Travel to Lilliput
1 The three-masted brig Antelope was sailing to the Southern Ocean. The ship's doctor Gulliver stood at the stern and looked through a telescope at the pier. His wife and two children remained there: son Johnny and daughter Betty. This was not the first time Gulliver went to sea. He loved to travel. While still at school, he spent almost all the money his father sent him on sea charts and books about foreign countries. He diligently studied geography and mathematics, because these sciences are most needed by a sailor. Gulliver's father apprenticed him to a famous London doctor at that time. Gulliver studied with him for several years, but never stopped thinking about the sea. The medical profession was useful to him: after finishing his studies, he became a ship’s doctor on the ship “Swallow” and sailed on it for three and a half years. And then, after living in London for two years, he made several trips to East and West India. Gulliver was never bored while sailing. In his cabin he read books taken from home, and on the shore he looked closely at how other peoples lived, studied their language and customs. On the way back, he wrote down his road adventures in detail. And this time, going to sea, Gulliver took with him a thick notebook. On the first page of this book it was written: “On May 4, 1699, we weighed anchor at Bristol.”
2 The Antelope sailed for many weeks and months across the Southern Ocean. Fair winds were blowing. The trip was successful. But one day, while sailing to East India, the ship was overtaken by a storm. The wind and waves drove him somewhere unknown.
And in the hold the supply of food and fresh water was already running out. Twelve sailors died from fatigue and hunger. The rest could barely move their legs. The ship was tossed from side to side like a nutshell. One dark, stormy night, the wind carried the Antelope straight onto a sharp rock. The sailors noticed this too late. The ship hit the cliff and broke into pieces. Only Gulliver and five sailors managed to escape in the boat. They rushed around the sea for a long time and finally became completely exhausted. And the waves became bigger and bigger, and then the highest wave tossed and capsized the boat. Water covered Gulliver's head. When he surfaced, there was no one near him. All his companions drowned. Gulliver swam alone, aimlessly, driven by the wind and tide. Every now and then he tried to feel the bottom, but there was still no bottom. But he could no longer swim: his wet caftan and heavy, swollen shoes pulled him down. He was choking and choking. And suddenly his feet touched solid ground. It was a sandbank. Gulliver carefully stepped along the sandy bottom once or twice - and slowly walked forward, trying not to stumble. The walking became easier and easier. At first the water reached his shoulders, then his waist, then only his knees. He already thought that the shore was very close, but the bottom in this place was very sloping, and Gulliver had to wander knee-deep in water for a long time. Finally the water and sand were left behind. Gulliver came out onto a lawn covered with very soft and very short grass. He sank to the ground, put his hand under his cheek and fell fast asleep.
3 When Gulliver woke up, it was already quite light. He was lying on his back, and the sun was shining directly in his face. He wanted to rub his eyes, but could not raise his hand; I wanted to sit down, but could not move. Thin ropes entangled his entire body from his armpits to his knees; arms and legs were tightly tied with a rope net; strings wrapped around each finger. Even Gulliver's long thick hair was tightly wound around small pegs driven into the ground and intertwined with ropes.
Gulliver looked like a fish caught in a net. “That’s right, I’m still sleeping,” he thought. Suddenly something living quickly climbed up his leg, reached his chest and stopped at his chin. Gulliver squinted one eye. What a miracle! There is a little man standing almost under his nose - a tiny one, but a real little man! He has a bow and arrow in his hands and a quiver behind his back. And he himself is only three fingers tall. Following the first little man, another four dozen of the same little shooters climbed onto Gulliver. Gulliver screamed loudly in surprise. The little people rushed about and ran in all directions. As they ran, they stumbled and fell, then jumped up and one after another jumped to the ground. For two or three minutes no one else approached Gulliver. Only under his ear there was a noise all the time, similar to the chirping of grasshoppers. But soon the little men became brave again and again began to climb up his legs, arms and shoulders, and the bravest of them crept up to Gulliver’s face, touched his chin with a spear and shouted in a thin but distinct voice: “Gekina degul!” - Gekina degul! Gekina degul! - picked up thin voices from all sides. But Gulliver did not understand what these words meant, although he knew many foreign languages. Gulliver lay on his back for a long time. His arms and legs were completely numb. He gathered his strength and tried to lift his left hand off the ground. Finally he succeeded. He pulled out the pegs, around which hundreds of thin, strong ropes were wound, and raised his hand. At that same moment, someone squeaked loudly: “Only the flashlight!” Hundreds of arrows pierced Gulliver’s hand, face, and neck at once. The men's arrows were thin and sharp, like needles. Gulliver closed his eyes and decided to lie still until night came. “It will be easier to free myself in the dark,” he thought. But he didn’t have to wait for the night on the lawn. Not far from his right ear, a frequent, fractional knocking sound was heard, as if someone nearby was hammering nails into a board. The hammers knocked for an hour.
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Found in: Jonathan Swift, Stories with Pictures
Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels
Publisher to reader
The author of these travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is an old and dear friend of mine; he is also related to me on my mother’s side. About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver, who was tired of the crowd of curious people who visited him at Redreef, bought a small piece of land with a comfortable house near Newark in Nottinghamshire, in his native land, where he now lives in solitude, but respected by his neighbors.
Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father lived, I heard from him that his ancestors came from Oxford County. To ascertain this, I examined the cemetery at Banbury in this county and found in it several graves and monuments of Gullivers.
Before leaving Redrif, Mr. Gulliver gave me the following manuscript for safekeeping, leaving me to dispose of it as I pleased. I read it carefully three times. The style turned out to be very smooth and simple, I found only one flaw in it: the author, following the usual manner of travelers, is too detailed. The whole work undoubtedly breathes truth, and how could it be otherwise if the author himself was known for such truthfulness that among his neighbors in Redrif there was even a saying when it happened to say something: it is as true as if he had said it Mr Gulliver.
On the advice of several respected persons, to whom I, with the consent of the author, gave this manuscript to look at, I decide to publish it, in the hope that, at least for some time, it will serve as a more entertaining entertainment for our young nobles than the usual scribbling of paper by politicians and party hacks.
This book would have been at least twice as voluminous if I had not taken the liberty of throwing out countless pages devoted to winds, tides, magnetic declinations and compass readings on various journeys, as well as detailed descriptions of nautical jargon for ship maneuvers during a storm. I did the same with longitudes and latitudes. I am afraid that Mr. Gulliver will remain somewhat dissatisfied with this, but I have made it my goal to make his work as accessible as possible to the general reader. If, thanks to my ignorance in maritime affairs, I made any mistakes, then the responsibility for them falls entirely on me; however, if there is a traveler who would like to get acquainted with the work in its entirety, as it came from the pen of the author, then I will gladly satisfy his curiosity.
The reader will find further details concerning the author on the first pages of this book.
Richard Simpson
Letter from Captain Gulliver to his relative Richard Simpson
You will not, I hope, refuse to admit publicly, whenever it is suggested to you, that by your persistent and frequent requests you have persuaded me to publish a very careless and inaccurate account of my travels, advising me to hire several young people from some university to bring my manuscript into print. order and corrections of the syllable, as my relative Dampier did, on my advice, with his book “A Journey Around the World”[1]. But I don’t remember giving you the right to agree to any omissions, much less any insertions. Therefore, as regards the latter, I hereby renounce them completely, especially the insertion concerning the blessed and glorious memory of Her Majesty the late Queen Anne, although I respected and valued her more than any other representative of the human race[2]. After all, you, or the one who did this, should have taken into account that it was unusual for me, and it was indecent, to praise any animal of our breed in front of my master Houyhnhnm. In addition, the very fact is completely incorrect, as far as I know (during Her Majesty’s reign I lived for some time in England), she ruled through the mediation of the first minister, even two successively: first the first minister was Lord Godolphin, and then Lord Oxford[3]. So you made me say something that didn't happen. Likewise, in the story of the Academy of Projectors and in some parts of my speech to my master Houyhnhnm, you either omitted some essential circumstances, or softened and changed them in such a way that I can hardly recognize my own work. When I hinted to you about this in one of my previous letters, you were pleased to answer that you were afraid of causing an insult, that those in power very vigilantly monitor the press and are ready not only to interpret in their own way everything that seems to them a hint (so , I remember, you put it), but even to be punished for it[4]. But allow me, how can what I said so many years ago, at a distance of five thousand miles from here, in another state, be applied to any of the Yahoos who are now said to manage our flock, especially at the time when I I didn’t think or fear at all that I would have the misfortune of living under their rule[5]. Do I not have enough reason to lament the sight of these same Yahoos riding around on Houyhnhnms, as if they were rational beings and the Houyhnhnms were senseless creatures? And in fact, the main reason for my removal here was the desire to escape such a monstrous and disgusting spectacle.
This is what I considered it my duty to tell you about your actions and the trust I placed in you.
Then I have to regret my own great mistake, expressed in the fact that I succumbed to the requests and unfounded arguments of both you and others, and, contrary to my own conviction, agreed to the publication of my Travels. Kindly remember how many times I asked you, when you insisted on publishing Travels in the interests of the public good, to take into account that Yahoos are a breed of animals completely incapable of correction by instruction or example. After all, that’s what happened. For six months now my book has served as a warning, and I not only do not see that it has put an end to all kinds of abuses and vices, at least on our small island, as I had reason to expect, but I have not heard that it has produced at least one action that matches my intentions. I asked you to notify me by letter when party feuds and intrigues cease, the judges become enlightened and fair, the attorneys become honest, moderate and acquire at least a drop of common sense, Smithsfield[6] is illuminated by the flames of the pyramids of the assembly of laws, the system of educating noble youth will radically change, doctors will be expelled, female Yahoos will be adorned with virtue, honor, truthfulness and common sense, palaces and ministerial reception rooms will be thoroughly cleaned and swept, intelligence, merit and knowledge will be rewarded, everyone who disgraces the printed word in prose or verse will be condemned to eat only paper and quench your thirst with ink. I firmly counted on these and a thousand other transformations, listening to your persuasion, because they directly followed from the instructions taught in my book. And it must be admitted that seven months is a sufficient period to get rid of all the vices and follies to which Yahoos are subject, if only they had the slightest disposition towards virtue and wisdom. However, there was no answer to these expectations in your letters; on the contrary, every week you burdened our letter carrier with lampoons, keys, reflections, remarks and second parts[7]; from them I see that I am accused of defaming dignitaries, of humiliating human nature (for the authors still have the audacity to call it that) and of insulting the female sex. At the same time, I find that the authors of this rubbish did not even come to an understanding with each other: some of them do not want to recognize me as the author of my “Travels,” while others attribute to me books to which I have absolutely nothing to do.
