I went down to the shore and took one of the emperor's ships. I put my clothes in it so that they would not get wet, and pulled it after me as I swam across to Blefuscu.

The emperor of Blefuscu was pleased to see me, and so were all his people. They were kind to me and I liked them, but I did not want to spend the rest of my life there. I wanted to get back home.

Then one day I saw, out at sea, a full size boat floating upside down. I asked the emperor to lend me some ships and men to help me bring it to shore, so that I could sail home in it.

It took two thousand of the tiny men to help me to turn the boat right side up once it was ashore. Then I had to get it ready for the long journey home.

The thickest linen these people had was much thinner than that of our finest handkerchiefs, so two sails were made for me by putting thirteen thicknesses together. Five hundred workmen were needed to make them!

I made ropes and cables by twisting together as many as thirty of the thickest and strongest of their ropes. I made oars and masts with the help of the emperor's ship-carpenters.

When all was ready, I stored food on board, and also live cows and bulls and sheep which I wanted to show my family. I would have liked to take some of the little people with me, but the emperor would not allow me to.

Off I set, and two days later I saw a big ship, whose captain took me on board. He did not believe my story until he saw the live cows and sheep, which were in my pocket.

When at last I got home, my wife and children were very happy to see me again and to hear all my adventures. As for the cows and sheep, I put them to eat grass in a park close by my house, at Greenwich in London. Maybe you could see some of them there today if you went to look!

A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG

After I had been at home for a while, I went to sea again, for I like to travel.

The first part of our voyage was pleasant, with nothing to trouble us. Then one day there was a bad storm, and we were driven hundreds of miles out of our way. We were lost. There was plenty of food on board, but not nearly enough water. So when one day we saw land, the captain sent several of us ashore to get water.

When we landed, there was no sign of a river or spring. The other men kept to the shore, looking for water near the sea. I walked inland, but I found no water and turned back.

From where I stood, I could see our ship's boat with all the men on board, rowing as quickly as they could back to the ship. They had left me behind! Then I saw why. There was a huge man-like creature chasing them, taking great strides through the sea.

I did not wait to see what happened. I ran away as fast as I could, and climbed a steep hill to see what the country looked like.

I could not believe my eyes! The grass was nearly as tall as a house, with corn towering above it as high as a church steeple!

I walked along what I thought was a high road, but which I found out later was just a footpath to the people of this land, and I came to a stile.

Each step in this stile was like a high wall to me, and I could not climb it. As I was looking for a gap in the huge hedge, I saw another enormous man like the one I had seen chasing my friends. I was very frightened, and ran to hide in the corn.

He called out in a voice which sounded to me like thunder, and seven other giants like himself came towards him. They carried scythes, each as big as six of our own, to reap the corn.

I grew even more frightened. Where could I hide? I ran to and fro to keep out of their way, but they moved too fast for me to escape.

At last I called out "Stop!" as loudly as I could, just as one was about to step on me. The man looked down and picked me up, holding me tightly in case I should bite him. Then he took me to his master to show him what he had found.

This man was a farmer, and the same man I had seen at first in the field.

The farmer pulled out his handkerchief, wrapped me in it, and took me back to his farm. His wife screamed and ran away when she first saw me, just as my wife does when she sees a mouse!

Then the three children came to have a look at me. They were just going to have their dinner, and they put me on the table where they could see me as they ate.

It was like being on the roof of a house. I was in a terrible fright, and kept as far as I could from the edge, for fear of falling.

The farmer's wife gave me some crumbs of bread, and minced up some meat for me. I took out my knife and fork and started to eat, which delighted them. The farmer's wife gave me her smallest cup (it was as big as a bucket) filled with cider, but I could not drink it all.

Then in came the nurse with the baby in her arms. He wanted me as a plaything. When they gave me to him, he put my head in his mouth. I roared so loudly that the baby was frightened and dropped me. I would have been killed if his mother had not caught me in her apron.

After dinner the farmer went back to his fields, and his wife put me to bed with a handkerchief over me for a sheet. The bed was as wide as a main road in England, and the handkerchief thicker than the mainsail of a ship!

Later on, the daughter of the house made a bed for me in the baby's cradle. This girl was very good to me. She was nine years old and small for her age in that country, since she was only forty feet tall! She called me Grildrig, which meant "Little Man", and taught me to speak their language. I liked her very much.

As soon as the people who lived round about heard of me, they all came to have a look at me. One of them told the farmer that he should take me to town next market day, and make people pay to see me. So he did this. His little girl came with us to look after me, and I called her my nurse.

I was placed on a table in the largest room of the inn, which was as big as a football field! I did all the funny tricks I could think of. I stood on my head, I hopped about, and I danced, to please the people who came to see me.

The farmer made a great deal of money from showing me, and he decided to take me to other towns. At last we came to the capital city, where the royal family lived.

The queen liked me so much that she bought me from the farmer. I begged her to let my nurse stay with me, and she agreed. Then the farmer went back home.

The queen had a little room made for me, with a roof that lifted up, and furniture which was just the right size for me. To them it was a small box, with straps round it so that they could carry it. The queen had a set of silver cups, saucers and plates made for me, too.

It was like a doll's tea-set to her!

I always had my meals at a little table on the queen's table, now, but I did not like to see the way she ate. She would put a piece of bread as big as two of our loaves in her mouth at one go! Her dinner knife was taller than me, and I thought it looked very dangerous.

Every Wednesday, which was their Sunday, the king came to have dinner with us. He liked to talk to me and to ask me about England. He wanted to find out in what ways we were different from the people in his own country of Brobdingnag.

The only one I did not get on well with was the queen's dwarf. He was five times as tall as me—about thirty feet—but this was small for them. The king was twice as tall as he was!

The dwarf used to play tricks on me because the queen liked me better than him. Once he dropped me in a jug of cream. I swam to the side and my nurse got me out. The queen was so cross with him that she sent him away.

I was pleased when they made a little boat for me and put it in a tub of water so that I could row about. Sometimes they put a sail on the boat. Then the queen and her women would make a wind for me with their fans. They liked to see how well I could steer. It was great fun for me.

Sometimes however life in Brobdingnag was no fun at all! Once I had to fight off some wasps with my dagger. They were as big as our pigeons, with stings as long as my thumb and as sharp as needles! I killed four of them, but the rest got away.

On another day, a monkey came into my room, and picked me up. I think he took me for a baby monkey, for he stroked my face gently as he held me. Suddenly there was a noise at the door, and he leaped through the window and up to the roof, carrying me with him. They had to get ladders and climb up to drive the monkey away and bring me down.

When the king was talking to me one day, I said I could teach him how to make gunpowder so that he would win a lot of wars. The king of Brobdingnag however was a very wise man. He said that he did not want to learn how to do it, and I must never talk about it again. He said that if a man could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, grow where only one grew before, he would do more good than he could ever do by winning a war.

Soon after this the king and queen and their servants set off on a long journey to another part of Brobdingnag. I went with them in my box. They fixed up a hammock in it so that I should not feel the bumps so much as we went along.

My nurse came too, but she got a bad cold on the way. When at last we came to a stop, she had to rest in bed for a few days.

I knew we were near the sea, and I longed to see it again. Since my nurse was in bed, one of the queen's pages was told to take my box down to the sea shore.

I lay in my hammock looking out at the sea, and felt sad. When would I see my home again?

The page went off to look for birds' eggs, and I fell asleep.

I awoke suddenly with a jolt. There was a loud swishing noise above me, and my box seemed to be moving upwards very fast. I called out several times, but no one answered.

Then I guessed what had happened. A big bird, perhaps an eagle, had swooped down and picked up the ring of my box in his beak. I was flying through the air!

Soon there came a loud squawking, as if the eagle were fighting, and all at once I was falling. Faster and faster, down, down, down! My box stopped with a great SPLASH.

After a moment I stopped trembling, and looked out of the window. I was at sea!

I pulled open a little trap-door in the roof on my box to let in some fresh air. Then I called for help, but no one heard me. How I wished my nurse was with me!

Taking out my handkerchief, I tied it to my walking-stick. Then I stood on a chair and pushed my flag through the little trap-door, waving it to and fro and calling for help again. No one came. I gave myself up for lost.

I sat without hope for a long time. Then, as I stared through the window, I suddenly realised that my box was being pulled along.

After a little while, it stopped, and there was a clattering above my head like that of a cable being passed through the ring on top. Once more I pushed my flag out of the trap-door and called for help.

This time, to my great joy, someone answered—in English! I begged him to come and let me out. He told me that I was safe, and that my box was tied to the side of his ship. He said he would sent a man to cut a hole in it.

Soon this was done, and with the help of a ladder and many willing hands I was pulled up onto the deck.

It was an English ship, with English sailors—not giants, not little men, but people the same size as me!

The sailors asked me why I had been in the box. When I told them my story, they did not believe me. At first the captain thought I had been shut up in the box because I had done something very bad. When I told him about the Brobdingnagians, he did not believe me either.

I showed him a gold ring the queen had given me—it was so big I wore it round my neck like a collar. And I gave him a giant's tooth which a Brobdingnagian dentist had taken out by mistake. It was as big as a milk bottle!

At last he believed me. He said he would take me back to England with him, and we set sail for home.

Many weeks later, when I left the ship and came on land again, the houses and people all looked so small that I thought I must be in Lilliput once more. When my wife heard all about the dangers I had been through, she said I must never go to sea again.

(The End)