CHAPTER FIVE

A Talk with the King

My next months in Brobdingnag were very easy. I was able to learn the language quickly and I began to read the books in the king's library. Reading these books was good exercise for me because in order to read the giant books, I had to walk from one side of the book to the other, and use my whole body to turn the pages.

While reading the king's books I learned much about Brobdingnag and its culture. The people of this country were very interested in science and art. Many of their authors had written books on these subjects. When I was tired of reading books, I would visit with the king or the queen. Each Wednesday night, the king and I would speak together, telling stories about our different cultures. Truly, these evenings were some of my happiest times in the palace.

The king's favorite thing to talk about was farming. The giants of Brobdingnag were mostly farmers, and the king was famous for growing carrots and corn which were many times bigger and more delicious than everyone else's. During one of our conversations, I wanted to impress the king with my knowledge of science. I told him that I could teach him how to make gunpowder. Although their science was very developed, the people of Brobdingnag had no gun or cannon. "Great king, with this wonderful thing called gunpowder, you can build cannons and shoot guns that will destroy your enemies' cities in a matter of hours! With gunpowder, you will quickly become a very powerful king, and none of your enemies will be able to defeat you in battle. England is very powerful, and I believe it is all because we have gunpowder!"

The king looked at me as though he did not understand. "Gunpowder? You say that you use this gunpowder to destroy whole cities and kill people? Why would I want to learn about such a terrible thing?"

"But king, with gunpowder you can make your country strong and defeat your enemies."

The king looked at me as if he thought I was crazy. "I don't want to hear about this gunpowder. I have no use for something like that!"

Why didn't the king understand? It was all so simple, I thought. "King, with gunpowder, everyone in your kingdom would follow your every command."

The king looked at me sternly. "They already do," he said, "Please, good sir, never speak to me of this again."

It was clear to me that the people of this land did not understand anything about running a country! "How can the king have a strong government, and control his people, without weapons and war?" I thought.

The conversation with the king gave me a lot to think about. I thought the king was a very intelligent man, but I could never fully understand his philosophy.

(end of section)