CHAPTER FOUR

My First Week in Lilliput

The country of Lilliput was very beautiful, and because I was so tall I could see much of the land. There were green hills covered with tiny farms, and forests with thick, old trees that went all the way down to the beach. There were little roads, with men on little horses running along them. I thought to myself that Lilliput was just as nice as many of the rich countries in Europe.

As I was staring out at the beautiful land, the king approached me on his horse. He stopped a little distance away from me, as if he did not trust me yet, and looked up at my great size. He began to speak to me, so I sat down on one knee to hear what he was saying. After a moment, some other men came to stand in front of me. They had some large pieces of paper with many pictures drawn upon them. The king and his men were able to tell me many things about their country using these pictures. First of all, I already knew that the land was called Lilliput, but now I learned that the little people who lived there were called "Lilliputians". I learned that the temple behind me was going to be my home!

"I hope I can fit inside the temple," I thought.

The king then explained that the Lilliputians would take care of me. The king's servants would bring me food and drink three times a day, as well as other things I might need.

I also was told that I would have teachers to help me learn the Lilliputian language. This made me happy, because I wanted to talk with these amazing little people. I felt sure that I could learn the Lilliputians' language easily, since I had studied so many other languages in my travels.

When the king finished speaking to me, he turned to leave. Some soldiers stayed behind and gathered around me. At first, I thought these soldiers were protecting the Lilliputians from me. However, I soon learned that the men were really protecting me from the Lilliputians! After a few moments, a group of the little people surrounded me and began to talk angrily. When they thought the soldiers weren't looking, a small group of men grabbed some stones and threw them at me. Although these stones were extremely tiny, I did not like being hit with them, I certainly did not want to be hit in the eyes.

When the leader of the soldiers saw what was happening, he and two other soldiers came and tied up the men who had thrown the stones. After they had done these, the soldiers dragged them over to me so that I would punish them. The men looked terribly afraid, and I realized that I could punish them by scaring them a little. I made my face look red and angry and grabbed the group of prisoners. I was able to hold all the men in one of my hands. Quickly, I put them into the pockets of my shirt. Then I took one of the men in my hand and held him over my mouth as if I was going to eat him. All the men screamed, and some of the women in the crowd screamed also. Everyone in the crowd looked frightened. Then I took out a small knife that I had and held it up to the man's neck. Just when it seemed like I was going to kill the man, I used my knife to cut the ropes from his arms and legs. Then I did the same thing with the other men who were still in my shirt pocket, and gently put them all down on the ground. I am sure that the Lilliputians were very glad I had not eaten one of their people, and I guessed that no one else would throw any more stones at me!

At this time, the king was meeting with the other leaders of the country. They were trying to decide what to do with me. Later, when I knew the Lilliputian language, I learned that many of these men thought I was dangerous and wanted to kill me, but they were afraid that my large, dead body would be difficult to remove and would spread disease in the country. However, the king of Lilliput thought that I was friendly, and did not want to hurt me. He did not want to let me go free at that time, but he believed that I could become friends with his people and help his country.

On my first night in Mildendo, I crawled into the building on my hands and knees. The building was too small for me to stand up in, but I could sit up, and lie down on the hard floor to sleep. It was very uncomfortable in there at first!

Over the next week, the king did many kind things for me so that I would be comfortable in Lilliput. First, when he found out that the temple was not very comfortable for me, he sent six hundred men to build me a giant bed. The men did this by taking thousands of their tiny mattresses and putting them together to make a large, soft mattress for me to lie on. He also asked all the women in Mildendo to make me some new clothes. This took a long time, because my shirt and pants had to be very large. The king ordered some other men to be my servants and bring me food and wine when I wanted them. However, I was still tied to the temple as a prisoner.

During the first week I made great progress in learning the Lilliputian language. Luckily, it was a very easy language to learn. At the end of the week, the king came to see me. Finally I was able to say the words I had wanted to say for a week: "Please, great king, let me walk around freely. I won't hurt anyone."

The king shook his head and said, "I cannot let you go yet, friend. There are still many people in this land who are afraid of you and your large size. But soon they will learn to trust you, and then we will let you go."

I was unhappy with this answer, but I understood how the tiny people must have felt. To them, I was many times larger than the largest mountain in their land. They probably believed that I was extremely dangerous. It was true that I could kill many Lilliputians with an accidental step of my foot! Soon, I learned that the Lilliputians gave me the name "Man-mountain," because of my great size.

The king continued to speak. "There is one thing you can do to earn the people's trust and become a free man sooner," he said.

"Yes, I'll do anything!" I said excitedly.

"It is a law in Lilliput that only soldiers can carry weapons. Many of our people are afraid that you have dangerous weapons in your pockets. If you let us search your clothing and take any weapons you have, the people would feel much safer. Of course, your weapons will be returned to you when you leave our country."

I gladly agreed to the king's request. The next day, the king returned with some other men to take my weapons and other things from me. First I took everything out of my pockets. Then I lifted each of these men in the air and put them in my pockets, so that they could see that the pockets were empty. When this was done, the men wrote down a list of everything that I had given them. When they had finished, they gave me the list so that I could see that everything was correct. The writing was very strange. It did not go from left to right, like English, or from top to bottom, like Chinese. Instead, it was written in a circle, with the end of the list at the center of the paper.

Then the king and his men asked me to show them how to use my objects. I showed them my pocket watch, and they seemed very interested in how it worked. Then I showed them my comb. At first, I think they thought this was some sort of knife with many blades, instead of a tool for making a man's hair look nice! I also showed them my glasses, compass, and telescope.

Finally I showed the men two objects that interested them greatly. The first was my sword, which I am sure must have looked like the biggest, longest knife they had ever seen. It was as long as seven Lilliputian bodies. The next thing I showed them was my gun. The men asked me to show them how the gun worked. I put a bullet in the gun and said, "Get ready, friends, you are about to hear a very loud noise!" Then I fired the gun in the air. Everyone shouted with surprise, and many men fell to the ground in shock. The king ran up to me and explained that I could keep all my objects except my sword and pistol. "But we will take very good care of these weapons, Man-mountain," he said. "Now that you have no more weapons, the people of Lilliput will see that you do not want to hurt them. They will begin to trust you now."

(end of section)