CHAPTER TWO

The Tiny Men

After a few moments on the beach, I was so tired that I lay down in the sand and fell asleep without even looking at the land around me. The last thing I remember is seeing the sun sink into the water through the clouds, so I knew that it was late evening.

When I awoke, it was morning. I stared up at the cool, blue sky above me and listened to the birds singing in the trees. After a few moments I tried to stand up, but I could not move! At first I thought that yesterday's dangers had made my body too weak and tired to move. Then, suddenly, I heard some very strange noises. As I listened, I heard the sounds of people around me, but I could see no one. "So I am not alone here! Thank God!" I thought. I tried to turn my head, but I could not move it in any direction. I turned my eyes down to look at my body and saw that I had been tied down to the ground with hundreds of small ropes. This was why I could not move! Who had tied me up, and why? "Could the island be filled with savages?" I thought to myself. "And why did they use such tiny ropes to tie me?"

Just at that moment, I felt something moving up my leg. It was small and light and I thought that perhaps it was a mouse or some other small animal. It moved up my body and I waited in fear, wondering what I would see. I felt the thing touch my chin and looked down to see what sort of animal was crawling on me. I only hoped it wasn't dangerous!

I had never been as shocked in my life as I was at that moment. Standing on my chest was a tiny person! He looked just like a normal human being, but he was only as tall as a writing pen. The little man stood on my chest, pulled out a tiny sword, and pointed it at my head. Although he was so small, he did not seem to be afraid of me. As I stared at him in amazement, the little man shouted something in a strange language. "Hekinah degul!" he said. I had no idea what this meant, but I guessed that it was not a friendly greeting. I cried out loudly and the man fell off my chest and ran away quickly. After a few moments, I felt many tiny people on my body and heard many little voices.

The little man with the sword came up to my face and said the same strange words I had heard before. "Hekinah degul!" he said. The other men repeated these words as well. I did not know what to think about any of this. Was I dreaming? Or perhaps I really had died in the ocean and was now in some strange heaven? I did not know what to do, but I wanted to get free from the ropes. I moved my body back and forth, trying to break the ropes. When I freed my left arm the little people began to shout loudly. Quickly, I used my arm to pull off the ropes that held my head to the ground. The little men on my body jumped off and some of them shouted "Tolgo phonac"! Soon, hundreds of these little voices, maybe thousands, were shouting these words.

A moment later, hundreds of small arrows flew through the air and hit my hands and face. They felt like tiny needles in my skin. I think many of these arrows must have hit my body, but I was wearing thick clothing so I could not feel them. I shouted in pain and raised my hands to cover my face. Many small men jumped onto my body and began to attack me with their swords. I guessed they were angry that I was trying to escape them, so I decided the best thing to do was to put my hands down and lay quietly.

As soon as I became quiet and still, the men stopped attacking me. I decided the best thing to do was to wait until night, when the tiny people would go to sleep. Then I would have an opportunity to escape this place. I knew that once I freed myself, even a huge army of these tiny people could not defeat me!

A few minutes later, I heard the little people begin working on something. When I turned my head a little, I saw many of the tiny people building a platform very near to my head. When the platform was finished, four men climbed on top of it.

Although he was so small, I saw that one of these men wore clothing that was much nicer than the others'. "Perhaps he is some kind of a leader," I thought. The man stepped forward and looked into my eyes. Although I was angry at being tied down, I thought that this was a very brave thing for the man to do, because he was so tiny and I was so large. The little man began a long speech in his strange language. He spoke in a loud voice and waved his arms around, as if what he was saying was very important. While he spoke, all the other little men were quiet. Although I did not understand the language, I thought that the man's words sounded friendly. As I listened to the leader, I began to hear one word again and again. The man would look at me, point to the land around us, and say loudly, "Lilliput! Lilliput!" I decided that the leader meant that this land was called "Lilliput". Sailors tell many stories to each other of strange and wild lands, but I had never heard of Lilliput before, or of these tiny people.

When the leader finished his speech, I began to speak to him in every language I knew. I hoped that these people could understand at least one of the languages of Europe. I tried speaking to them in French, English, Dutch, Italian and many more, but no one answered me. I was trying to tell them that I was a friend, and that I did not want to fight with them. As I spoke, I tried to look friendly in the hope that they would let me go. Still, they did not understand any of my words.

I had not eaten for more than a day, and I suddenly realized how hungry I was. Although I was lying down, I felt so weak that I stopped speaking. I had to find a way to show these people that I needed food. I lifted my arm slowly, so that I would not scare anyone, and pointed at my mouth and stomach many times. The leader quickly understood what I wanted and spoke with the other men on the platform. The others ran down to the ground and began to shout orders to some other men. I wondered how these tiny people would feed me. If all their food were as tiny as they were, it would take hundreds of plates of food to feed a body as big as mine!

Soon, many ladders were pushed against my body. Little people carrying plates of food climbed up my body and dropped meat, bread and vegetables into my mouth.. For what seemed like hours I ate the tiny bites of food they gave me. Then, the little people carried many buckets of some liquid towards my mouth. When I tasted the liquid I discovered that it was a nice red wine. "These people are very good hosts!" I thought. After about thirty tiny buckets of this wine, I began to feel very sleepy. The leader of the little men came up and spoke to me again, pointing into the distance and saying the word, "Mildendo!" From the way he waved his arms around, I understood that the people wanted to take me somewhere else. It was easy to guess that they wanted to take me to some place called "Mildendo", although I had no idea what kind of place it was. I pointed to my ropes and tried to show the man that I would gladly go anywhere with them, if they would only untie the ropes. But the leader shook his head and used his arms to show me that I must be carried to Mildendo as a prisoner.

I did not understand how these little people could possibly carry someone as large as I was, but I did not want to make the leader angry, so I nodded my head and lay there quietly. The leader smiled at me and began giving orders to his men. I realized that my eyes were getting very heavy, and I was having a hard time staying awake. I had only had a little bit of wine—what was the matter with me? "They must have put some sleeping medicine in the wine!" I realized. I did not have any time to feel angry, because in a second everything went dark and I do not remember anything more.

(end of section)