less than six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hand. Then many more of these little men started to run all over me. I was so surprised that I roared loudly. They ran back in a fright and fell over one another trying to get away. I found out later that some of them had hurt themselves when they fell from my chest.

I managed to break the strings that tied my left arm to the ground, and pulled some of my hair loose so that I could move my head. This made the little men even more afraid, and they shot arrows at me. Some fell on my hands and some on my face, pricking me like needles and making my skin sore wherever they landed.

The little men stood around at a distance watching me. After a while, when they saw I was not going to hurt them, they cut some of the strings that bound me. This at least allowed me to move my head more.

Now I could see that they had built a little platform beside my head so that their emperor could talk to me. He spoke for some time, but I could not understand him, and I began to grow hungry. I pointed to my mouth and pretended to chew. He seemed to understand and at once sent some of his men to bring me food and drink.

Ladders were put against my sides, and over a hundred of the little men climbed up, bringing baskets full of meat and bread. Each piece of meat was the size of one small piece of mince, so I had to keep asking for more. The loaves were so tiny that I ate three at a time.

I drank a whole barrel of their wine at a gulp. They kept looking at each other as if they could not believe it was possible to drink so much, but they brought me some more wine which I drank.

I made signs to let them know I would not try to escape, and they loosened the strings so that I could turn on my side. They also put some ointment on my face and hands, which took away the soreness their arrows had caused.

Then I fell asleep again.

When I woke up I found myself on a kind of platform with wheels. It was moving towards the capital city of these tiny people about half a mile away. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses, each about as big as my hand, were pulling me along.

I later found out that it had taken five hundred carpenters and engineers to make this platform, and no less than nine hundred men to put me onto it while I was still asleep.

For some time I did not know what had wakened me. I was told later however that some of the young people wanted to see how I looked when I was asleep. They climbed onto the platform and walked very softly up to my face. One of them, an officer in the Guards, put the sharp end of his spear up into my nose, which tickled my nose like a straw and made me sneeze, waking me up. They ran away quickly before I caught sight of them.

We made a long march for the remainder of that day and rested at night. They put five hundred guards on each side of me ready to shoot me if I tried to escape.

At last we arrived at the capital city. The platform to which I was tied stopped outside a church which was no longer used. Since this was the largest building in the whole country, the emperor had planned that I should live there. The door was just big enough for me to creep through when I wanted to sleep. Once inside, I could only lie down.

The little men would not let me go free, however. They put nearly a hundred of their tiny chains round my left leg, so that although I could stand up, I could not move very far.

When this was done, the emperor came to see me. He carried in his hand a sword about as big as one of our darning needles, to defend himself if I should break loose. He was a handsome little man, much taller than the rest of his court, who were with him, and he wore a gold helmet with a plume on the crest. All the ladies and gentlemen of the court were dressed in gold and silver, which flashed in the sun.

I tried to answer the emperor when he spoke to me, but he could not understand any of the many languages which I speak. Soon he went away to decide whether he would have to have me killed or not, for I would cost a great deal to feed, and might be dangerous.

After the emperor had gone away, a great crowd of the tiny people came to see me, because none of them had ever seen such a big person before. Some of the men shot arrows at me, and one just missed my eye. The guards tied these men up and gave them to me to punish.

I put five of them in my pocket, and pretended I was going to eat the other one, who was very frightened. Then I took out my penknife and cut the cords that bound him, and set him on the ground. I treated the other five in the same way, taking them one by one out of my pocket. Everyone was very surprised to see me treat them so gently.

Two of the guards went to the emperor to tell him what I had done. He decided that since I had been kind to his people, he would not have me killed. He ordered people, he would not have me killed. He ordered people who lived close to the town to bring me six cows and forty sheep every day, and wine to drink. This was only just enough for me, since everything was so tiny.

Three hundred tailors were told to make clothes for me, and six hundred of the little people were to look after me. They were to live in tents outside the church to make it easier for them.

Lastly, six men were to teach me their language.

Three weeks later I was able to understand and talk to the little men. The first thing I asked the emperor was to set me free. He said that they must first see if I was carrying anything that could be a danger to his people. Two men came to look through my pockets, and wrote down everything they found.

They gave me a new name: the Great Man Mountain. In my pockets they found:

A handkerchief which they thought was like a carpet.

A snuff box which they called a chest filled with dust. It made them sneeze.

A notebook in which they recognised very large writing.

A comb. They knew what this was for, but said it looked like the railings round the emperor's palace.

A knife, a razor, and a pair of pistols. All these things were new to them, and they could not think what they were for.

A watch. They said it made a noise like a water-mill. They thought it must be a god which I worshipped, because I told them I always looked at it before I did anything.

A purse. They called this a net large enough for a fisherman, but they knew I used it as a purse. They were very surprised at the size of the gold pieces in my purse.

When the two little men had finished looking in my pockets, they looked at my belt. They wrote down that I had a sword as long as five men and a pouch with two pockets. One of these pockets held black powder, the other very heavy round balls.

They took their list to the emperor, who asked me to take out my sword and put it carefully on the ground. Then he asked me what my pistols were for. I told him not to be afraid, and I fired one of them in the air.

Everyone fell down in fright except the emperor, although he too went very white. He made me give up my pistols at once. I did so, telling him that the black powder must be kept away form fire because it was very dangerous.

All my things were put away in the emperor's store room, except for my eye-glasses which were in a pocket the men had not found.

Slowly the emperor and his people came to understand that they were in no danger from me. From time to time some of them would dance on my hand, and the boys and girls liked to play hide and seek in my hair as I lay on the ground. Even the horses stopped being afraid of me, and horses and riders would take turns to leap over my hand as I held it on the ground.

One day some people came to tell the emperor that they had found a huge black object lying on the ground. They said it was not alive, and they thought it might belong to the Great Man Mountain. It was my hat, which I thought I had lost at sea! To bring it to me, they made two holes in the brim and fastened cords from the hat to the harnesses of five horses. It was then dragged along the ground for half a mile. This did not do it much good!

Another time the emperor asked me to stand with my legs apart so that his army could march between them. There were no less than 3,000 foot soldiers and 1,000 horsemen, and they marched with drums beating and flags flying.

I asked once more to be set free, and at last the emperor agreed, so long as I would obey his rules. I said that I would, and my chains were taken off.

I had always wanted to see the capital city, and now that I was free the emperor said I could. All the people were told to stay in their houses in case I walked on them. So they crowded to their windows to see me as I stepped over the wall into the square where the emperor's palace stood.

It was really magnificent, like a big doll's house. I lay down to look inside and the empress came to the window, smiling, and gave me her hand to kiss.

Soon after I was set free, one of the country's great men came to see me. We had a long talk and I learned many things.

I had thought the island, which is called Lilliput, was a peaceful and happy one, but he told me this was not so.

"You may have seen," he said, "that some of us wear high heels and some wear how heels on our shoes. The emperor will let only people wearing low heels work for him, and those who like high heels feel that this is wrong. Because of this there are many quarrels among the Lilliputians."

Then he told me of a much bigger danger that was about to befall his country.

"There is an island close by called Blefuscu, and the people there are going to attack us."

"Why?" I asked him.

"It all began long ago," he replied. "When our emperor's great-grandfather was a little boy, he cut his finger one morning as he took the top off his egg. UP till then everyone had cut off the big end of the egg. After that, however, the ruler of those times said that everyone must cut off the small end, and those who would not obey had to leave Lilliput. They went to the island of Blefuscu and called themselves the Big-Endians. Now they are coming to make war on Lilliput, and the emperor wants you to help us."

I said I would help the people of Lilliput in any way I could, for they had been very kind to me.

I knew that the Big-Endians had about fifty warships lying at anchor, and I planned to seize them.

I fixed fifty hooks to fifty lengths of cord, then I set off for Blefuscu. There was only about half a mile of sea between the islands, and I could wade most of the way except right in the middle where I had to swim.

The enemy took fright when they saw me, and leaped out of their ships and swam to shore. I then fastened a hook to the prow of each ship, and tied all the cords together at the end. While I was doing this, the Big-Endians shot thousands of their tiny arrows at me. I was afraid one would go in my eyes, so I put on my glasses.

After I had cut the anchor cables, I tool up the knotted end of the cords to which my hooks were tied, and set off back to Lilliput with fifty of the enemy's largest ships.

The emperor was so pleased with me that he made me a Nardac, which is something like a duke in my own land.

Now the emperor wanted me to seize the rest of the enemy's ships, so that he could be emperor of the Big-Endians as well as Lilliput. He would then be able to make the Big-Endians obey his rules and cut off the small ends of their eggs. I would not do this as I did not think it was right. This made the emperor angry with me.

Soon after this, some of the Big-Endians came to make peace with the Lilliputians. When they saw me again, they asked me to come to Blefuscu one day so that everyone could see how big I was. I said that I would, which made the emperor even more angry with me. His Chief Admiral was displeased with me too, not only because it was I who had defeated the Big-Endian navy (which he could not do), but also because I had been made a Nardac.

There were others amongst the emperor's great men who did not like me, some of them because I ate so much of their food, and some who thought I was dangerous.

They all asked the emperor to have me put to death, as an enemy of Lilliput, because I had refused to do what the emperor wanted.

The emperor refused to have me put to death, because I had helped him. He thought for a long time, then he said that the best way to punish me would be to put out my eyes.

One of the great men was my friend. He came in secret to tell me what the emperor had said, so that I could save myself.

When I heard what he had to say, I felt that the time had come for me to leave Lilliput, for I did not like the thought of being blind.