Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 16 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

Transcript

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

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter eight, the King and Queen make a progress to
0:04
Speaker 1: the frontiers. The author attends them. The manner in which
0:09
Speaker 1: he leaves the country very particularly related. He returns to England.
0:16
Speaker 1: I had always a strong impulse that I should sometime
0:19
Speaker 1: recover my liberty, though it was impossible to conjecture by
0:23
Speaker 1: what means, or to form any project with the least
0:26
Speaker 1: hope of succeeding. The ship in which I sailed was
0:31
Speaker 1: the first ever known to be driven within sight of
0:33
Speaker 1: that coast, and the King had given strict orders that
0:39
Speaker 1: if at any time another appeared, it should be taken ashore,
0:43
Speaker 1: and with all its crew and passengers brought in Tumbril
0:47
Speaker 1: to lauberalgrud. He was strongly bent to get me a
0:51
Speaker 1: woman of my own size, by whom I might propagate
0:55
Speaker 1: the breed. But I think I should rather have died
0:59
Speaker 1: than undergone the disce of leaving a posterity to be
1:02
Speaker 1: kept in cages like tame canary birds, and perhaps in
1:08
Speaker 1: time sold about the kingdom to persons of quality for curiosities.
1:15
Speaker 1: I was indeed treated with much kindness. I was the
1:19
Speaker 1: favorite of a great king and queen, and the delight
1:22
Speaker 1: of the whole court. But it was upon such a
1:25
Speaker 1: foot as ill became the dignity of human kind. I
1:29
Speaker 1: could never forget those domestic pledges I had left behind me.
1:34
Speaker 1: I wanted to be among people with whom I could
1:37
Speaker 1: converse upon even terms, and to walk about the streets
1:41
Speaker 1: and fields without being afraid of being trod to death
1:45
Speaker 1: like a frog or a young puppy. But my deliverance
1:49
Speaker 1: came sooner than I expected, and in a manner not
1:52
Speaker 1: very common. The whole story and circumstances of which I
1:57
Speaker 1: shall faithfully relate, I had now been two years in
2:02
Speaker 1: this country, and about the beginning of the third glum
2:07
Speaker 1: Duklitch and I attended the King and Queen in a
2:09
Speaker 1: progress to the south coast of the Kingdom. I was
2:14
Speaker 1: carried as usual in my traveling box, which, as I
2:17
Speaker 1: have already described, was a very convenient closet of twelve
2:21
Speaker 1: feet wide, and I had ordered a hammock to be
2:25
Speaker 1: fixed by silken ropes from the four corners at the
2:28
Speaker 1: top to break the jolts when a servant carried me
2:32
Speaker 1: before him on horseback, as I sometimes desired, and would
2:37
Speaker 1: often sleep in my hammock while we were upon the road.
2:42
Speaker 1: On the roof of my closet, not directly over the
2:45
Speaker 1: middle of the hammock. I ordered the joiner to cut
2:48
Speaker 1: out a hole of a foot square to give me
2:51
Speaker 1: air in hot weather. As I slept which hole, I
2:55
Speaker 1: shot at pleasure with a board that drew backward and
2:58
Speaker 1: forward through a groove. When we came to our journey's end,
3:03
Speaker 1: the king thought proper to pass a few days at
3:06
Speaker 1: a palace he has near van Flassnik, a city within
3:11
Speaker 1: eighteen English miles of the sea side. Glumdalklitch and I
3:15
Speaker 1: were much fatigued. I had gotten a small cold, but
3:20
Speaker 1: the poor girl was so ill as to be confined
3:22
Speaker 1: to her chamber. I longed to see the ocean, which
3:27
Speaker 1: must be the only scene of my escape, if ever
3:30
Speaker 1: it should happen. I pretended to be worse than I
3:33
Speaker 1: really was, and as I had leave to take the
3:36
Speaker 1: fresh air off the sea with a page whom I
3:40
Speaker 1: was very fond of, and who had sometimes been trusted
3:43
Speaker 1: with me. I shall never forget with what unwillingless Glandalklitch consented,
3:50
Speaker 1: nor the strict charge she gave the page to be
3:52
Speaker 1: careful of me. Bursting at the same time into a
3:56
Speaker 1: flood of tears, as if she had some foreboding of
4:00
Speaker 1: what was to happen. The boy took me out in
4:04
Speaker 1: my box, about half an hour's walk from the palace,
4:08
Speaker 1: towards the rocky sea shore. I ordered him to set
4:12
Speaker 1: me down, and, lifting up one of my sashes, cast
4:16
Speaker 1: many a wistful, melancholy look towards the sea. I found
4:21
Speaker 1: myself not very well and told the page that I
4:25
Speaker 1: had a mind to take a nap in my hammock,
4:27
Speaker 1: which I hoped would do me some good. I got in,
4:32
Speaker 1: and the boy shut the window close down to keep
4:35
Speaker 1: out the cold. I soon fell asleep, and all I
4:41
Speaker 1: can conjecture is while I slept, the page, thinking no
4:45
Speaker 1: danger could happen, went among the rocks to look for
4:48
Speaker 1: birds eggs, having before observed him from my window, searching
4:53
Speaker 1: about and picking up one or two in the clefts.
4:58
Speaker 1: Be that as it will. I found myself suddenly awaked
5:01
Speaker 1: with a violent pull upon the ring which was fastened
5:05
Speaker 1: at the top of my box for the conveniency of carriage.
5:09
Speaker 1: I felt my box rise very high in the air,
5:12
Speaker 1: and then borne forward with prodigious speed. The first jolt
5:17
Speaker 1: had liked to have shaken me out of my hammock.
5:21
Speaker 1: But afterwards the motion was easy enough. I called out
5:25
Speaker 1: several times as loud as I could raise my voice,
5:28
Speaker 1: but all to no purpose. I looked towards my windows
5:33
Speaker 1: and could see nothing but the clouds and sky. I
5:37
Speaker 1: heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping
5:40
Speaker 1: of wings, and then began to perceive the woeful condition
5:45
Speaker 1: I was in that some eagle had got the ring
5:48
Speaker 1: of my box in his beak, with an intent to
5:51
Speaker 1: let it fall on a rock like a tortoise in
5:54
Speaker 1: a shell, and then pick out my body and devour it.
6:00
Speaker 1: For the sagacity and smell of this bird enables him
6:03
Speaker 1: to discover his quarry at a great distance, though better
6:06
Speaker 1: concealed than I could be within a two inch board.
6:10
Speaker 1: In a little time, I observed the noise and flutter
6:13
Speaker 1: of wings to increase very fast, and my box was
6:17
Speaker 1: tossed up and down like a sign in a windy day.
6:21
Speaker 1: I heard several bangs or buffets, as I thought given
6:25
Speaker 1: to the eagle, for such I am certain it must
6:28
Speaker 1: have been that held the ring of my box in
6:30
Speaker 1: his beak, And then all on a sudden, felt myself
6:35
Speaker 1: falling perpendicularly down for above a minute, but with such
6:40
Speaker 1: incredible swiftness that I almost lost my breath. My fall
6:44
Speaker 1: was stopped by a terrible squash that sounded louder to
6:48
Speaker 1: my ears than the Cataract of Niagara, after which I
6:53
Speaker 1: was quite in the dark for another minute. And then
6:57
Speaker 1: my box began to rise so high that I I
7:00
Speaker 1: could see light from the tops of the windows. I
7:03
Speaker 1: now perceived I was fallen into the sea. My box,
7:08
Speaker 1: being the weight of my body, the goods that were
7:10
Speaker 1: in it, and the broad plates of iron fixed for
7:13
Speaker 1: strength at the four corners of the top and the bottom,
7:16
Speaker 1: floated about five feet deep in water. I did then,
7:22
Speaker 1: and do now, suppose that the eagle which flew away
7:26
Speaker 1: with my box, was pursued by two or three others
7:30
Speaker 1: and forced to let me drop while he defended himself
7:34
Speaker 1: against the rest who hoped to share in the prey.
7:40
Speaker 1: The plates of iron fastened at the bottom of the box,
7:43
Speaker 1: for those were the strongest, preserved the balance while it fell,
7:48
Speaker 1: and hindered it from being broken. On the surface of
7:50
Speaker 1: the water. Every joint of it was well grooved, and
7:55
Speaker 1: the door did not move on hinges, but up and
7:58
Speaker 1: down like a sash, which kept my closet so tight
8:01
Speaker 1: that very little water came in. I got, with much
8:06
Speaker 1: difficulty out of my hammock, having first ventured to draw
8:09
Speaker 1: back the slip board on the roof already mentioned, contrived
8:14
Speaker 1: on purpose to let erin, for want of which I
8:17
Speaker 1: found myself almost stifled. How often did I then wish
8:23
Speaker 1: myself with my dear glumdal Klitch, for whom one single
8:27
Speaker 1: hour had so far divided me. And I may say
8:31
Speaker 1: with truth that in the midst of my own misfortunes,
8:35
Speaker 1: I could not forbear lamenting my poor nurse, the grief
8:39
Speaker 1: she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of the queen,
8:43
Speaker 1: and the ruin of her fortune. Perhaps many travelers have
8:47
Speaker 1: not been under greater difficulties and distress than I was
8:51
Speaker 1: at this juncture, expecting every moment to see my box
8:56
Speaker 1: dashed to pieces, or at least overset by the first
9:00
Speaker 1: violent blast or rising wave. A breach in one single
9:06
Speaker 1: pane of glass would have been immediate death. Nor could
9:11
Speaker 1: anything have preserved the windows, but the strong lattice, wise
9:15
Speaker 1: placed on the outside against accidents. In traveling, I saw
9:20
Speaker 1: the water ooze in at several crannies, Although the leaks
9:24
Speaker 1: were not considerable, and I endeavored to stop them as
9:27
Speaker 1: well as I could. I was not able to lift
9:31
Speaker 1: up the roof of my closet, which otherwise I certainly
9:35
Speaker 1: should have done, and sat on top of it, where
9:39
Speaker 1: might at least preserve myself some hours longer then by
9:43
Speaker 1: being shut up, as I may call it, in the hold.
9:48
Speaker 1: Or if I escaped these dangers for a day or two,
9:51
Speaker 1: what could I expect but a miserable death of cold
9:54
Speaker 1: and hunger. I was four hours under these circumstances, expecting
10:01
Speaker 1: and indeed wishing every moment to be my last. I
10:06
Speaker 1: have already told the reader that there were two strong
10:09
Speaker 1: saples fixed upon that side of my box, which had
10:12
Speaker 1: no window, and into which the servant who used to
10:16
Speaker 1: carry me on horseback would put a leathern belt and
10:20
Speaker 1: buckle it about his waist. Being in this disconsolate state,
10:25
Speaker 1: I heard, or at least thought I heard, some kind
10:29
Speaker 1: of grating noise on that side of my box where
10:32
Speaker 1: the staples were fixed. And soon after I began to
10:36
Speaker 1: fancy that the box was pulled or towed along the sea.
10:41
Speaker 1: For I now and then felt a sort of tugging
10:44
Speaker 1: which made the ways rise near the tops of my windows,
10:48
Speaker 1: leaving me almost in the dark. This gave me some
10:53
Speaker 1: faint hopes of relief, although I was not able to
10:56
Speaker 1: imagine how it could be brought about. I ventured to
11:00
Speaker 1: unscrew one of my chairs, which were always fastened to
11:04
Speaker 1: the floor, and having made a hard shift, to screw
11:07
Speaker 1: it down again directly under the slipping border that I
11:10
Speaker 1: had lately opened. I mounted on the chair and put
11:14
Speaker 1: in my mouth as near as I could to the hole.
11:17
Speaker 1: I cried for help in a loud voice and in
11:20
Speaker 1: all the languages I understood. I then fastened my handkerchief
11:26
Speaker 1: to a stick I usually carried, and, thrusting it up
11:29
Speaker 1: the hole, waved it several times in the air, that
11:33
Speaker 1: if any boat or ship were near, the seaman might
11:36
Speaker 1: conjecture some unhappy mortal to be shut up in the box.
11:42
Speaker 1: I found no effect from all I could do, but
11:45
Speaker 1: plainly perceived my closet to be moved along, and, in
11:49
Speaker 1: the space of an hour or better, that side of
11:52
Speaker 1: the box, where the staples were and had no windows,
11:56
Speaker 1: struck against something that was hard, I apprehended it to
12:01
Speaker 1: be a rock, and found myself tossed more than ever.
12:05
Speaker 1: I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my
12:07
Speaker 1: closet like that of a cable, and the grating of
12:11
Speaker 1: it as it passed through the ring. I then found
12:16
Speaker 1: myself hoisted up by degrees at least three feet higher
12:20
Speaker 1: than I was before, whereupon I again thrust up my
12:24
Speaker 1: stick and handkerchief, calling for help while I was almost hoarse,
12:30
Speaker 1: in return to which I heard a great shout, repeated
12:33
Speaker 1: three times, giving me such transports of joy as are
12:38
Speaker 1: not to be conceived but by those who feel them.
12:42
Speaker 1: I now heard a trampling over my head, and somebody
12:46
Speaker 1: calling through the hole with a loud voice in the
12:48
Speaker 1: English tongue. If there be anybody below, let them speak,
12:54
Speaker 1: I answered, I was an Englishman, drawn by ill fortune
12:58
Speaker 1: into the greatest calamity that any creep underwent, and begged
13:02
Speaker 1: by all that was moving to be delivered out of
13:05
Speaker 1: this dungeon I was in. The voice replied I was safe,
13:11
Speaker 1: for my box was fastened to their ship, and the
13:14
Speaker 1: carpenter should immediately come. And saw a hole in the
13:16
Speaker 1: cover large enough to pull me out, I answered that
13:21
Speaker 1: was needless and would take up too much time, for
13:24
Speaker 1: there was no more to be done. For there was
13:27
Speaker 1: no more to be done but to let one of
13:29
Speaker 1: the crew put his finger into the ring and take
13:32
Speaker 1: the box out of the sea, into the ship, and
13:34
Speaker 1: sew into the captain's cabin. Some of them, upon hearing
13:40
Speaker 1: me talk so wildly, thought I was mad. Others laughed,
13:45
Speaker 1: For indeed, it never came into my head that I
13:48
Speaker 1: was now got among people of my own stature and strength.
13:53
Speaker 1: The carpenter came and in a few minutes sought a
13:56
Speaker 1: passage about four feet square, then let down a small
14:00
Speaker 1: ladder upon which I mounted, and thence was taken into
14:04
Speaker 1: the ship in a very weak condition. The sailors were
14:08
Speaker 1: all in amazement and asked me a thousand questions, which
14:12
Speaker 1: I had no inclination to answer. I was equally confounded
14:17
Speaker 1: at the sight of so many pigmies, for such I
14:20
Speaker 1: took them to be, after having so long accustomed mine
14:24
Speaker 1: eyes to the monstrous objects I had left. But the captain,
14:29
Speaker 1: mister Thomas Wilcox, an honest, worthy Shopshire man, observing I
14:35
Speaker 1: was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave
14:39
Speaker 1: me a cordial to comfort me, and made me turn
14:42
Speaker 1: in upon his own bed, advising me to take a
14:45
Speaker 1: little rest, of which I had great need before I
14:50
Speaker 1: went to sleep, I gave him to understand that I
14:53
Speaker 1: had some valuable furniture in my box, too good to
14:57
Speaker 1: be lost, a fine hammock, a handsome field bed, two chairs,
15:02
Speaker 1: a table, and a cabinet. That my closet was hung
15:06
Speaker 1: on all sides, or rather quilted with silk and cotton.
15:11
Speaker 1: That if he would let one of the crew bring
15:13
Speaker 1: my closet into his cabin, I would open it there
15:15
Speaker 1: before him and show him my goods. The captain, hearing
15:22
Speaker 1: me utter these absurdities, concluded I was raving. However I
15:27
Speaker 1: supposed to pacify me. He promised to give order as
15:31
Speaker 1: I desired, and, going upon deck, sent some of his
15:35
Speaker 1: men down into my closet, whence as I afterwards found,
15:39
Speaker 1: they drew up all my goods and stripped off the quilting.
15:43
Speaker 1: But the chairs, cabinet and bed stand, being screwed to
15:47
Speaker 1: the floor, were much damaged by the ignorance of the seamen,
15:50
Speaker 1: who tore them up by force. Then they knocked off
15:54
Speaker 1: some of the boards for the use of the ship,
15:57
Speaker 1: and when they had got all they had mined for,
16:00
Speaker 1: let the whole drop into the sea, which, by reason
16:04
Speaker 1: of many breeches made in the bottom and sides sunk
16:08
Speaker 1: to rights. And indeed I was glad not to have
16:13
Speaker 1: been a spectator of the havoc they made, because I
16:16
Speaker 1: am confident it would have sensibly touched me by bringing
16:19
Speaker 1: former passages into my mind, which I would rather have forgot.
16:28
Speaker 1: I slept some hours, but perpetibly deserved, with dreams of
16:32
Speaker 1: the place I had left and the dangers I had escaped. However,
16:38
Speaker 1: upon waking I found myself much recovered. It was now
16:43
Speaker 1: about eight o'clock at night, and the captain ordered supper, immediately,
16:48
Speaker 1: thinking I had already fasted too long. He entertained me
16:52
Speaker 1: with great kindness, observing me not to look wildly or
16:57
Speaker 1: talking consistently, And when we were left alone, desired I
17:02
Speaker 1: would give him a relation of my travels and by
17:05
Speaker 1: what accident I came to be set adrift in that
17:08
Speaker 1: monstrous wooden chest. He said that about twelve o'clock at noon,
17:15
Speaker 1: as he was looking through his glass, he spied it
17:17
Speaker 1: at a distance and thought it was a sail, which
17:21
Speaker 1: he had a mind to make, being not much out
17:23
Speaker 1: of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit, his
17:27
Speaker 1: own beginning to fall short, that upon coming nearer, and
17:33
Speaker 1: finding his error, he sent out his long boat to
17:36
Speaker 1: discover what it was. That his men came back in
17:40
Speaker 1: a fright, swearing they had seen a swimming house. That
17:45
Speaker 1: he laughed at their folly, and went himself in the boat,
17:49
Speaker 1: ordering his men to take a strong cable along with them,
17:53
Speaker 1: that the weather being calm, he rode round me several times,
17:57
Speaker 1: observing my windows and wire lattices that defend them. That
18:03
Speaker 1: he discovered two staples upon one side, which was of
18:06
Speaker 1: all boards without any passage for light. He then commanded
18:12
Speaker 1: his men to row up to that side, and, fastening
18:15
Speaker 1: a cable to one of the staples, ordered them to
18:18
Speaker 1: tow my chest as they caused it towards the ship.
18:23
Speaker 1: When it was there, he gave directions to fasten another
18:26
Speaker 1: cable to the ring fixed in the cover, and to
18:30
Speaker 1: raise up my chest with pulleys, which all the sailors
18:33
Speaker 1: were not able to do above three or four feet.
18:37
Speaker 1: He said they saw my stick and tandkerchief thrust out
18:40
Speaker 1: of the hole, and concluded that some unhappy man must
18:44
Speaker 1: be shut up in the cavity. I asked whether he
18:49
Speaker 1: or the crew had seen any pritigious birds in the
18:51
Speaker 1: air about the time he first discovered me, to which
18:55
Speaker 1: he answered that discoursing this matter with the sailors while
18:59
Speaker 1: I was asleep, one of them said he had observed
19:02
Speaker 1: three eagles flying towards the north, but remarked nothing of
19:07
Speaker 1: their being larger than the usual size, which I suppose
19:11
Speaker 1: must be imputed to the great heights they were at,
19:14
Speaker 1: and he could not guess the reason of mine question.
19:18
Speaker 1: I then asked the captain how far he reckoned we
19:21
Speaker 1: might be from land. He said, by the best computation
19:25
Speaker 1: he could make, we were at least a hundred leagues.
19:30
Speaker 1: I assured him that he must be mistaken by almost half,
19:34
Speaker 1: for I had not left the country whence I had
19:36
Speaker 1: come above two hours before I dropped into the sea,
19:40
Speaker 1: whereupon he began again to think that my brain was disturbed,
19:45
Speaker 1: of which he gave me a hint, and advised me
19:48
Speaker 1: to go to bed in a cabin he had provided.
19:51
Speaker 1: I assured him I was well refreshed with his good
19:54
Speaker 1: entertainment and company, and as much in my sense as
19:58
Speaker 1: as ever I was in my life. He then grew
20:02
Speaker 1: serious and desired to ask me freely whether I were
20:07
Speaker 1: not troubled in my mind by the consciousness of some
20:10
Speaker 1: enormous crime, for which I was punished as the command
20:14
Speaker 1: of some prince, by exposing me in that chest as
20:18
Speaker 1: great criminals in other countries, having forced to see in
20:21
Speaker 1: a leaky vessel without provisions. For although he should be
20:27
Speaker 1: sorry to have taken so ill a man into his ship,
20:31
Speaker 1: yet he would engage his word to set me safe
20:33
Speaker 1: ashore in the first port where we arrived. He added
20:39
Speaker 1: that his suspicions were much increased by some very absurd
20:42
Speaker 1: speeches I had delivered, at first to his sailors and
20:46
Speaker 1: afterwards to himself, in relation to my closet or chest,
20:51
Speaker 1: as well as by my odd looks and behavior. While
20:53
Speaker 1: I was at supper, I begged his patience to hear
20:57
Speaker 1: me tell my story, which I faithfully did from the
21:01
Speaker 1: last time I left England to the moment he first
21:04
Speaker 1: discovered me. And as truth always forces its way into
21:09
Speaker 1: rational minds, so this honest, worthy gentleman, who had some
21:14
Speaker 1: tincature of learning and very good sense, was immediately convinced
21:19
Speaker 1: with my candor and veracity. But further to confirm all
21:23
Speaker 1: I had said, I entreated him to give order that
21:26
Speaker 1: my cabinet should be brought of which I had the
21:30
Speaker 1: key in my pocket, for he had already informed me
21:33
Speaker 1: how the seaman disposed of my closet. I opened it
21:37
Speaker 1: in his own presence and showed him the small collection
21:41
Speaker 1: of rarities I made in the country from which I
21:44
Speaker 1: had been so strangely delivered. There was the comb I
21:48
Speaker 1: had contrived out of the stumps of the King's beard,
21:51
Speaker 1: and another of the same materials, but fixed into a
21:55
Speaker 1: pairing of Her Majesty's thumb nail, which served for the back.
22:00
Speaker 1: There was a collection of needles and pins from a
22:03
Speaker 1: foot to half a yard long, four wasp stings like
22:07
Speaker 1: joyner's tacks, some combings of the Queen's hair. A gold ring,
22:13
Speaker 1: which one day she made me a present of in
22:16
Speaker 1: a most obliging manner, taking it from her little finger
22:20
Speaker 1: and throwing it over my head like a collar. I
22:25
Speaker 1: desired the Captain would please to accept this ring in
22:28
Speaker 1: return for his civilities, which he absolutely refused. I showed
22:34
Speaker 1: him a corn that I had cut off with my
22:35
Speaker 1: own hand from a maid of honor's toe. It was
22:40
Speaker 1: about the bigness of a Kentish pippin, and grown so
22:44
Speaker 1: hard that when I returned to England, I got it
22:47
Speaker 1: hollowed into a cup and set in silver. Lastly, I
22:51
Speaker 1: desired him to see the breeches I had then on,
22:54
Speaker 1: which were made of a mouse's skin. I could force
22:59
Speaker 1: nothing on him but a footman's tooth, which I observed
23:02
Speaker 1: him to examine with great curiosity, and found he had
23:05
Speaker 1: a fancy for it. He received it with abundance of thanks,
23:11
Speaker 1: more than such a trifle could deserve. It was drawn
23:16
Speaker 1: by an unskillful surgeon, in a mistake, from one of
23:20
Speaker 1: glandal Klitch's men, who was afflicted with the toothache. But
23:25
Speaker 1: it was as sound as any in his head. I
23:28
Speaker 1: got it cleaned and put it into my cabinet. It
23:31
Speaker 1: was about a foot long and four inches in diameter.
23:36
Speaker 1: The Captain was well satisfied with this plain relation I
23:38
Speaker 1: had given him, and said he hoped when we returned
23:43
Speaker 1: to England I would oblige the world by putting it
23:46
Speaker 1: on paper and making it public. My answer was that
23:51
Speaker 1: we were overstocked with books of travels, that nothing could
23:55
Speaker 1: now pass which was not extraordinary, wherein I doubted some
23:59
Speaker 1: more things less consulted truth than their own vanity or interest,
24:05
Speaker 1: or the diversion of ignorant readers that my story could
24:09
Speaker 1: contain little beside common events without those ornamental descriptions of
24:14
Speaker 1: strange plants, trees, birds, and other animals, or of the
24:19
Speaker 1: barbarous customs and idolatry of savage people with which most
24:24
Speaker 1: writers abound. However, I thanked him for his good opinion,
24:29
Speaker 1: and promised to take the matter into my thoughts. He
24:34
Speaker 1: said he wondered at one thing very much, which was
24:38
Speaker 1: to hear me speak so loud, asking me whether the
24:42
Speaker 1: king or queen of that country were thick of hearing.
24:47
Speaker 1: I told him it was what I had been used
24:51
Speaker 1: to for above two years past, and that I admired
24:54
Speaker 1: as much at the voices of him and his men,
24:57
Speaker 1: who seemed to me only to whisper. And yet I
25:01
Speaker 1: could hear them well enough. But when I spoke in
25:05
Speaker 1: that country, it was like a man talking in the
25:08
Speaker 1: streets to another looking out from the top of a steeple,
25:12
Speaker 1: unless when I was placed on a table or held
25:15
Speaker 1: in any person's hand. I told him I had likewise
25:19
Speaker 1: observed another thing, that when I first got into the
25:23
Speaker 1: ship and the sailors all stood about me, I thought
25:27
Speaker 1: they were the most little contemptible creatures. I had ever beheld.
25:32
Speaker 1: For indeed, while I was in that Prince's country, I
25:36
Speaker 1: could never endure to look in a glass after mine
25:39
Speaker 1: eyes had become accustomed to such prodigious objects, because the
25:43
Speaker 1: comparison gave me so despicable a conceit of myself. The
25:49
Speaker 1: Captain said that while we were at supper, he observed
25:53
Speaker 1: me to look at everything with a sort of wonder,
25:56
Speaker 1: and that I often seemed hardly able to contain my laughter,
26:00
Speaker 1: which he knew not well how to take, but imputed
26:04
Speaker 1: it to some disorder in my brain. I answered, it
26:09
Speaker 1: was very true, and I wondered how I could forbear
26:13
Speaker 1: when I saw his dishes of the size of a
26:15
Speaker 1: silver threepence, a leg of pork hardly a mouthful, a
26:20
Speaker 1: cup not so big as a nutshell. And so I
26:23
Speaker 1: went on describing the rest of his household stuff and
26:27
Speaker 1: provisions after the same manner. For although the Queen had
26:32
Speaker 1: ordered a little equipage of all things necessary for me
26:36
Speaker 1: while I was in her service, yet my ideas were
26:40
Speaker 1: wholly taken up with what I saw on every side
26:43
Speaker 1: of me, and I winked at my own littleness, as
26:47
Speaker 1: people do at their own faults. The captain understood my
26:53
Speaker 1: rillery very well, and merrily replied with the old English
26:57
Speaker 1: proverb that he doubted mine eyes were bigger than my belly,
27:02
Speaker 1: for he did not observe my stomach so good, although
27:05
Speaker 1: I had fasted all day, and, continuing in his mirth,
27:11
Speaker 1: protested he would have gladly given a hundred pounds to
27:15
Speaker 1: have seen my closet in the eagle's bill, and afterwards
27:19
Speaker 1: in its fall from so great a height into the sea,
27:22
Speaker 1: which would certainly have been a most astonishing object, worthy
27:26
Speaker 1: to have the description of it transmitted to future ages.
27:32
Speaker 1: And the comparison of theaton was so obvious that he
27:36
Speaker 1: could not forbear applying it, although I did not much
27:39
Speaker 1: admire the conceit. The Captain, having been at Tonquin, was,
27:45
Speaker 1: in his return to England, driven northeastward to the latitude
27:49
Speaker 1: of forty four degrees a longitude of one hundred and
27:52
Speaker 1: forty three, but meeting a trade wind. Two days after
27:57
Speaker 1: I came on board. We sailed south for a long time,
28:02
Speaker 1: and coast in New Holland kept our course west southwest
28:07
Speaker 1: and then south southwest till we doubled the Cape of
28:10
Speaker 1: Good Hope. Our voyage was very prosperous, but I shall
28:16
Speaker 1: not trouble the reader with the journal of it. The
28:19
Speaker 1: captain called in at one or two ports and sent
28:23
Speaker 1: in his long boat for provisions and fresh water. But
28:26
Speaker 1: I never went out of the ship till we came
28:28
Speaker 1: into the Downs, which was on the third day of
28:32
Speaker 1: June seventeen o six, about nine months after my escape.
28:39
Speaker 1: I offered to leave my goods in security for payment
28:42
Speaker 1: of my freight, but the captain protested he would not
28:46
Speaker 1: receive one farthing. We took a kind of leave of
28:51
Speaker 1: each other, and I made him promise he would come
28:53
Speaker 1: to see me at my house in Redriff. I hired
28:57
Speaker 1: a horse and guide for five shillings, which I borrowed
29:00
Speaker 1: off the captain. As I was on the road, observing
29:05
Speaker 1: the littleness of the houses, the trees, the cattle, and
29:09
Speaker 1: the people, I began to think myself in Lilliput. I
29:14
Speaker 1: was afraid of trampling on every traveler I met, and
29:18
Speaker 1: often called aloud to have them stand out of the way,
29:22
Speaker 1: so that I had liked to have gotten one or
29:24
Speaker 1: two broken heads from my impertinence. When I came to
29:28
Speaker 1: my house, for which I was forced to inquire one
29:32
Speaker 1: of the servants opened the door. I bent down to
29:35
Speaker 1: go in like a goose under a gate, for fear
29:38
Speaker 1: of striking my head. My wife ran out to embrace me,
29:44
Speaker 1: but I stooped lower than her knees, thinking she could
29:47
Speaker 1: otherwise never be able to reach my mouth. My daughter
29:52
Speaker 1: needled to ask my blessing, but I could not see
29:55
Speaker 1: her till she arose, having been so long used to
29:58
Speaker 1: stand with my head eyes erect to above sixty feet,
30:03
Speaker 1: and then I went to take her up with one
30:05
Speaker 1: hand by the waist. I looked down upon the servants
30:10
Speaker 1: and one or two friends were in the house, as
30:13
Speaker 1: if they had been pigmies, and I a giant. I
30:17
Speaker 1: told my wife she had been too thrifty, for I
30:21
Speaker 1: found she had starved herself and her daughter to nothing.
30:25
Speaker 1: In short, I behaved myself so unaccountably that they were
30:29
Speaker 1: all of the captain's opinion when he first saw me,
30:32
Speaker 1: and concluded I had lost my wits. This I mention
30:38
Speaker 1: as an instance of the great power of habit and prejudice.
30:43
Speaker 1: In a little time, I and my family and friends
30:46
Speaker 1: came to a right understanding, but my wife protested I
30:51
Speaker 1: should never go to sea any more. Although my evil
30:55
Speaker 1: destiny so ordered that she had not power to hinder me,
30:59
Speaker 1: as the reader may know hereafter. In the meantime, I
31:03
Speaker 1: here conclude the second part of My Unfortunate Voyages. End
31:09
Speaker 1: of Part two, Chapter eight,