CHAPTER EIGHT

The Fire

A few days after the meeting between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians, I went to ask the king's permission to visit Blefuscu. Of course, the king was still angry with me, so he would hardly look at or speak to me. He said in a cold voice, "You may go," and walked out of the room. Later I found out that Skyresh Bolgolam had told the king that I was saying bad things about Lilliput to the Blefuscudian officers. This was a lie, of course!

One night, before I visited Blefuscu, a strange and terrible thing happened. One of the queen's maids fell asleep without blowing out her candle. The part of the palace where the queen and her children lived caught fire. Some people ran to get me at my temple house, where I was sleeping peacefully after a big dinner and much wine. "Hurry, Man-mountain! You must help us. Come to the castle quickly!" they cried. As I hurried to the palace, I could hear shouts of "fire!" in the Lilliputian language. The Lilliputians were trying to put out the fire by throwing tiny buckets of water onto the palace. However, the fire was too big, and there was not enough water to put the fire out.

I could see that the fire was spreading very quickly, and I knew that the queen and her children would die if I did not think of something! Suddenly, I had an idea. The night before this, I had drunk many, many bottles of a delicious red wine made in Lilliput. The wine was still inside my body, and I had to go to the bathroom very badly. Quickly I began to urinate on the fire, and in a few moments the fire was destroyed. I had saved the queen and her children's lives in a very strange way!

I was afraid that the king of Lilliput would be even angrier with me than before, because urinating near the king's palace is a terrible crime in Lilliput. However, the king decided to forgive me for what I had done, because I had saved his queen's life. But my actions made me many enemies anyway. The queen was so angry and horrified when she found out what I had done, that she decided never to live in that part of the palace again. Now, she was my bitter enemy, and she told all her friends that she would have her revenge on me!

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