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09 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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Speaker 1: Part two, A voyage tobrobed in Nag. Chapter one, a
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Speaker 1: great storm described the longboat sent to fetch water. The
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Speaker 1: author goes with it to discover the country. He is
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Speaker 1: left on shore, is seized by one of the natives
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Speaker 1: and carried to a farmer's house. His reception, with several
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Speaker 1: accidents that happened there a description of the inhabitants having
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Speaker 1: been condemned by nature and fortune to active and restless life.
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Speaker 1: In two months after my return, I again left my
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Speaker 1: native country and took shipping in the Downs. On the
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Speaker 1: twentieth day of June seventeen o two, in the adventure
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Speaker 1: Captain John Nicholas, a cornish Man commander, bound for Surrat.
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Speaker 1: We at a very prosperous gale till we arrived at
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Speaker 1: the Cape of Good Hope, where we landed for fresh water.
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Speaker 1: But discovering a leek, we unshipped our goods and wintered there.
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Speaker 1: For the captain, falling sick of an agu we could
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Speaker 1: not leave the cape till the end of March. We
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Speaker 1: then set sail and had a good voyage till we
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Speaker 1: passed the Straits to Madagascar, But having got northward of
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Speaker 1: that island and to about five degrees south latitude. The
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Speaker 1: winds which in those seas are observed to blow a
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Speaker 1: constant equal gale between the north and west from the
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Speaker 1: beginning of December to the beginning of May. On the
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Speaker 1: nineteenth of April began to blow with much greater islands
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Speaker 1: and more westerly than usual, continuing so for twenty days together,
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Speaker 1: during which time we were driven a little to the
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Speaker 1: east of the Morocco Islands, and about three degrees northwards
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Speaker 1: of that line, as our captain found by an observation.
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Speaker 1: He took the second of May, at which time the
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Speaker 1: wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm whereat I
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Speaker 1: was not a little rejoiced, But he, being a man
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Speaker 1: well experienced in the navigation of those seas, bid us
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Speaker 1: all prepare against a storm, which accordingly happened the day followed,
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Speaker 1: for the southern wind, called the Southern Monsoon, began to
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Speaker 1: set in. Finding it was likely to overblow, we took
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Speaker 1: in our sprit sail and stood by two hands the foresail.
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Speaker 1: But making foul weather. We looked the guns were all
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Speaker 1: fast and handed the mizzen. The ship lay very broad off,
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Speaker 1: so we thought it better spooning before the sea than
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Speaker 1: trying or hulling. We reefed the foresail and set him
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Speaker 1: and hauled aft the foresheet. The helm was harder weather.
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Speaker 1: The ship wore bravely. We belayed the fore down haul,
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Speaker 1: but the sail was split, and we hauled down the
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Speaker 1: yard and got the sail into the ship and unbound
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Speaker 1: all the things clear of it. It was a very
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Speaker 1: fierce storm. The sea broke strange and dangerous. We hauled
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Speaker 1: off upon the lanyard of the whipstaff and helped the
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Speaker 1: man at the helm. We would not get down our topmast,
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Speaker 1: but let it stand, because she scuddered before the sea
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Speaker 1: very well, and we knew that the top mast being
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Speaker 1: alone the ship was the wholesomer and made better way
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Speaker 1: through the sea, seeing as we had serum. When the
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Speaker 1: storm was over, we set foresail and mainsail and brought
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Speaker 1: the ship too. Then we set the mizzen main topsail
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Speaker 1: and the foretopsail. Our course was east northeast, the wind
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Speaker 1: was at southwest. We got the starboard tax aboard. We
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Speaker 1: cast off our weather braces and lifts. We set in
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Speaker 1: the lee braces and hauled forward by the weather bowings
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Speaker 1: and hauled them tight and belayed them, and hauled over
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Speaker 1: the mizzen track to windward, and kept her full and
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Speaker 1: by as near as she would lie. During this storm,
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Speaker 1: which was followed by a strong wind west southwest, we
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Speaker 1: were carried, by my computation, about five hundred leagues to
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Speaker 1: the east, so that the oldest sailor on board could
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Speaker 1: not tell him what part of the world we were.
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Speaker 1: Our provisions held out well, our ship was staunch, and
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Speaker 1: our crew all in good health, but we lay in
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Speaker 1: the utmost distressful water. We thought it best to hold
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Speaker 1: on the same course, rather than turn more northerly, which
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Speaker 1: might have brought us to the northwest part of Great
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Speaker 1: Tartary and into the frozen sea. On the sixteenth day
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Speaker 1: of June seventeen o three, a boy in the top
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Speaker 1: mast discovered land. On the seventeenth we came in full
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Speaker 1: view of a great island or continent, for we knew
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Speaker 1: not whether on the south side whereof was a small
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Speaker 1: neck of land jutting out into the sea, and a
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Speaker 1: creek too shallow to hold a ship of above one
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Speaker 1: hundred tons. We cast anchor within a league of this creek,
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Speaker 1: and our captain sent a dozen of his men well
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Speaker 1: armed in the long boat with vessels for water if
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Speaker 1: any could be found. I desired his leave to go
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Speaker 1: with them, that I might see the country and make
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Speaker 1: what discoveries I could. When we came to land, we
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Speaker 1: saw no river or spring, nor any sign of inhabitants.
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Speaker 1: Our men thereof wandered on the shore to find out
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Speaker 1: some fresh water near the sea, and I walked alone
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Speaker 1: about a mile on the other side, where I observed
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Speaker 1: the country all barren and rocky. I now began to
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Speaker 1: be weary, and seeing nothing to entertain my curiosity, I
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Speaker 1: returned gently down towards the creek, and the sea, being
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Speaker 1: full in my view, I saw our men already got
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Speaker 1: out into the boat and rowing for life to the ship.
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Speaker 1: I was going to holler after them, although it had
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Speaker 1: been to little purpose when I observed a huge creature
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Speaker 1: walking after them in the sea as fast as he could.
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Speaker 1: He weighed not much deed within his knees, and he
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Speaker 1: took prodigious strides. But our men had the start of
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Speaker 1: him half a league, and the sea thereabouts being full
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Speaker 1: of sharp pointed rocks, the monster was not able to
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Speaker 1: overtake the boat. This I was afterwards told, for I
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Speaker 1: Durst not stay to see the issue of the adventure,
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Speaker 1: but ran as fast as I could the way I
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Speaker 1: first went, and then climbed up a steep hill, which
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Speaker 1: gave me some prospect of the country. I found it
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Speaker 1: fully cultivated, But that which first surprised me was the
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Speaker 1: length of the grass, which, in those grounds that seemed
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Speaker 1: to be kept for hay, was about twenty feet high.
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Speaker 1: I fell into a high road, for so I took
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Speaker 1: it to be, though it served the inhabitants only as
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Speaker 1: a footpath through a field of barley. Here I walked
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Speaker 1: on for some time, but could see little on either side,
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Speaker 1: it now being near harvest and the corn rising at
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Speaker 1: least forty feet I was an hour walking to the
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Speaker 1: end of this field, which was fenced in with a
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Speaker 1: hedge of at least one hundred twenty feet high, and
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Speaker 1: the trees so lofty that I could make no computation
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Speaker 1: of their altitude. There was a style to pass from
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Speaker 1: this field into the next. It had four steps and
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Speaker 1: a stone to cross over when you came to the uppermost.
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Speaker 1: It was impossible for me to climb this stile, because
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Speaker 1: every step was six feet high and the upper stone
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Speaker 1: about twenty I was endeavoring to find some gap in
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Speaker 1: the hedge, when I discovered one of the inhabitants in
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Speaker 1: the next field advancing towards the style of the same
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Speaker 1: size with him whom I saw in the sea pursuing
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Speaker 1: our boat. He appeared as tall as an ordinary spy deeeple,
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Speaker 1: and took about ten yards at every stride. As near
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Speaker 1: as I could guess, I was struck with the utmost
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Speaker 1: fear and astonishment, and ran to hide myself in the corn.
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Speaker 1: Whence I saw him at the top of the stile,
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Speaker 1: looking back into the next field on the right hand,
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Speaker 1: and heard him call in a voice many degrees louder
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Speaker 1: than a speaking trumpet. But the noise was so high
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Speaker 1: in the air that at first I certainly thought it
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Speaker 1: was thunder. Whereupon several monsters like himself came towards him
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Speaker 1: with reaping hooks in their hands, each hook about the
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Speaker 1: largeness of six scythes. These people were not so well
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Speaker 1: clad as the first, whose servants or labor as they
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Speaker 1: seemed to be, for upon some words he sped, they
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Speaker 1: went to reap the corn in the field where I lay.
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Speaker 1: I kept from them at a great distances I could
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Speaker 1: but was forced to move with extreme difficulty, for the
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Speaker 1: stalks of the corn were sometimes not above a foot distant,
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Speaker 1: so that I could hardly squeeze my body betwixt them. However,
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Speaker 1: I made a shift to go forward till I came
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Speaker 1: to a part of the field where the corn had
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Speaker 1: been laid by the rain and wind. Here it was
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Speaker 1: impossible for me to advance a step, for the stalks
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Speaker 1: were so interwoven that I could not creep through, and
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Speaker 1: the beards of the fallen ear so strong and pointed
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Speaker 1: that they pierced through my clothes into my flesh. At
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Speaker 1: the same time, I heard the reapers not a hundred
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Speaker 1: yards behind me. Being quite dispirited with toil and wholly
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Speaker 1: overcome by grief and despair, I lay down between two ridges,
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Speaker 1: and heartily wished I might there end my days. I
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Speaker 1: bemoaned my desolate widow and fatherless children. I lamented my
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Speaker 1: own folly and wulfulness in attempting a second voyage, against
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Speaker 1: the advice of all my friends and relations. In this
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Speaker 1: terrible agitation of mind, I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput,
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Speaker 1: whose inhabitants looked upon me as the great prodigy that
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Speaker 1: ever appeared in the world we are, I was able
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Speaker 1: to draw an imperial fleet to my hand and perform
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Speaker 1: these other actions, which will be recorded for ever in
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Speaker 1: the chronicles of that empire, while posterity shall hardly believe them,
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Speaker 1: although attested by millions. I reflected, what a mortification it
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Speaker 1: must proved to me to appear as inconsiderable in this nation,
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Speaker 1: as one single lillipution would be among us. But this,
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Speaker 1: I conceived was to be the least of my misfortunes.
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Speaker 1: For as human creatures are observed to be more savage
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Speaker 1: and cruel in proportion to their bulk, what could I
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Speaker 1: expect but to be a morsel in the mouth of
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Speaker 1: the first among these enormous barbarians that should happen to
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Speaker 1: seize me. Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they
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Speaker 1: tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than
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Speaker 1: by com Harrison. It might have pleased fortune to have
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Speaker 1: let the Luputians find some nation where the people were
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Speaker 1: as diminutive with respect to them as they were to me.
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Speaker 1: And who knows but that even this pritigious race of
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Speaker 1: mortals might be equally overmatched in some distant part of
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Speaker 1: the world. Whereof we have yet no discovery. Scared and
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Speaker 1: confounded as I was, I could not forbear going on
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Speaker 1: with these reflections. When one of the reapers, approaching within
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Speaker 1: ten yards of the ridge where I lay, made me
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Speaker 1: apprehend that with the next step I should be squashed
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Speaker 1: to death under his foot or cut in two with
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Speaker 1: his reaping hook. And therefore, when he was again about
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Speaker 1: to move, I screamed as loud as fear could make me.
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Speaker 1: Whereupon the huge creature trod short, and looking round about
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Speaker 1: under him for some time, at last despied me. As
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Speaker 1: I lay on the ground. He considered a while with
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Speaker 1: the caution of one who endeavors to lay hold on
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Speaker 1: a small dangerous animal in such a manner that it
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Speaker 1: shall not be able either to scratch or bite him,
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Speaker 1: as I myself have sometimes done with the weasel in England.
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Speaker 1: At length he ventured to take me behind by the
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Speaker 1: middle between his forefinger and thumb, and brought me within
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Speaker 1: three yards of his eyes, that he might behold my
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Speaker 1: shape more perfectly. I guessed his meaning, and my good
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Speaker 1: fortune gave me so much presents of mind that I
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Speaker 1: resolved not to struggle in the least as he held
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Speaker 1: me in the air above sixty feet from the ground.
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Speaker 1: Although he grievously pinched my sides for fear I should
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Speaker 1: slip through his fingers, all I ventured was to raise
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Speaker 1: mine eyes towards the sun and place my hands together
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Speaker 1: in a supplicating posture, and to speak some words in
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Speaker 1: a humble, melancholy tone suitable to the condition I was
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Speaker 1: then in. For I apprehended every moment that he would
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Speaker 1: dash me against the ground, as we usually do a
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Speaker 1: little hateful animal which we have a mind to destroy.
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Speaker 1: But my good Star would have it that he appeared
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Speaker 1: please with my voice and gestures, and began to look
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Speaker 1: upon me as a curiosity. Much wandering to him. He
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Speaker 1: pronounced articulate words, although he could not understand them. In
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Speaker 1: the meantime, I was not able to forbear, groaning and
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Speaker 1: shedding tears, and turning my head towards my sides, letting
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Speaker 1: him know as well as I could, how cruelly I
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Speaker 1: was hurt by the pressure of his thumb and finger.
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Speaker 1: He seemed to apprehend my meaning for lifting up the
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Speaker 1: lappet of his coat, he put me gently into it,
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Speaker 1: and immediately ran along with me to his master, who
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Speaker 1: was a substantial farmer and the same person I had
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Speaker 1: first seen in the field. The farmer, having, as I
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Speaker 1: supposed by their talk, received such an account of me
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Speaker 1: as his servant could give him, took a piece of
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Speaker 1: small straw, about the size of a walking staff, and
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Speaker 1: therewith lifted up the lapets on my coat, which it
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Speaker 1: seems he thought to be some kind of covering that
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Speaker 1: nature had given me. He blew my hairs as to
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Speaker 1: take a better view of my face. He called his
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Speaker 1: hands about him and asked them, as I afterwards learned,
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Speaker 1: whether they had ever seen in the fields any little
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Speaker 1: creature that resembled me. He then placed me softly on
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Speaker 1: the ground upon all fours. But I immediately got up and
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Speaker 1: walked slowly backwards and forward to let the people see
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Speaker 1: I had no intent to run away. They all sat
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Speaker 1: down in a circle about me, the better to observe
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Speaker 1: my motions. I pulled off my hat and made a
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Speaker 1: low bow towards the farmer. I fell on my knees
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Speaker 1: and lifted up my hands and eyes, and spoke several
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Speaker 1: words as loud as I could. I took a purse
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Speaker 1: of gold out of my pocket and humbly presented it
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Speaker 1: to him. He receded on the palm of his hand,
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Speaker 1: then applied it close to his eyes to see what
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Speaker 1: it was, and afterwards turned it several times with the
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Speaker 1: point of a pin, which he took out of his sleeve,
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Speaker 1: but could make nothing of it, whereupon I made a
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Speaker 1: sign that he should. He placed his hand on the ground.
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Speaker 1: I then took the purse, and, opening it, poured all
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Speaker 1: the gold into his palm. There were six Spanish pieces
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Speaker 1: of four pistoles each, besides twenty or thirty smaller coins.
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Speaker 1: I saw him wet the tip of his little finger
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Speaker 1: upon his tongue and take up one of my largest pieces,
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Speaker 1: and then another, but he seemed to be wholly ignorant
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Speaker 1: of what they were. He made me a sign to
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Speaker 1: put them again into my purse, and the purse again
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Speaker 1: into my pocket, which, after offering it to him several times,
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Speaker 1: I thought it best to do. The farmer, by this
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Speaker 1: time was convinced I must be a rational creature. He
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Speaker 1: spoke often to me, but the sound of his voice
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Speaker 1: pierced my ears like that of a water mill. Yet
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Speaker 1: his words were articulate enough. I answered as loud as
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Speaker 1: I could, in several languages, and he often laid his
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Speaker 1: ear within two yards of me, but all in for
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Speaker 1: you were wholly unintelligible to each other. He then sent
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Speaker 1: his servants to their work, and, taking his handkerchief out
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Speaker 1: of his pocket, he doubled and spread it on his
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Speaker 1: left hand, which he placed flat on the ground with
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Speaker 1: the palm upwards, making me a sign to step into it,
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Speaker 1: as I could easily do, for it was not above
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Speaker 1: a foot in thickness. I thought it my part to obey, and,
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Speaker 1: for fear of falling, laid myself at full length upon
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Speaker 1: the handkerchief, with the remainder of which he lapped me
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Speaker 1: up to the head for further security, and in this
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Speaker 1: manner carried me home to his house. There he called
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Speaker 1: his wife and showed me to her, but she screamed
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Speaker 1: and ran back, as women in England do at the
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Speaker 1: sight of a toad or a spider. However, when she
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Speaker 1: had a while seen my behavior and how well I
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Speaker 1: observed the signs her husband made, she was soon reconciled,
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Speaker 1: and by degrees grew extremely tender of me. It was
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Speaker 1: about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in dinner.
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Speaker 1: It was only one substantial dish of meat fit for
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Speaker 1: the plain condition of a husbandman in a dish of
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Speaker 1: about four and twenty feet diameter. The company were the
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Speaker 1: farmer and his wife, three children, and an old grandmother.
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Speaker 1: When they were sat down, the farmer placed me at
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Speaker 1: some distance from him on the table, which was thirty
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Speaker 1: feet high from the floor. I was in a terrible
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Speaker 1: fright and kept as far as I could from the
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Speaker 1: edge for fear of falling. The wife minced a bit
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Speaker 1: of meat, then crumbled some bread on a trencher and
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Speaker 1: placed it before me. I made her a low bow,
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Speaker 1: took out my knife and fork, and fell to eat,
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Speaker 1: which gave them exceeding delight. The mistress sent her made
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Speaker 1: for a small dram cup, which held about two gallons,
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Speaker 1: and filled it with a drink. I took up the vessel,
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Speaker 1: with much difficulty in both hands, and in a most
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Speaker 1: respectful manner, drank to her ladyship health, expressing the words
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Speaker 1: as loud as I could in English, which made the
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Speaker 1: company laugh so heartily that I was almost deafened with
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Speaker 1: the noise. This liqueur tasted like a small cider and
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Speaker 1: was not unpleasant. Then the master made me a sign
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Speaker 1: to come to his trencher's side. But as I walked
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Speaker 1: on the table, being in great surprise all the time,
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Speaker 1: as the indulgent reader will easily conceive an excuse, I
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Speaker 1: happened to stumble against a crust and fell flat on
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Speaker 1: my face, but received no hurt. I got up immediately, and,
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Speaker 1: observing the good people to be in much concern, I
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Speaker 1: took my hat, which I held under my arm out
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Speaker 1: of good manners, and waving it over my head, made
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Speaker 1: through his hours to show I had got no mischief
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Speaker 1: by the fall. But advancing forwards towards my master, as
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Speaker 1: I shall henceforth call him, his youngest son, who sat
17:55
Speaker 1: next to him, an arch boy of about ten years old,
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Speaker 1: took me up by the legs and held me so
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Speaker 1: high in the air that I trembled every limb. But
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Speaker 1: his father snatched me from him, and at the same
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Speaker 1: time gave him such a box to the left ear
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Speaker 1: as would have felt an European troop of horse to
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Speaker 1: the earth, ordering him to be taken from the table,
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Speaker 1: But being afraid the boy might owe me a spite,
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Speaker 1: and well, remembering how mischievous all children among us naturally are,
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Speaker 1: to sparrows, rabbits, young kittens and puppy dogs. I fell
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Speaker 1: on my knees, and, pointing to the boy, made my
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Speaker 1: master to understand as well as I could, that I
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Speaker 1: desired his son might be pardoned. The father complied, and
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Speaker 1: the lad took his seat again, whereupon I went to
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Speaker 1: him and kissed his hand, which my master took and
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Speaker 1: made him stroke me gently with it. In the midst
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Speaker 1: of dinner, my mistress's favorite cap leaped into her lap.
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Speaker 1: I heard a noise behind me, like that of a
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Speaker 1: dozen stocking weavers at work, and turning my head, I
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Speaker 1: found it proceeded from the pauring of that animal, who
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Speaker 1: seemed to me three times larger than an ox as
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Speaker 1: I computed by the view of her head and one
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Speaker 1: of her paws, while her mistress was feeding and stroking her.
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Speaker 1: The fierceness of this creature's countenance altogether discomposed me, though
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Speaker 1: I stood at the farther end of the table above
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Speaker 1: fifty feet off, and although my mistress held her fast
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Speaker 1: for fear she might give a spring and seize me
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Speaker 1: in her talons. But it happened there was no danger,
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Speaker 1: for the cat took not the least notice of me.
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Speaker 1: When my master placed me within three yards of her,
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Speaker 1: and as I have always been told and found true
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Speaker 1: by experience in my travels, that flying or discovering fear
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Speaker 1: before a fierce animal is a certain way to make
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Speaker 1: it pursue or attack you. So I resolved, in this
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Speaker 1: dangerous juncture to show no manner of concern. I walked
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Speaker 1: with intrepidy five or six times before the very head
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Speaker 1: of the cat, and came within half a yard of her,
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Speaker 1: where she drew herself back, as if she were more
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Speaker 1: afraid of me. I had less apprehension concerning the dogs,
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Speaker 1: whereof three or four came into the room, as it
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Speaker 1: is usual in a farmer's house, one of which was
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Speaker 1: a mastiff equal in bulk to four elephants, and another
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Speaker 1: a greyhound somewhat taller than the mastiff, but not so large.
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Speaker 1: When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with
20:25
Speaker 1: a child of a year old in her arms, who
20:28
Speaker 1: immediately spied me and began a squall that you might
20:31
Speaker 1: have heard from London Bridge to Chelsea. After the usual
20:35
Speaker 1: oratory of infants to get me for a plaything, the mother,
20:39
Speaker 1: out of pure indulgence, took me up and put me
20:42
Speaker 1: towards the child, who presently seized me by the middle,
20:46
Speaker 1: and got my head into his mouth, where I roared
20:49
Speaker 1: so loud that the urchin was frightened and let me drop.
20:53
Speaker 1: And I should infallibly have broke my neck if the
20:55
Speaker 1: mother had not held her apron under me. The nurse
21:00
Speaker 1: to quiet her babe made use of a rattle, which
21:03
Speaker 1: was a kind of hollow vessel, filled with great stones,
21:07
Speaker 1: and fastened by a cable to the child's waist, but
21:10
Speaker 1: all in vain, so that she was forced to apply
21:12
Speaker 1: the last remedy by giving it suck. I must confess
21:17
Speaker 1: no object ever disgusted me so much as the sight
21:19
Speaker 1: of her monstrous breast, which I cannot tell what to
21:22
Speaker 1: compare with, so as to give the curious reader an
21:25
Speaker 1: idea of its bulk, shape, and color. It stood prominent
21:29
Speaker 1: six feet and could not be less than sixteen in circumference.
21:33
Speaker 1: The nipple was about half the bigness of my head,
21:37
Speaker 1: and the hue both of that and the dog so
21:39
Speaker 1: varied with spots, pimples, and freckles, that nothing could appear
21:43
Speaker 1: more nauseous. For I had a near sight of her,
21:47
Speaker 1: she sitting down the more conveniently to give suck, and
21:51
Speaker 1: I standing on the table. This made me reflect upon
21:55
Speaker 1: the fair skins of our English ladies, who appear so
21:58
Speaker 1: beautiful to us only because they are of our own size,
22:02
Speaker 1: and their defects not to be seen but through a
22:04
Speaker 1: magnifying glass, where we find by experiment that the smoothest
22:09
Speaker 1: and whitest skins look rough and coarse and ill colored.
22:14
Speaker 1: I remember, when I was at a Liliput, the complexion
22:17
Speaker 1: of those diminutive people appeared to me the fairest in
22:20
Speaker 1: the world. And talking upon the subject with the person
22:25
Speaker 1: of learning there, who was an intimate friend of mine,
22:29
Speaker 1: he said that my face appeared much fairer and smoother
22:32
Speaker 1: when he looked on me from the ground than it
22:33
Speaker 1: did upon a nearer view. When I took him up
22:36
Speaker 1: in my hand and brought him close, which he confessed
22:40
Speaker 1: was at first a very shocking sight. He said he
22:46
Speaker 1: could discover great holes in my skin, that the stumps
22:49
Speaker 1: of my beard were ten times stronger than the bristles
22:51
Speaker 1: of a boar, and my complexion made up several colors
22:55
Speaker 1: altogether disagreeable. Although I must beg leave to save myself,
23:00
Speaker 1: that I am as fair as most of my sex
23:02
Speaker 1: and country, and very little sun burned by all my
23:05
Speaker 1: travels on the other side, discoursing of the ladies of
23:09
Speaker 1: that emperor's court, he used to tell me one had freckles,
23:14
Speaker 1: another too wide a mouth, a third too large a nose,
23:18
Speaker 1: nothing of which I was able to distinguish. I confess
23:22
Speaker 1: this reflection was obvious enough, which, however, I could not
23:26
Speaker 1: forbear lest the reader might think those vast creatures were
23:30
Speaker 1: actually deformed. For I must do them the justice to
23:34
Speaker 1: say they are a comely race of people, and particularly
23:37
Speaker 1: the features of my master's countenance, although he was but
23:41
Speaker 1: a farmer when I beheld him from the height of
23:43
Speaker 1: sixty feet, appeared very well proportioned. When dinner was done,
23:49
Speaker 1: my master went out to his laborers, and, as I
23:53
Speaker 1: could discover by his voice and gesture, gave his wife
23:56
Speaker 1: strict charge to take care of me. I was very
23:59
Speaker 1: much tired and disposed to sleep, which my mistress, perceiving,
24:03
Speaker 1: she put me on her own bed and covered me
24:06
Speaker 1: with a clean white handkerchief, but larger and coarser than
24:09
Speaker 1: the mainsail of a man of war. I slept about
24:14
Speaker 1: two hours and dreamt I was at home with my
24:16
Speaker 1: wife and children, which aggravated my sorrows. When I waked
24:19
Speaker 1: and found myself alone in a vast room between two
24:23
Speaker 1: and three hundred feet wide and above two hundred high,
24:27
Speaker 1: lying in a bed twenty yards wide. My mistress was
24:30
Speaker 1: gone about her household affairs and had locked me in.
24:33
Speaker 1: The bed was eighty yards from the floor. Some natural
24:37
Speaker 1: necessities required me to get down. I durst not presume
24:41
Speaker 1: to call, and if I had, it would have been
24:44
Speaker 1: in vain with such a voice as mine, at so
24:47
Speaker 1: great a distance from the room where I lay to
24:48
Speaker 1: the kitchen where the family kept. While I was under
24:52
Speaker 1: these circumstances, two rats crept up the curtain and ran,
24:57
Speaker 1: smelling backwards and forwards on the bed. One of them
25:00
Speaker 1: came up almost to my face, whereupon I rose in
25:03
Speaker 1: affright and drew out my hanger to defend myself. These
25:07
Speaker 1: horrible animals had the boldness to attack me on both sides,
25:11
Speaker 1: and one of them held his fore feet at my collar,
25:14
Speaker 1: but I had the good fortune to rip up his
25:16
Speaker 1: belly before he could do me any mischief. He fell
25:19
Speaker 1: down at my feet, and the other, seeing the fate
25:22
Speaker 1: of his comrade, made his escape, but not without one
25:25
Speaker 1: good wound on the back, which I gave him, as
25:28
Speaker 1: if fled and made the blood run trickling from him.
25:33
Speaker 1: After this exploit, I walked gently to and fro on
25:36
Speaker 1: the bed to recover my breath and loss of spirits.
25:40
Speaker 1: These creatures were the sides of a large mastiff, but
25:43
Speaker 1: infinitely more nimble and fierce, so that if I had
25:47
Speaker 1: taken off my belt before I went to sleep, I
25:50
Speaker 1: must have infallibly been torn to pieces and devoured. I
25:54
Speaker 1: measured the tail of the dead rat and found it
25:56
Speaker 1: to be two yards long, wanting an inch, but it
26:00
Speaker 1: went against my stomach to drag the carcass of the
26:02
Speaker 1: bed where it lay, still bleeding. I observed it yet
26:06
Speaker 1: had some life, but with a strong slash across the neck,
26:08
Speaker 1: I thoroughly dispatched it. Soon after, my mistress came into
26:13
Speaker 1: the room, who, seeing me all bloody, ran and took
26:16
Speaker 1: me up in her hand. I pointed to the dead rat,
26:20
Speaker 1: smiling and making other signs to show I was not hurt,
26:24
Speaker 1: whereat she was extremely rejoiced, calling to the maid to
26:27
Speaker 1: take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs
26:30
Speaker 1: and throw it out of the window. Then she set
26:33
Speaker 1: me on a table where I showed her my hanger,
26:35
Speaker 1: all bloody and wiping it on the lappet of my coat,
26:39
Speaker 1: returned it to the scabbard. I was pressed to do
26:42
Speaker 1: more than one thing which another could not do for me,
26:45
Speaker 1: and therefore endeavored to make my mistress understand that I
26:48
Speaker 1: desired to be set down on the floor, which, after
26:51
Speaker 1: she had done my bashfulness, would not suffer me to
26:53
Speaker 1: express myself farther. Then my pointing to the door and
26:57
Speaker 1: bowing several times, the good woman, with much difficulty, at
27:02
Speaker 1: last perceived what I would be at, and, taking me
27:04
Speaker 1: up again in her hand, walked into the garden, where
27:07
Speaker 1: she set me down. I went on one side about
27:10
Speaker 1: two hundred yards, and, beckoning to her not to look,
27:13
Speaker 1: not to follow me, I hid myself between two leaves
27:16
Speaker 1: of sorrow, and there discharged the necessities of nature. I
27:24
Speaker 1: hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on
27:26
Speaker 1: these and the like particulars, which, however insignificant they may
27:31
Speaker 1: appear to groveling vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a
27:34
Speaker 1: philosopher to enlarge his thoughts and imagination and apply them
27:38
Speaker 1: to the benefit of public as well as private life,
27:41
Speaker 1: which was my sole design in presenting this and other
27:44
Speaker 1: accounts of my travels to the world, wherein I have
27:48
Speaker 1: been chiefly studious of truth, without effecting any ornaments of
27:51
Speaker 1: learning or of style. But the whole scene of this
27:54
Speaker 1: voyage made so strong an impression on my mind, and
27:57
Speaker 1: is so deeply fixed in my memory, that in committing
28:01
Speaker 1: it to paper, I did not omit one material circumstance. However,
28:06
Speaker 1: upon a strict review, I blotted out several passages of
28:10
Speaker 1: Less Moment which were in my first copy, for fear
28:13
Speaker 1: of being censored as tedious and trifling, whereof travelers are often,
28:18
Speaker 1: perhaps not without justice accused. End of Chapter one, Part two,