CHAPTER SIX

I Learn More about Lilliput

Now that I was finally free, I wanted to obey the king's conditions. So I helped the men build more buildings by lifting large stones, and immediately measured the size of Lilliput. A few days after I had been set free I decided to explore Mildendo. When I walked around, the king sent a guide to answer any questions I might have about Lilliput and its people.

The city of Mildendo looked like a beautiful city in some rich part of England or Europe. There were many trees, parks, wide streets and large houses. The guide told me that Mildendo had over five hundred thousand people. The thought of so many tiny people living in the world amazed me. Seeing this beautiful, strange new city made me want to spend time with these tiny, wonderful people. I could hardly believe that I was the first man to discover Lilliput and I wanted to learn more about the people's history and culture.

The king's palace was in the center of the city. There was a wall around the palace as high as my waist. The palace itself was five feet tall. I asked the king's permission to step over the wall, so that I could look more closely at the palace. On the palace, there was a large tower with many windows. My guide told me that the king and his family lived inside the tower.

The king hoped that I would look at his rooms, and I was very interested to see them. I walked up to the tower, bent down, and looked through the little windows one by one. Inside I saw beautiful rooms with old furniture and paintings on the walls. Even though the palace was tiny, it looked just like the homes of the great kings of the world. In one window, I saw the room where the queen of Lilliput lived. She had many children who lived with her. My guide told me that the king and queen were the only parents who raised their own children. All the other children in Lilliput were sent to schools when they were young. They were only allowed to visit their parents twice a year, and each time only for half an hour! This custom seemed strange to me, and I wondered if the children liked leaving home at such a young age.

When the queen saw me sitting at the window, she smiled at me and walked over to the window. She opened the window and reached out her tiny arm so that I could kiss her hand. It was a wonderful feeling to be treated so well by this great and beautiful queen!

One morning, about a week after this, the king's secretary Reldresal came and visited me at my temple house. He asked me if he could speak to me for an hour. "Of course," I said. Reldresal had been a good friend to me and had said many nice things about me to the king and his officers. Reldresal told me that at this time, the country of Lilliput was facing many dangers. He explained to me that there were two groups in the government. One group was called the Tramecksan. This group followed the old laws of Lilliput, and had many violent ideas. The other group was called the Slamecksan and they followed the new laws, which the king had created. The Tramecksan wore shoes with high heels, and the Slamecksan wore shoes with low heels. Though there were more Tramecksan than Slamecksan, the Slamecksan held all the highest positions in the government.

Then Reldresal told me that the anger between these two groups was so great that they would not speak to each other, or even eat in the same building. "The king is very worried because his oldest son, who will soon become king, wears one shoe with a high heel, and one shoe with a low heel. At this time, it seems that the prince cannot decide which group he agrees with, and we are afraid that when he becomes king, he will become a Tramecksan. We do not want a king who follows the old, violent ways!"

"However, we have another problem that is even more serious. We are at war with the people of the island of Blefuscu."

"Who are they? Are they as small as you are?" I asked.

"Yes, they are as small as we are," answered Reldresal.

"Why are you at war with them? Have they done something to hurt your people?" I asked.

Reldresal then told me a very strange story. "You see, Man-mountain," he said, "Many years ago, when our king's grandfather was the leader, all men in our land broke their eggs on the large end. But one day, when the king's son was opening an egg, he cut one of his fingers. Because of this accident, the old king made a law that all people must break their eggs on the small end. He ordered that all men breaking their eggs on the large end should be killed."

I thought the actions of the old king were very strange. Why should people be killed for breaking open eggs the wrong way? However, I said nothing and continued to listen to Reldresal's story.

"The old king's law angered the people of the island of Blefuscu, because they had always opened their eggs at the large end. They disagreed with the Lilliputian king's new law, and they felt that breaking eggs from the small end was a terrible thing to do! So the Blefuscudians started a war with our country."

"Since this law was made, there have been six wars between our two countries. In this time, one of our kings has died and another has lost his position as leader. Also, many of the Lilliputian people still like to break their eggs at the large end, so they left Lilliput and moved to Blefuscu. In Lilliput, we have already put 11,000 people to death for breaking their eggs at the large end. Many Lilliputians wrote books about which end of the egg was best, and the writers who did not agree with the new law were killed, and their books were burned."

"Now, the people of Blefuscu have prepared many ships to attack our country. The king hopes that you will help us fight the Blefuscudians and protect our great country from harm, Man-mountain."

I thought about the king's request for a while. I believed that the Lilliputians' war with Blefuscu was silly and foolish, but I was new to the country and I wanted to help these little people who had been so kind to me. Besides, I was not attacking another country, I was only defending Lilliput. Finally, I agreed to help the Lilliputians with their war.

(end of section)