CHAPTER TWO

Inside the Giant's House

It seemed that the giant heard my cries, because he stopped moving. Then he sat down on his knees and looked into the cornfield carefully, trying to discover what had made the sounds. When his large eyes saw me, he reached down and picked me up in his enormous hand. The experience was incredibly frightening. I felt like a tiny mouse in the giant's strong hand. "Now I know how the people of Lilliput felt when they first saw me!" I thought.

The giant raised me to his eyes and studied me closely. I was afraid the giant would throw me down on the ground and step on me, or even worse, eat me! "Please, sir, don't hurt me!" I cried. I took off my hat in greeting. "I am a sailor who is lost, and I do not mean you or your people any harm."

The giant looked at me with great interest and his huge mouth opened in a smile. His fingers were as large as trees and they were hurting my body. I pointed at his fingers and made a painful face to show him that he was hurting me. He seemed to understand, because his fingers opened and I was able to stand on the palm of his hand. I looked over the side of his hand, and immediately wished I hadn't. The distance to the ground was more than fifty feet. If I fell, I would certainly die.

I still did not know if the giant was friendly, but his smile made me think that he wouldn't hurt me. I wanted to please him, so I took out a bag of gold and held it up to him. He took the bag in his enormous fingers and looked inside. He did not seem to know what it was, because he immediately gave the bag back to me. Just then, the giant turned his head and yelled something in a strange language. His voice was so loud it sounded like thunder! I felt the earth shake, and suddenly three more giants came running out to the cornfield to see what was happening.

The giant held me gently in his hand while the others stared at me and asked the giant many questions. Many times, the giants would reach out and touch me, pulling my clothes and hair. It seemed as if they were trying to discover what sort of animal I was. I took off my coat and hat and handed it to the giants to show them that I was not an animal. The farmer giant picked up my tiny coat in his fingers and held it close to his eyes. Then he handed it back to me. He seemed to understand that I was not an animal, but only an extremely small man.

I tried to speak to the giants in every language I knew, I even tried speaking Lilliputian, but no one understood me. Still, the farmer seemed very pleased. Before I knew what was happening, the giant put me in his pocket and told his friends goodbye. Then he began to run towards a house in the distance. To me, the farmer giant's house was bigger than the biggest castle in Europe!

When we reached the farmer's house, a giant woman and two smaller giants came running out. I guessed that the woman was the farmer's wife and the other two, who looked younger, were his children. The farmer said something to his family in an excited voice, took me out of his pocket, and slowly put me down on their kitchen table. Everyone cried out in amazement to see me, a tiny little man, sitting there on the table.

On this table was a huge plate of meat and vegetables. On my left side was a loaf of bread as large as one of my ships. "I certainly won't have to eat much of this food to fill my stomach!" I thought. As I watched, the farmer's wife took out an enormous fork and knife and cut some little pieces of meat for me to eat. I was extremely hungry, because I had not eaten much for several days. It was lucky for me that I still had my knife with me, because even these small pieces of meat were too big for me to put in my mouth. Using my knife, I cut little bites of the meat and began eating hungrily.

A few minutes after this, the door to the house opened and an old woman holding a baby came inside. I guessed that the old woman was the children's grandmother, and the baby was the farmer's youngest child. It was interesting to see an enormous baby! It looked just like my children when they were small, but this baby was about fifteen feet tall! The family sat down at the table to eat their dinner with me. They were very interested to watch me try to eat the meat and vegetables. When I had finished my eating, I walked over to the farmer's wife and bowed low, saying, "Thank you for the wonderful meal, madam." The giants seemed to think this was very funny and laughed loudly.

The farmer pointed at me and then touched the table in front of him, as if he was telling me that I should come over. As I walked towards him I examined the enormous fruits and vegetables all around me. When the farmer's baby saw me, he reached out to grab me. I was sure the baby thought that I was a small toy, or perhaps something sweet to eat! However, the child could not reach me and began to cry loudly. The baby's screams made my head ache. Seeing that the baby was upset, the old woman gently picked me up and put me in her grandchild's hands. Instantly, the baby put me in his mouth and began to suck on my head! This was a horrifying experience. I was sure that the child would swallow me any minute and I would have to spend the rest of my life in a giant baby's stomach. I began to throw my arms and legs around, trying to make the baby open his mouth. This was successful, because the baby immediately spit me out. I flew across the room and luckily for me, the farmer's wife caught me in her hands. All the giants were laughing, but of course I didn't think that this was so funny!

After dinner I began to feel extremely sleepy. The farmer's wife noticed me closing my eyes, and placed me on a pillow that was twenty feet long. Then she covered me with her handkerchief, which was as big as the sail on my ship. This was a very warm and comfortable place to spend the night.

Two hours later, I awoke to hear some strange noises. I stood up quickly and, when I saw what was in front of me, almost died from fright! Two enormous rats with yellow teeth and red eyes were staring at me. They were two times as large as I. I knew they were going to eat me if I didn't do something quickly. One of the rats moved forward to attack me and I took out my sword. When the rat tried to bite me, I moved quickly to the left and stabbed it in the stomach. The rat's blood poured out onto the pillow and covered my body. It fell down dead and the other rat ran away. I felt very brave for defeating such a terrifying animal. "Why don't they have a giant house cat?" I thought. I was so tired that I lay down and fell back asleep immediately.

A few hours later I woke up to a loud scream. The farmer's wife was standing over me looking frightened. I realized that I was still covered with the rat's blood, so the farmer's wife must have thought I was dead. Quickly I jumped up and pointed to the dead rat. When the farmer's wife saw that I was all right, she immediately picked me up and took me to their kitchen. I saw that she wanted to give me a bath. She filled a cup with warm water and pushed me toward it. Then she took off my clothes and gave me a bath. I was very embarrassed about being naked in front of a lady, but that rat's blood was really terrible!

After my bath, the farmer's wife gave me a clean pillow and handkerchief and I lay down to go to sleep again. I felt that this island of giants was even stranger than Lilliput and Blefuscu. I wondered if I would ever see my home in England again.

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