Latest / Adventure Books Collection / 03 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

Transcript

03 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Adventure Books Collection

• 0:00
  Chapter three, the author diverts the Emperor and his nobility of both sexes in
• 0:08
  a very uncommon manner. The diversions of the Court of Lilliput described. The
• 0:14
  author has his liberty granted him upon certain conditions. My gentleness and good behavior
• 0:21
  had gained so far on the Emperor and his court, and indeed upon the
• 0:25
  army and people in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting my
• 0:29
  liberty in a short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate this favorable
• 0:35
  disposition. The natives came, by degrees to be less apprehensive for any danger
• 0:40
  from me. I would sometimes lie down and let five or six of them
• 0:44
  dance on my hand, And at last the boys and girls would venture to
• 0:48
  come and play hide and seek in my hair. I had now made a
• 0:52
  good progress in understanding and speak in the language. The Emperor had a mind
• 0:57
  one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein they exceed
• 1:02
  all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. I was diverted
• 1:07
  with none so much as that of the rope dancers performed upon a slender white
• 1:11
  thread extended about two feet and twelve inches from the ground upon which I shall
• 1:17
  desire liberty, with the reader's patients to enlarge a little. This diversion is
• 1:23
  only practiced by those persons who are candidates for great employments and high favour at
• 1:26
  court. They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not
• 1:32
  always of noble birth or liberal education. When a great office is vacant,
• 1:38
  either by death or disgrace, which often happens, five or six of those
• 1:42
  candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his majesty and the court with the dance on
• 1:47
  the rope, and whoever jumps the highest without falling, succeeds in the office.
• 1:53
  Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill and to
• 1:57
  convince the Emperor that they have not lost their faculty film nap. The Treasurer
• 2:05
  is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope at least an inch higher
• 2:08
  than any other lord in the whole Empire. I have seen him do the
• 2:12
  somersault several times together, upon a trencher fixed on a rope which is no
• 2:16
  thicker than a common pack thread. In England, my friend Roaldressal, Principal
• 2:23
  Secretary for private affairs, is, in my opinion, if I am not
• 2:27
  partial, the second after the Treasurer, the rest of the great officers are
• 2:31
  much upon a par These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great
• 2:38
  numbers are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break a
• 2:44
  limb. But the danger is much greater when the ministers themselves are commanded to
• 2:47
  show their dexterity. For by contending to excel themselves in their fellows, they
• 2:53
  strain so far that there is hardly one of them who is not received a
• 2:57
  fall, and some of them two or three. I was assured that a
• 3:01
  year or two before my arrival, Filmnap would infallibly have broke his neck,
• 3:06
  if one of the King's cushions that accidentally lay on the ground had not weakened
• 3:10
  the force of his fall. There is likewise another diversion, which is only
• 3:16
  shown before the Emperor and Empress and first Minister upon particular occasions. The Emperor
• 3:23
  lays on the table three fine silken threads of six inches long. One is
• 3:30
  blue, the other red, and the third green. These threads are proposed
• 3:35
  as prizes for those persons whom the Emperor has in mind to distinguish by a
• 3:38
  peculiar mark of his favor. The ceremony is performed in His Majesty's Great Chamber
• 3:44
  of State, where the candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity very different
• 3:47
  from the former, and such as I have not observed the least resemblance of
• 3:53
  in any other country of the new or old world. The Emperor holds a
• 3:58
  stick in his hands, both mends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates,
• 4:01
  advancing one by one, sometimes leap over the stick, sometimes creep under
• 4:06
  it, backward and forward several times, according as the stick is advanced or
• 4:13
  depressed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one end of the stick and his first minister
• 4:17
  the other. Sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his
• 4:23
  part with most agility and holds out the longest and leaping and creeping, is
• 4:28
  rewarded with the blue colored silk. The red is given to the next,
• 4:31
  and the green to the third, which they all wear girt twice around the
• 4:35
  middle. And you see few great persons about this court who are not adorned
• 4:41
  with one of these girdles. The horses of the army and those of the
• 4:46
  royal stables, having been daily led before me, were no longer shy,
• 4:50
  but would come up to my very feet without starting. The riders would leap
• 4:56
  them over my hand as I held it on the ground, and one of
• 4:59
  the emperors huntsman, upon a larger corsair, took my foot, shoe and
• 5:03
  all, which was indeed a prodigious leap. I had the good fortune to
• 5:09
  divert the Emperor one day, after a very extraordinary manner, I desired he
• 5:14
  would order several sticks of two feet high and the thickness of an ordinary cane,
• 5:17
  to be brought to me. Whereupon his Majesty commanded the master of his
• 5:23
  woods to give directions accordingly, and the next morning six woodmen arrived, with
• 5:29
  as many carriages, drawn by eight horses to each. I took nine of
• 5:33
  these sticks, and fixing them firmly in the ground in a quadrangular figure two
• 5:38
  feet and a half square. I took four other sticks and tied them parallel
• 5:43
  at each corner, about two feet from the ground. Then I fastened my
• 5:46
  handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and extended it on all sides
• 5:51
  till it was tight at the top of a drum, and the four parallel
• 5:56
  sticks, rising about five inches higher than the handkerchief, served as ledges on
• 6:00
  each side. When I had finished my work, I desired the Emperor to
• 6:05
  let a troop of his best horses, twenty four in number, come and
• 6:11
  exercise upon this plain. His Majesty approved of the proposal, and I took
• 6:15
  them up one by one in my hands, ready mounted and armed, with
• 6:20
  the proper officers, to exercise them. As soon as they got into order.
• 6:26
  They had divided into two parties, performed mock skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows,
• 6:31
  drew their swords, fled and pursued, attacked and retired, and in
• 6:35
  short discovered the best military discipline I ever beheld. The parallel sticks secured them
• 6:42
  and their horses from falling over the stage, and the Emperor was so much
• 6:46
  delighted that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days. And once was
• 6:51
  pleased to be lifted up and give the word of command, and with great
• 6:56
  difficulty persuaded even the Empress herself to let me hold her in her close chair
• 7:01
  within two yards of the stage. When she was able to take a full
• 7:05
  view of the whole performance. It was my good fortune that no ill accident
• 7:11
  happened in these entertainments. Only once a fiery horse that belonged to one of
• 7:15
  the captains, pouring with his hoof, struck a hole in my handkerchief,
• 7:19
  and his foot slipping, he overthrew his rider and himself, but I immediately
• 7:25
  relieved them both, and covering the hole with one hand, I set down
• 7:29
  the troupe with the other in the same manner as I took them up.
• 7:32
  The horse that fell was strained in the left shoulder, but the rider got
• 7:35
  no hurt, and I repaired my handkerchief as well as I could. However,
• 7:42
  I would not trust to the strength of it any more in such dangerous
• 7:45
  enterprises. About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as
• 7:51
  I was entertaining the court with this kind of feet, there arrived in express
• 7:56
  to inform His Majesty that some of his subjects, riding near the place where
• 8:00
  I was first taken up, had seen a great black substance lying on the
• 8:03
  ground, very oddly shaped, extending its edges round as wide as His Majesty's
• 8:09
  bed chamber, and rising up in the middle as high as a man.
• 8:15
  That it was no living creature, as they at first apprehended, for it
• 8:18
  lay on the grass without motion, and some of them had walked round it
• 8:22
  several times, that by mounting upon each other's shoulders, they had got to
• 8:28
  the top, which was flat and even, and stamping upon it, they
• 8:33
  found that it was hollow within that they hardly conceived it might be something belonging
• 8:37
  to the man mountain, and if His Majesty pleased, they would undertake to
• 8:41
  bring it with only five horses. I presently knew what they meant, and
• 8:48
  was glad at heart to receive his intelligence. It seems, upon my first
• 8:52
  reaching the shore after our shipwreck, I was in such confusion that before I
• 8:56
  came to the place where I went to sleep, my hat, which I
• 9:01
  had fastened with the string to my head while I was rowing and had stuck
• 9:05
  on all the time I was swimming, fell off after I came to land.
• 9:09
  The string, as I conjecture, brake him by some accident which I
• 9:13
  never observed. But thought my hat to be lost at sea. I entreated
• 9:18
  His Imperial Majesty to give orders it might be brought to me as soon as
• 9:22
  possible, describe into him the use and nature of it, and the next
• 9:28
  day his wagoners arrived with it, but not in very good condition. They
• 9:31
  had bore two holes in the brim within an inch and a half of the
• 9:35
  edge, and fastened two hooks in the holes. These hooks were tied by
• 9:41
  a long cord to the harness, and thus my hat was dragged along for
• 9:45
  above half an English mile, But the ground in that country, being extremely
• 9:50
  smooth and level, it received less damage than I expected. Two days after
• 9:56
  this adventure, the Emperor, having ordered that part of his army which caught
• 10:00
  us in and about his metropolis, to be in readiness, took a fancy
• 10:05
  of diverting himself. In a very singular manner. He desired, I would
• 10:09
  stand like a colossus with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could.
• 10:15
  He then commanded his general, who was an old, experienced leader and a
• 10:20
  great patron of mine, to draw up the troops in close order and march
• 10:24
  them under me, the foot by twenty four abreast and the horse by sixteen,
• 10:30
  with drums beating, colors flying, and pikes advanced. This body consisted
• 10:35
  of three thousand foot and a thousand horse. His Majesty gave orders, upon
• 10:41
  pain of death, that every soldier in his march should observe the strictest decency
• 10:46
  with regard to my person, which, however, could not prevent some of
• 10:50
  the younger officers from turning up their eyes as they passed under me, and
• 10:56
  to confess the truth. My breaches were at the time in so ill condition
• 11:01
  that they afforded some opportunities for laughter and admiration. I had sent so many
• 11:07
  memorials and petitions for my liberty that His Majesty at length mentioned the matter,
• 11:13
  first in the Cabinet and then in a full council, where it was opposed
• 11:18
  by none except Skyrish Bogelom, who was pleased, without any provocation to be
• 11:24
  my mortal enemy. But it was carried against him by the whole board and
• 11:30
  confirmed by the Emperor that Minister was Galbert, or Admiral of the Realm,
• 11:35
  very much in his Majesty's confidence, and a person well versed in affairs,
• 11:41
  but of a more rose and sour complexion. However, he was at length
• 11:46
  persuaded to comply, but prevailed that the articles of conditions upon which I should
• 11:52
  be set free and to which I must swear, should be drawn up by
• 11:54
  himself. These articles were brought to me by Skyrish Bogolam in person, attended
• 12:01
  by two under secretaries and several persons of distinction. After they were read,
• 12:07
  I was demanded to swear to the performance of them, first in the manner
• 12:11
  of my own country, and afterwards in the method prescribed by their laws,
• 12:18
  which was to hold my right foot to my left hand, and to place
• 12:22
  the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of my head, and
• 12:26
  my thumb on the tip of my right ear. But because the reader may
• 12:30
  be curious to have some idea of the style and ma manner of expression peculiar
• 12:33
  to that people, as well as to know the article upon which I received
• 12:37
  my liberty, I have made a translation of the whole instrument, word for
• 12:41
  word, near as I was able, which I here offered to the public.
• 12:46
  Golbasto Momarim Evlam Godilo Cheffin Mali Ali Gu most mighty Emperor of Lilliput,
• 12:56
  Delight and Terror of the Universe, whose dominion extend five thousand bluestrongs about twelve
• 13:03
  miles in circumference to the exterremities of the globe monarch of all monarchs, taller
• 13:09
  than the sons of men whose feet pressed down to the center, and whose
• 13:13
  head strikes against the sun, at whose nod the princes of the Earth shake
• 13:16
  their knees. Pleasant as the spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful as
• 13:22
  autumn, dreadful as winter, His most Sublime Majesty proposes to the man Mountain
• 13:28
  lately arrived at our celestial dominions, the following articles, which, by a
• 13:33
  solemn oath he shall be obliged to perform. First, the man Mountain shall
• 13:39
  not depart from our dominions without our license under our great seal. Second,
• 13:46
  he shall not presume to come into our metropolis without our express order, at
• 13:52
  which time the inhabitants shall have two hours warning to keep within doors. Third,
• 13:58
  the man Mountain shoo confine his walks to our principal high roads, and
• 14:01
  not offer to walk or lie down in a meadow or field of corn.
• 14:07
  Fourth, as he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost care
• 14:13
  not to trample upon the bodies of any of our loving subjects, their horses
• 14:16
  or carriages, nor to take any of our subjects into his hands without their
• 14:20
  own consent. Fifth, if an express requires extraordinary dispatch, the man Mountain
• 14:28
  shall be obliged to carry in his pocket the messenger and horse a six days
• 14:33
  journey once in every moon, and return the said messenger back, if so
• 14:37
  required, safe to our imperial presence. Sixth, he shall be our ally
• 14:43
  against our enemies in the island of Blefuska, and do his utmost to destroy
• 14:48
  their fleet, which is now preparing to invade us. Seventh that the said
• 14:54
  man Mountain shall, at his times of leisure be aiding and assisting to our
• 15:00
  workmen in helping to raise certain great stones towards covering the wall of the Principal
• 15:05
  Park and other of our royal buildings. Eighth that the said man Mountain shall,
• 15:11
  in two moons time, deliver an exact survey of the circumference of our
• 15:16
  dominions by a computation of his own paces round the coast. Lastly, that,
• 15:24
  upon his solemn oath to observe all the above articles, the said man
• 15:28
  Mountain shall have a daily allowance of meat and drink sufficient for the support of
• 15:33
  one thousand, seven hundred and twenty four of our subjects, with free access
• 15:37
  to our royal person and other marks of our favour given at our palace at
• 15:43
  Belfaborac. The twelfth day of the ninety first moon of our reign. I
• 15:48
  swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and content, although some of
• 15:54
  them were not so honorable as I could have wished, which proceeded wholly from
• 15:58
  the malice of six skyrish Bogolam the High Admiral, whereupon my chains were immediately
• 16:04
  unlocked, and I was at full liberty. The Emperor himself, in person
• 16:11
  did me the honor to be by at the whole ceremony. I made my
• 16:14
  acknowledgments by prostrating myself at His Majesty's feet, but he commanded me to rise,
• 16:19
  and, after many gracious expressions, which to avoid the censor of vanity,
• 16:26
  I should not repeat, he added that he hoped I should prove a
• 16:30
  useful servant and well deserve all the favors he had already conferred upon me,
• 16:34
  or might do for the future. The reader may please observe that in the
• 16:40
  last article of the Recovery of my Liberty, the Emperor stipulates to allow me
• 16:45
  a quantity of meat and drink sufficient for the support of one thousand, seven
• 16:48
  hundred and twenty four Liliputians. Some time after asking a friend at court.
• 16:55
  How they came to fix on that determined number. He told me that his
• 16:57
  Majesty's mathematicians, having taken the height of my body by the help of a
• 17:03
  quadrant, and finding it to exceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one,
• 17:07
  they concluded from the similarity of their bodies that mine must contain at least
• 17:11
  one thousand, seven hundred twenty four of theirs, and consequently would require as
• 17:17
  much food as was necessary to support that number of ileiputions, by which the
• 17:22
  reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity of that people, as well as
• 17:27
  the prudent and exact economy of so great a prince. End of Chapter three,
• 17:33
  Part one,