Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5
by Charles Herbert Sylvester · English · Gutenberg #11250 · 707,849 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5
Author: Charles Herbert Sylvester
Release date: February 1, 2004 [eBook #11250]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11250
Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Andy Jewell and PG Distributed Proofreaders
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNEYS THROUGH BOOKLAND, VOL. 5 ***
[Illustration: HE TURNED HIS FACE AND KISSED
HER CLIMBING
_Geraint and Enid_]
JOURNEYS THROUGH BOOKLAND
A NEW AND ORIGINAL
PLAN FOR READING APPLIED TO THE
WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE
FOR CHILDREN
_BY_
CHARLES H. SYLVESTER
_Author of English and American Literature_
VOLUME FIVE
_New Edition_
[Illustration]
1922
CONTENTS
JONATHAN SWIFT.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS _Jonathan Swift_
THE BALLAD OF AGINCOURT _Michael Drayton_
SOME CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF THE PAST _Grace E Sellon_
LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT _Cardinal Veuman_
LET SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID _James Whitcomb Riley_
POLONIUS' ADVICE _Shakespeare_
KING ARTHUR
BALIN AND BALAN
GERAINT AND ENID _Alfred Tennyson_
THE HOLY GRAIL _Adapted from Thomas Malory_
DISSENSIONS AT KING ARTHUR'S COURT
THE PASSING OF ARTHUR _Alfred Tennyson_
HENRY HUDSON'S FOURTH VOYAGE _Henry R Cleveland_
THE RISE OF ROBERT BRUCE _Walter Scott_
BRUCE AND THE SPIDER _Bernard Arton_
THE HEART OF BRUCE _William E Aytoun_
THE SKELETON IN ARMOR _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_
HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX
_Robert Browning_
REMINISCENCES OF A PIONEER _Edwin D. Coe_
THE BUCCANEERS
CAPTAIN MORGAN AT MARACAIBO
BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT _Benjamin Franklin_
READING HISTORY
THE AMERICAN FLAG _Joseph Rodman Drake_
BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC _Julia Ward Howe_
"STONEWALL" JACKSON'S WAY _J.W. Palmer_
BARON MUNCHAUSEN
THE FIDDLING PARSON _Davy Crockett_
WE PLAN A RIVER TRIP _Jerome K Jerome_
ON COMIC SONGS _Jerome K Jerome_
THE INCHCAPE ROCK _Robert Southey_
TOM BROWN AT RUBGY _Thomas Hughes_
PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES
The Classification of Selections, see General Index at end of Volume X
ILLUSTRATIONS
HE TURN'D HIS FACE AND KISS'D HER CLIMBING (Color Plate)
_Donn P Crane_
JONATHAN SWIFT (Halftone)
GULLIVER'S JOURNEY TO THE METROPOLIS _Iris Weddell White_
THE EMPEROR VISITS GULLIVER _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER AND THE PISTOL (Color Plate) _G H Mitchell_
GULLIVER'S WATCH IS BORNE AWAY _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER ER TAKES THE ENEMY'S FLEET _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER BRINGS IN THE DRIFTING BOAT _Harry L Gage_
THE BABY SEIZES GULLIVER _Iris Weddell White_
A GALE WITH THEIR FANS _Iris Weddell White_
GULLIVER AND THE KING _Iris Weddell White_
"VICTOR I WILL REMAIN" _R F Babcock_
CHILDREN WITH HORNBOOKS _Laura K Deal_
ARTHUR DRAWS THE SWORD _Jessie Arms_
KING ARTHUR (Halftone)
THE WEDDING OF ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE _Jessie Arms_
MERLIN SAVES ARTHUR _Donn P Crane_
ARTHUR RECEIVES EXCALIBUR _Donn P Crane_
THE DAMSEL LET FALL HER MANTLE _Donn P Crane_
THE LIGHT _Donn P Crane_
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (Halftone)
GERAINT HEARS ENID SINGING _Donn P Crane_
ENID LEADS THE WAY _Donn P Crane_
ENID WATCHING BY GERAINT _Donn P Crane_
SIR GALAHAD _Jessie Arms_
THE SHIP APPROACHES THE CITY OF SARRAS _Jessie Arms_
THE LAST APPEARANCE OF THE SANGREAI _Donn P Crane_
THE BARGE MOVED FROM THE BRINK _Donn P Crane_
CUT ADRIFT IN HUDSON'S BAY _R F Babcock_
SAVAGES ON THE SHORE _R F Babcock_
BRUCE KILLS COMYN _Donn P Crane_
SHE BROUGHT HER TWO SONS _Donn P Crane_
THE ASCENT TO THE CASTLE OF EDINBURGH _Donn P Crane_
BRUCE SLAYS SIR HENRY DE BOHUN _Donn P Crane_
BRUCE BEHELD A SPIDER _Donn P Crane_
I SAW A PILGRIM STAND _Donn P Crane_
HELD THE HEART ALOFT _Donn P Crane_
I WAS A VIKING OLD _R F Babcock_
THREE WEEKS WE WESTWARD BORE _R F Babcock_
I CAST LOOSE MY BUFF COAT _Donn P Crane_
HALF A DOZEN INDIANS BOLTED IN _R F Babcock_
HE FISHED OUT AN OLD BUNGTOWN CENT _R F Babcock_
CHASING THE GEESE TO GET A NEW QUILL _R F Babcock_
THE FIRE SHIP GRAPPLED THE SPANIARD _Everett E Lowry_
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (Halftone)
ON THE MARCH _Everett E Lowry_
THE AMBUSH _Everett E Lowry_
"STONEWALL" JACKSON (Halftone)
THE LION HAD JUMPED INTO THE CROCODILE'S MOUTH
_Donn P Crane_
I BEHELD A NOBLE STAG _Donn P Crane_
THE HIND PART OF THE POOR CREATURE WAS MISSING
_Donn P Crane_
WARRIORS OF THE MOON _Donn P Crane_
WE DESCENDED SAFELY ON A MOUNTAIN OF ICE _Donn P Crane_
THE PARSON FIDDLED _Donn P Crane_
"AIN'T YOU GOING TO PUT THE BOOK IN" _Herbert N Rudeen_
"WHEN I WAS YOUNG" _Herbert N Rudeen_
ONE DREADFUL SOUND HE SEEMED TO HEAR _R F Babcock_
RUGBY SCHOOL (Color Plate)
THE BULLY CAUGHT IT ON HIS ELBOW _Louis Grell_
"A FIGHT!" _Louis Grell_
TOM SITS ON MARTIN'S KNEE _Louis Grell_
JONATHAN SWIFT
The father of Jonathan Swift was a Dublin lawyer who died just as he was
beginning what might have been a profitable career, and before his only
son was born. The widow was left with so little money that when her son
was born in November, 1667, she was not able to take care of him. Her
brother-in-law undertook to provide for mother and child.
He procured a nurse who became so attached to her little charge that
when she received a small sum of money from a relative in England and
was compelled to go to that country, she stole the baby and took him
with her across the channel. It was more than three years before
Jonathan was brought back to Dublin, but he had been tenderly cared for,
and though but five years of age had been taught to spell and to read in
the Bible.
A year later he was sent to a good school, where he made rapid progress.
However, he could not have been always studious, for visitors to the
school are still shown a desk in which his name is deeply cut.
He was fourteen years old when he entered the University of Dublin,
where his record was not a very satisfactory one. When it came time for
him to graduate, his standing was too poor for him to take his degree,
but after some delay it was given him "by special favor," a term then
used in Dublin to show that a candidate did not pass in his
examinations.
After this, Swift remained three years at the University under the
pretense of studying, but he was chiefly notorious for his connection
with a gang of wild and disobedient students who were often under
censure of the faculty for their irregularities. For one offense Swift
was severely censured and compelled upon his knees to beg pardon of the
dean. This punishment he did not forgive, and long afterward he wrote
bitter things about Dr. Allen, the dean.
Yet while indulging in these follies, Swift learned to write well and
became noted for a peculiar satirical style that afterward made him much
feared by the government.
When the uncle who had first supported Swift had died, a second uncle
and his son took up the burden. At one time this cousin sent Swift quite
a large sum of money, a fact which seemed to change the nature of the
wild young spendthrift, who thereafter remained economical; in fact, he
became niggardly in his saving.
Swift's second degree from the University was earned creditably, and he
was much pleased with the praise and respect with which he was received.
This was owing to two years of diligent study which he spent at the home
of Sir William Temple, a leading statesman of the time and a distant
relative by marriage of Swift's mother.
Discouraged by his fruitless attempt to enter public life, he began to
study for the ministry, and, ultimately, he received a church
appointment, of which he wearied after a short experience.
Until 1710, he led a varied life, sometimes dependent upon his
relatives, and at others making his way in various political positions.
From the date above he was embroiled in heated political controversies
in which his bitter writings made him feared even by his friends and
fiercely hated by his enemies. But he steadily rose in power and
influence, and when his party triumphed he was rewarded for his
political services by being appointed dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral
in Ireland.
His appointment was exceedingly unpopular, even in Ireland, for few
believed him at all suited for a position in the church, much less for
one so high and important. On the day he was installed, some bitter
verses, of which the following are three, were found posted on the door
of the cathedral:
To-day this temple gets a dean,
Of parts and fame uncommon;
Used both to pray and to profane,
To serve both God and Mammon.
* * * * *
This place he got by wit and rhyme,
And many ways most odd;
And might a bishop be in time,
Did he believe in God.
* * * * *
And now when'er his deanship dies,
Upon his tomb be graven--
A man of God here buried lies,
Who never thought of heaven.
Unfortunately there was too much truth in the charges against Swift's
character, and his career, in spite of his genius, is a pitiful one. He
was admired for his wit and brilliancy, and courted by the noble and
powerful, but he was never able to gratify his ambitions, though he did
secure many devoted friends. From his disappointments he became moody,
bitter and discontented. This state of mind, together with other causes,
finally broke his health, destroyed his mind and left him but the sad
wreck of a brilliant manhood, and an old age of helpless imbecility.
Such a life has little that is attractive for anyone, but it does show
us that even a brilliant intellect cannot save a man who persistently
neglects to guard his character, and that fame does not always bring
happiness.
But Swift was by no means all bad, and his great services to Ireland are
still deservedly recognized by that devoted people. He really laid the
foundation for their prosperity and may be said to have created
constitutional liberty for them.
It is, however, as a wit and a writer that Swift is now chiefly famous.
Many are the stories told of his readiness in repartee, his bright
sallies in conversation, and of his skill in quick and caustic rhyming.
It is said that one day, when traveling in the south of Ireland, he
stopped to give his horse water at a brook which crossed the road; a
gentleman of the neighborhood halted for the same purpose, and saluted
him, a courtesy which was politely returned. They parted, but the
gentleman, struck by the dean's figure, sent his servant to inquire who
the man was. The messenger rode up to the dean and said, "Please, sir,
master would be obliged if you would tell him who you are."
"Willingly," replied the dean. "Tell your master I am the person that
bowed to him when we were giving our horses water at the brook yonder."
[Illustration: JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745]
Swift's interests lay rather with the common people than with the Irish
aristocracy, who, he thought, were arrant "grafters." Of one in
particular he said,
"So great was his bounty--
He erected a bridge--at the expense of the county."
The last thing Swift wrote was an epigram. It was in almost the final
lucid interval between periods of insanity that he was riding in the
park with his physician. As they drove along, Swift saw, for the first
time, a building that had recently been put up.
"What is that?" he inquired.
"That," said the physician, "is the new magazine in which are stored
arms and powder for the defence of the city."
"Oh!" said the dean, pulling out his notebook. "Let me take an item of
that; this is worth remarking: 'My tablets!' as Hamlet says, 'my
tablets! Memory put down that.'" Then he scribbled the following lines,
the last he ever penned:
"Behold a proof of Irish sense!
Here Irish wit is seen!
When nothing's left that's worth defence,
We build a magazine."
With the exception of _Gulliver's Travels_, very
little that Dean Swift wrote is now read by anyone
but students.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
INTRODUCTION
Gulliver's Travels was published in 1726 and without any allusion to the
real author, though many knew that the work must have come from the pen
of Dean Swift. Though the dean was habitually secretive in what he did,
he had some reason for not wishing to say in public that he had written
so bitter a satire on the government and on mankind.
The work was immediately popular, not only in the British Isles but on
the Continent as well. No such form of political satire had ever
appeared, and everyone was excited over its possibilities. Not all parts
of the work were considered equally good; some parts were thought to be
failures, and the Fourth Voyage was as a whole deservedly unpopular. The
Voyages to Lilliput and to Brobdingnag were considered the best, and to
them is to be attributed the greater part of the author's fame. Their
popularity continues with the years.
Lemuel Gulliver is represented as a British sailor who had been educated
as a doctor but whose wandering instincts led him back to the sea. On
his return from his voyages he writes the account of his adventures; and
the manner in which this account is written is so masterly that we
almost believe the things he tells.
In describing the manners, customs, and governments of the several
countries, he shows in his inimitable way the weakness of his king,
prince, nobles, government and mankind in general.
While the scholar and the man of affairs may still be interested in the
political significance of what is said and in a study of the keen
knowledge of human nature shown by the writer, yet it is principally as
a story that the work is now popular. Everybody enjoys reading about the
wonderful people who existed only in the imagination of the great dean
of Saint Patrick's.
In this volume are printed some of the most enjoyable parts of the first
and second voyages. About the only changes from the original text are in
the omission of those passages which contribute nothing to the narrative
or which for other reasons it seems inadvisable to reprint. These
omissions put the real fictitious narrative into so small a compass that
children will be entertained from beginning to end.
The _Voyage to Lilliput_ was directed against the policy of the English
Court during the reign of George I. The real differences between the
parties were trifling; not more, to Swift's idea, than that between
_High-heels_ and _Low-heels_ in the court of Lilliput; and the
controversies between the churches were not greater than those between
the _Big-endians_ and the _Little-endians._ As the Prince of Wales was
thought to favor a union of parties, he was typified in the
heir-apparent of Lilliput who wore one shoe with a high heel and one
with a low heel. This explanation will give an idea of the nature of
Swift's milder satire.
The _Voyage to Brobdingnag_ advocates the principles then held by the
Tory party in England and attacks those of the Whigs.
The _Voyage to Laputa_, from which we give no selections, was not
generally understood and hence was not popular. Its chief purpose was to
ridicule the proceedings of the Royal Society, but Swift was not well
enough acquainted with music and some of the other sciences fostered by
the Society to attack them to advantage.
The _Voyage to the Houyhnhnms_ was a bitter screed against mankind,
and is in many respects disgusting. It showed Swift's venom against the
world and something of the approach of the malady which finally hurried
him into insanity.
The following selections are somewhat condensed from the original story,
chiefly by the omission of passages of no interest to people of to-day.
ADVENTURES IN LILLIPUT
_I. The Arrival_
We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage at first was very
prosperous.
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the
particulars of our adventures; let it suffice to inform him, that, in
our passage to the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the
northwest of Van Diemen's Land.[1] By an observation we found ourselves
in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were
dead by immoderate labor and ill food; the rest were in a very weak
condition.
[Footnote 1: _Van Diemen's Land_ is the old name for Tasmania, an
island off the coast of Australia.]
On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer in those
parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half
a cable's length of the ship; but the wind was so strong that we were
driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom
I was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get
clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation, about three
leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already spent with
labor while we were in the ship. We, therefore, trusted ourselves to the
mercy of the waves; and in about half an hour the boat was overset by a
sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat,
as well as those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, I
cannot tell, but conclude they were all lost.
For my own part, I swam as Fortune directed me, and was pushed forward
by wind and tide. I often let my legs drop, and could feel no bottom;
but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found
myself within my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The
declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the
shore, which I conjectured was about eight o'clock in the evening. I
then advanced forward near half a mile, but could not discover any sign
of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition that I
did not observe them. I was extremely tired; and with that, and the heat
of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I left
the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the
grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I
remember to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, above nine hours;
for when I awaked it was just daylight.
I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir; for as I happened to lie
on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side
to the ground, and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the
same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures across my body,
from my armpits to my thighs. I could only look upward; the sun began to
grow hot, and the light offended mine eyes. I heard a confused noise
about me, but, in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky.
In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which,
advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin;
when, bending mine eyes downward as much as I could, I perceived it to
be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his
hands, and a quiver at his back. In the meantime, I felt at least forty
more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in
the utmost astonishment, and roared so loud that they all ran back in a
fright; and some of them, as I was afterward told, were hurt with the
falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they
soon returned; and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full
sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration,
cried out, in a shrill but distinct voice, "Hekinah degul." The others
repeated the same words several times; but I then knew not what they
meant. I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great
uneasiness.
At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the
strings and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground;
for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had
taken to bind me, and, at the same time, with a violent pull, which gave
me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down my
hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two
inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize
them; whereupon there was a great shout, in a very shrill accent, and,
after it ceased, I heard one of them cry aloud, "Tolgo phonac"; when, in
an instant, I felt above an hundred arrows discharged on my left hand,
which pricked me like so many needles; and, besides, they shot another
flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe; whereof many, I suppose,
fell on my body (though I felt them not), and some on my face, which I
immediately covered with my left hand.
When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a-groaning with grief and
pain; and then, striving again to get loose, they discharged another
volley, larger than the first, and some of them attempted, with spears,
to stick me in the sides; but, by good luck, I had on me a buff[2]
jerkin, which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent
method to lie still; and my design was to continue so till night, when,
my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for
the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the
greatest armies they could bring against me, if they were all of the
same size with him that I saw.
[Footnote 2: _Buff_ is the name given to a kind of leather, made
originally of buffalo hide, but later of the skins of other animals]
But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was
quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew
their numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my
right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at
work; when, turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings
would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the
ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three
ladders to mount it; from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person
of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one
syllable.
But I should have mentioned that, before the principal person began his
oration, he cried out three times, "Langro dehul san" (these words and
the former were afterward repeated and explained to me); whereupon,
immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings
that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of
turning it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture of him
that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than
any of the other three who attended him; whereof one was a page, that
held up his train, and seemed to be somewhat longer than my middle
finger; the other two stood one on each side to support him. He acted
every part of an orator; and I could observe many periods of
threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness.
I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up
my left hand and both mine eyes to the sun, as calling him for a
witness: and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a
morsel for some hours before I left the ship, I found the demands of
nature so strong upon me that I could not forbear showing my impatience
(perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger
frequently on my mouth, to signify that I wanted food.
The _hurgo_ (for so they call a great lord, as I afterward learned)
understood me very well. He descended from the stage, and commanded that
several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which above an hundred
of the inhabitants mounted, and walked toward my mouth, laden with
baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither by the
king's orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me. I observed
there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them
by the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those
of mutton, and very well dressed but smaller than the wings of a lark. I
eat them by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time,
about the bigness of musket-bullets. They supplied me as fast as they
could, showing a thousand marks of wonder and astonishment at my bulk
and appetite.
I then made another sign, that I wanted drink. They found by my eating
that a small quantity would not suffice me; and, being a most ingenious
people, they slung up, with great dexterity, one of their largest
hogsheads, then rolled it toward my hand, and beat out the top. I drank
it off at a draught, which I might well do, for it did not hold half a
pint, and tasted like a small wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious.
They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner, and
made signs for more; but they had none to give me.
When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced
upon my breast, repeating several times, as they did at first, "Hekinah
degul." They made me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads,
but first warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying
aloud, "Borach mivolah"; and when they saw the vessels in the air there
was an universal shout of "Hekinah degul."
I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backward and
forward on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in my
reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what I
had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the
promise of honor I made them--for so I interpreted my submissive
behavior--soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now considered
myself as bound by the laws of hospitality to a people who had treated
me with so much expense and magnificence. However, in my thoughts I
could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive
mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk upon my body, while one of
my hands was at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so
prodigious a creature as I must appear to them.
After some time, when they observed that I made no more demands for
meat, there appeared before me a person of high rank from his imperial
majesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of my right leg,
advanced forward up to my face, with about a dozen of his retinue; and
producing his credentials, under the signet-royal, which he applied
close to mine eyes, spoke about ten minutes without any signs of anger,
but with a kind of determinate resolution; often pointing forward;
which, as I afterward found, was toward the capital city, about half a
mile distant, whither it was agreed by his majesty in council that I
must be conveyed.
I answered in few words, but to no purpose, and made a sign with my
hand that was loose, putting it to the other (but over his excellency's
head, for fear of hurting him or his train), and then to my own head and
body, to signify that I desired my liberty.
It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by
way of disapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I
must be carried as a prisoner. However, he made other signs, to let me
understand that I should have meat and drink enough, and very good
treatment. Whereupon, I once more thought of attempting to break my
bonds; but again, when I felt the smart of their arrows upon my face and
hands, which were all in blisters, and many of the darts still sticking
in them, and observing likewise that the number of my enemies increased,
I gave tokens to let them know that they might do with me what they
pleased.
Upon this, the _hurgo_ and his train withdrew, with much civility
and cheerful countenances. Soon after, I heard a general shout, with
frequent repetitions of the words "Peplom selan," and I felt great
numbers of the people on my left side, relaxing the cords to such a
degree that I was able to turn upon my right. But before this they had
daubed my face and both my hands with a sort of ointment, very pleasant
to the smell, which, in a few minutes, removed all the smart of their
arrows. These circumstances, added to the refreshment I had received by
their victuals and drink, which were very nourishing, disposed me to
sleep. I slept about eight hours, as I was afterward assured; and it was
no wonder, for the physicians, by the emperor's order, had mingled a
sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine.
It seems that upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the
ground, after my landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an
express, and determined in council that I should be tied in the manner I
have related (which was done in the night, while I slept), that plenty
of meat and drink should be sent to me, and a machine prepared to carry
me to the capital city.
This resolution, perhaps, may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am
confident would not be imitated by any prince in Europe, on the like
occasion. However, in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as
generous; for supposing these people had endeavored to kill me with
their spears and arrows while I was asleep, I should certainly have
awaked with the first sense of smart, which might so far have roused my
rage and strength as to have enabled me to break the strings wherewith I
was tied; after which, as they were not able to make resistance, so they
could expect no mercy.
[Illustration: GULLIVER'S JOURNEY TO THE METROPOLIS]
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great
perfection in mechanics, by the countenance and encouragement of the
emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning. This prince has several
machines fixed on wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great
weights. He often builds his largest men-of-war, whereof some are nine
feet long, in the woods where the timber grows, and has them carried on
these engines, three or four hundred yards, to the sea.
Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately set at work to
prepare the greatest engine they had. It was a frame of wood raised
three inches from the ground, about seven feet long, and four wide,
moving upon twenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the arrival of
this engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It
was brought parallel to me as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to
raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high,
were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of
pack-thread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which the workmen
had girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of
the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys
fastened on the poles; and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised
and slung into the engine, and there tied fast. All this I was told;
for, while the whole operation was performing, I lay in a profound
sleep, by the force of that soporiferous medicine infused into my
liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses, each about four
inches and a half high, were employed to draw me toward the metropolis,
which, as I said, was half a mile distant. About four hours after we
began our journey, I awaked by a very ridiculous accident; for the
carriage being stopped awhile to adjust something that was out of order,
two or three of the young natives had the curiosity to see how I looked
when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine, and advancing very
softly to my face, one of them, an officer in the guards, put the sharp
end of his half-pike a good way up into my nostril, which tickled my
nose like a straw, and made me sneeze violently; whereupon they stole
off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew the cause of my
awaking so suddenly.
We made a long march the remaining part of that day,[3] and rested at
night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with torches,
and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I should offer to
stir. The next morning at sunrise we continued our march, and arrived
within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor and
all his court came out to meet us, but his great officers would by no
means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body.
[Footnote 3: Notice the skill with which Swift adjusts all things to his
tiny Lilliputians. The half-mile journey would have been but a few
minutes' walk for Gulliver, but the six-inch men and the
four-and-one-half-inch horses spent almost a day and a half in covering
the distance.]
At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancient temple,
esteemed to be the largest in the whole kingdom; which, having been
polluted some years before by an unnatural murder, was, according to the
zeal of those people, looked on as profane, and therefore had been
applied to common use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away.
In this edifice it was determined I should lodge. The great gate
fronting to the north was about four foot high, and about two foot wide,
through which I could easily creep. On each side of the gate was a small
window, not above six inches from the ground: into that on the left side
the king's smiths conveyed fourscore and eleven chains, like those that
hang to a lady's watch in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked
to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks.
Over against this temple, on t'other side of the great highway, at
twenty foot distance, there was a turret at least five foot high. Here
the emperor ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to have an
opportunity of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see them. It
was reckoned that above an hundred thousand inhabitants came out of the
town upon the same errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there
could not be fewer than ten thousand at several times, who mounted upon
my body by the help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued to
forbid it upon pain of death.
When the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose they cut
all the strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a
disposition as ever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of
the people, at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The
chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not
only the liberty of walking backward and forward in a semicircle, but,
being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in and
lie at my full length in the temple.
_II. Imprisonment_
When I found myself on my feet I looked about me, and must confess I
never beheld a more entertaining prospect. The country round appeared
like a continued garden, and the enclosed fields, which were generally
forty foot square, resembled so many beds of flowers. These fields were
intermingled with woods of half a stang,[4] and the tallest trees, as I
could judge, appeared to be seven foot high. I viewed the town on my
left hand, which looked like the painted scene of a city in a theater.
The emperor was already descended from the tower, and advancing on
horseback toward me, which had like to have cost him dear, for the
beast, though very well trained, yet wholly unused to such a sight,
which appeared as if a mountain moved before him, reared up on his
hinder feet; but that prince, who is an excellent horseman, kept his
seat till his attendants ran in and held the bridle while his majesty
had time to dismount.
[Footnote 4: _Stang_ is an old name for a pole, or perch, sixteen
and one-half feet.]
When he alighted he surveyed me round with great admiration, but kept
beyond the length of my chain. He ordered his cooks and butlers, who
were already prepared, to give me victuals and drink, which they pushed
forward in sorts of vehicles upon wheels till I could reach them. I took
these vehicles, and soon emptied them all; twenty of them were filled
with meat, and ten with liquor; each of the former afforded me two or
three good mouthfuls, and I emptied the liquor of ten vessels, which was
contained in earthen vials, into one vehicle, drinking it off at a
draught. The empress and young princes of the blood, of both sexes,
attended by many ladies, sat at some distance in their chairs, but upon
the accident that happened to the emperor's horse they alighted and came
near his person, which I am now going to describe.
He is taller, by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court,
which is alone enough to strike an awe into the beholders. His features
are strong and masculine, with an Austrian lip and arched nose; his
complexion olive, his countenance erect, his body and limbs well
proportioned, all his motions graceful, and his deportment majestic. He
was then past his prime, being twenty-eight years and three-quarters
old,[5] of which he had reigned about seven in great felicity, and
generally victorious. For the better convenience of beholding him I lay
on my side, so that my face was parallel to his, and he stood but three
yards off; however, I have had him since many times in my hand, and
therefore cannot be deceived in the description. His dress was very
plain and simple, and the fashion of it between the Asiatic and the
European; but he had on his head a light helmet of gold, adorned with
jewels, and a plume on the crest. He held his sword drawn in his hand to
defend himself if I should happen to break loose; it was almost three
inches long, the hilt and scabbard were gold enriched with diamonds. His
voice was shrill, but very clear and articulate, and I could distinctly
hear it when I stood up.
[Footnote 5: Swift uses his reducing imagination even on the time,
perceiving that it would not seem natural for his tiny manikins to have
as long lives as the "man mountain" on which they gazed with such
wonder.]
[Illustration: THE EMPEROR VISITS GULLIVER]
The ladies and courtiers were all most magnificently clad, so that the
spot they stood upon seemed to resemble a petticoat spread on the ground
embroidered with figures of gold and silver.
His imperial majesty spoke often to me, and I returned answers, but
neither of us could understand a syllable. There were several of his
priests and lawyers present (as I conjectured by their habit), who were
commanded to address themselves to me, and I spoke to them in as many
languages as I had the least smattering of, which were High and Low
Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca,[6] but all to
no purpose.
[Footnote 6: _Lingua Franca_ was the name given to a mixed dialect
used in some parts of the Mediterranean coasts as means of communication
between people of different nationalities. It consisted largely of
corrupted Italian words.]
After about two hours the court retired, and I was left with a strong
guard to prevent the impertinence and probably the malice of the rabble,
who were very impatient to crowd about me as near as they durst, and
some of them had the impudence to shoot their arrows at me as I sat on
the ground by the door of my house, whereof one very narrowly missed my
left eye. But the colonel ordered six of the ringleaders to be seized,
and thought no punishment so proper as to deliver them bound into my
hands, which some of his soldiers accordingly did, pushing them forward
with the butt ends of their pikes into my reach. I took them all in my
right hand, put five of them into my coat pocket, and as to the sixth, I
made a countenance as if I would eat him alive. The poor man squalled
terribly, and the colonel and his officers were in much pain, especially
when they saw me take out my penknife; but I soon put them out of fear,
for looking mildly, and immediately cutting the strings he was bound
with, I set him gently on the ground, and away he ran. I treated the
rest in the same manner, taking them one by one out of my pocket, and I
observed both the soldiers and people were highly delighted at this mark
of my clemency, which was represented very much to my advantage at
court.
Toward night I got with some difficulty into my house, where I lay on
the ground, and continued to do so about a fortnight, during which time
the emperor gave orders to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds
of the common measure were brought in carriages, and worked up in my
house; an hundred and fifty of their beds sewn together made up the
breadth and length, and these were four double, which, however, kept me
but very indifferently from the hardness of the floor, that was of
smooth stone. By the same computation they provided me with sheets,
blankets, and coverlets, tolerable enough for one who had been so long
inured to hardships as I.
In the meantime the emperor held frequent councils, to debate what
course should be taken with me; and I was afterward assured by a
particular friend, a person of great quality, who was looked upon to be
as much in the secret as any, that the court was under many difficulties
concerning me. They apprehended my breaking loose; that my diet would be
very expensive, and might cause a famine. Sometimes they determined to
starve me, or at least to shoot me in the face and hands with poisoned
arrows, which would soon despatch me.
In the midst of these consultations, several officers of the army went
to the door of the great council-chamber, and two of them, being
admitted, gave an account of my behavior to the six criminals above
mentioned, which made so favorable an impression in the breast of his
majesty and the whole board in my behalf, that an imperial commission
was issued out obliging all the villages nine hundred yards round the
city to deliver in every morning six beeves, forty sheep, and other
victuals for my sustenance; together with a proportionable quantity of
bread, and wine, and other liquors; for the payment of which his majesty
gave orders upon his treasury. An establishment was also made of six
hundred persons to be my domestics, who had board wages allowed for
their maintenance, and tents built for them, very conveniently on each
side of my door. It was likewise ordered that three hundred tailors
should make me a suit of clothes, after the fashion of the country; that
six of his majesty's greatest scholars should be employed to instruct me
in their language; and, lastly, that the emperor's horses, and those of
the nobility, and troops of guard, should be frequently exercised in my
sight, to accustom themselves to me.
All these orders were duly put in execution; and in about three weeks I
made a great progress in learning their language; during which time the
emperor frequently honored me with his visits, and was pleased to assist
my masters in teaching me. We began already to converse together in some
sort: and the first words I learned were to express my desire that he
would please to give me my liberty; which I every day repeated on my
knees. His answer, as I could apprehend it, was, that this must be a
work of time, not to be thought on without the advice of his council,
and that first I must swear a peace with him and his kingdom. However,
that I should be used with all kindness. And he advised me to acquire,
by my patience and discreet behavior, the good opinion of himself and
his subjects.
He desired I would not take it ill, if he gave orders to certain proper
officers to search me; for probably I might carry about me several
weapons, which must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk
of so prodigious a person. I said his majesty should be satisfied; for I
was ready to strip myself, and turn up my pockets before him. This, I
delivered part in words and part in signs.
He replied, that by the laws of the kingdom, I must be searched by two
of his officers; that he knew this could not be done without my consent
and assistance; that he had so good an opinion of my generosity and
justice as to trust their persons in my hands; that whatever they took
from me should be returned when I left the country, or paid for at the
rate which I would set upon them.
I took up the two officers in my hands, put them first into my coat
pockets, and then into every other pocket about me, except my two
fobs,[7] and another secret pocket I had no mind should be searched,
wherein I had some little necessaries that were of no consequence to any
but myself. In one of my fobs there was a silver watch, and in the other
a small quantity of gold in a purse.
[Footnote 7: In England this word means not the ribbon or guard which
hangs from a watch, but the small pocket in the waistband of the
trousers, in which the watch is carried.]
These gentlemen, having pen, ink, and paper about them, made an exact
inventory of everything they saw; and when they had done desired I would
set them down, that they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory
I afterwards translated into English, and is word for word as follows:
"_Imprimis_[8] in the right coat pocket of the great man-mountain
(for so I interpret the words _quinbus flestrin), after the
strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse cloth, large
enough to be a footcloth for your majesty's chief room of state.
[Footnote 8: _Imprimis_ is a word from the Latin, and means _in the
first place._]
"In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the same
metal, which we, the searchers, were not able to lift. We desired it
should be opened, and one of us, stepping into it, found himself up to
the mid-leg in a sort of dust, some part whereof, flying up to our
faces, set us both a-sneezing for several times together.
"In his right waistcoat pocket we found a prodigious bundle of white,
thin substances, folded one over another, about the bigness of three
men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black figures, which we
humbly conceive to be writings, every letter almost half as large as the
palm of our hands.
"In the left there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were
extended twenty long poles, resembling the palisadoes before your
majesty's court; wherewith we conjecture the man-mountain combs his
head; for we did not always trouble him with questions, because we found
it a great difficulty to make him understand us.
"In the large pocket, on the right side of his middle cover (so I
translate the word _ranfu-lo,_ by which they meant my breeches), we saw
a hollow pillar of iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a strong
piece of timber larger than the pillar; and upon one side of the pillar
were huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into strange figures, which
we know not what to make of.
"In the left pocket, another engine of the same kind.
"In the smaller pocket, on the right side, were several round, flat
pieces of white and red metal, of different bulk; some of the white,
which seemed to be silver, were so large and heavy that my comrade and I
could hardly lift them.
"In the left pocket were two black pillars irregularly shaped; we could
not, without difficulty, reach the top of them, as we stood at the
bottom of his pocket. One of them was covered and seemed all of a piece;
but at the upper end of the other there appeared a white, round
substance, about twice the bigness of our heads. Within each of these
was enclosed a prodigious plate of steel; which, by our orders, we
obliged him to show us, because we apprehended they might be dangerous
engines. He took them out of their cases, and told us that, in his own
country, his practice was to shave his beard with one of these, and to
cut his meat with the other.
"There were two pockets which we could not enter; these he called his
fobs; they were two large slits cut into the top of his middle cover,
but squeezed close by the pressure of his belly. Out of the right fob
hung a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the
bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at the end of that
chain, which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half of some
transparent metal; for, on the transparent side, we saw certain strange
figures circularly drawn, and thought we could touch them, till we found
our fingers stopped by that lucid substance. He put this engine to our
ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a water-mill: and we
conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god that he
worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he
assured us (if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very
imperfectly), that he seldom did anything without consulting it. He
called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action
of his life.
"From the left fob he took out a net, almost large enough for a
fisherman, but contrived to open and shut like a purse, and served him
for the same use: we found therein several massy pieces of yellow metal,
which, if they be real gold, must be of immense value.
"Having thus, in obedience to your majesty's commands, diligently
searched all his pockets, we observed a girdle about his waist, made of
the hide of some prodigious animal, from which, on the left side, hung a
sword of the length of five men; and on the right, a bag or pouch
divided into two cells, each cell capable of holding three of your
majesty's subjects. In one of these cells were several globes or balls,
of a most ponderous metal, about the bigness of our heads, and required
a strong hand to lift them; the other cell contained a heap of certain
black grains, but of no great bulk or weight, for we could hold above
fifty of them in the palms of our hands.
"This is an exact inventory of what we found about the body of the
man-mountain, who used us with great civility, and due respect to your
majesty's commission. Signed and sealed on the fourth day of the
eighty-ninth moon of your majesty's auspicious reign.
[Illustration: GULLIVER AND THE PISTOL]
"CLEFREN FRELOCK, MARSI FRELOCK."
When this inventory was read over to the emperor he directed me,
although in very gentle terms, to deliver up the several particulars. He
first called for my scimitar, which I took out, scabbard and all. In the
meantime he ordered three thousand of his choicest troops (who then
attended him) to surround me at a distance, with their bows and arrows
just ready to discharge; but I did not observe it, for mine eyes were
wholly fixed upon his majesty. He then desired me to draw my scimitar,
which, although it had got some rust by the sea-water, was in most parts
exceeding bright. I did so, and immediately all the troops gave a shout
between terror and surprise: for the sun shone clear, and the reflection
dazzled their eyes, as I waved the scimitar to and fro in my hand. His
majesty, who is a most magnanimous prince, was less daunted than I could
expect: he ordered me to return it into the scabbard, and cast it on,
the ground as gently as I could, about six foot from the end of my
chain.
The next thing he demanded was one of the hollow iron pillars: by which
he meant my pocket pistols. I drew it out, and at his desire, as well as
I could, expressed to him the use of it; and charging it only with
powder, which, by the closeness of my pouch, happened to escape wetting
in the sea (an inconvenience against which all prudent mariners take
special care to provide), I first cautioned the emperor not to be
afraid, and then I let it off in the air. The astonishment here was much
greater than at the sight of my scimitar. Hundreds fell down as if they
had been struck dead; and even the emperor, although he stood his
ground, could not recover himself in time. I delivered up both my
pistols in the same manner as I had done my scimitar, and then my pouch
of powder and bullets; begging him that the former might be kept from
the fire, for it would kindle with the smallest spark, and blow up his
imperial palace into the air.
[Illustration: GULLIVER'S WATCH IS BORNE AWAY.]
I likewise delivered up my watch, which the emperor was very curious to
see, and commanded two of his tallest yeomen of the guards to bear it on
a pole upon their shoulders, as draymen in England do a barrel of ale.
He was amazed at the continual noise it made, and the motion of the
minute-hand, which he could easily discern; for their sight is much more
acute than ours: and asked the opinions of his learned men about him,
which were various and remote, as the reader may well imagine without my
repeating; although, indeed, I could not perfectly understand them.
I then gave up my silver and copper money, my purse with nine large
pieces of gold and some smaller ones; my knife and razor, my comb and
silver snuffbox, my handkerchief, and journal-book. My scimitar,
pistols, and pouch were conveyed in carriages to his majesty's stores;
but the rest of my goods were returned to me.
I had, as I before observed, one private pocket, which escaped their
search, wherein there was a pair of spectacles (which I sometimes use
for the weakness of mine eyes), a pocket perspective,[9] and several
other little conveniences; which being of no consequence to the emperor,
I did not think myself bound in honor to discover, and I apprehended
they might be lost or spoiled if I ventured them out of my possession.
[Footnote 9: _Perspective_ is an old name for telescope]
About two or three days before I was set at liberty, there arrived an
express to inform his majesty that some of his subjects, riding near the
place where I was first taken up, had seen a great black substance lying
on the ground, very oddly shaped, extending its edges round, as wide as
his majesty's bedchamber, and rising up in the middle as high as a man;
that it was no living creature, as they at first apprehended, for it lay
on the grass without motion, and some of them had walked round it
several times; that, by mounting upon each other's shoulders, they had
got to the top, which was flat and even, and stamping upon it, they
found it was hollow within; that they humbly conceived it might be
something belonging to the man-mountain; and, if his majesty pleased,
they would undertake to bring it with only five horses.
I presently knew what they meant, and was glad at heart to receive this
intelligence. It seems, upon my first reaching the shore after our
shipwreck I was in such confusion that, before I came to the place where
I went to sleep, my hat, which I had fastened with a string to my head
while I was rowing, and which had stuck on all the time I was swimming,
fell off after I came to land; the string, as I conjecture, breaking by
some accident which I never observed, but thought my hat had been lost
at sea. I entreated his imperial majesty to give orders it might be
brought to me as soon as possible, describing to him the use and the
nature of it: and the next day the wagoners arrived with it, but not in
a very good condition; they had bored two holes in the brim, within an
inch and a half of the edge, and fastened two hooks in the holes; these
hooks were tied by a long cord to the harness, and thus my hat was
dragged along for above half an English mile; but the ground in that
country being extremely smooth and level, it received less damage than I
expected.[10]
[Footnote 10: Can you see any reason for introducing this long account
of the finding of Gulliver's hat? We have grown accustomed, in the pages
past, to thinking of the Lilliputians in contrast with Gulliver, but
does it not give us a new idea of their diminutive size to see them thus
contrasted with Gulliver's hat?]
_III. The War with Blefuscu_
I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty, that his
majesty at length mentioned the matter, first in the cabinet, and then
in a full council; where it was opposed by none except Skyresh Bolgolam,
who was pleased, without any provocation, to be my mortal enemy. But it
was carried against him by the whole board, and confirmed by the
emperor. That minister was _galbet_, or admiral of the realm, very
much in his master's confidence, and a person well versed in affairs,
but of a morose and sour complexion.[11] However, he was at length
persuaded to comply; but prevailed that the articles and conditions upon
which I should be set free, and to which I must swear, should be drawn
up by himself.
[Footnote 11: _Complexion_ here means disposition.]
These articles were brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in person,
attended by two under-secretaries and several persons of distinction.
After they were read, I was demanded to swear to the performance of
them; first in the manner of my own country, and afterward in the method
prescribed by their laws; which was, to hold my right foot in my left
hand, to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of my
head, and my thumb on the tip of my right ear.
I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and
content, although some of them were not so honorable as I could have
wished; which proceeded wholly from the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam, the
high admiral; whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was
at full liberty. The emperor himself in person did me the honor to be by
at the whole ceremony. I made my acknowledgments by prostrating myself
at his majesty's feet: but he commanded me to rise; and after many
gracious expressions, which, to avoid the censure of vanity I shall not
repeat, he added, that he hoped I should prove a useful servant, and
well deserve all the favors he had already conferred upon me, or might
do for the future.
One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my liberty,
Reldresal, principal secretary (as they style him) of private affairs,
came to my house, attended only by one servant. He ordered his coach to
wait at a distance, and desired I would give him an hour's audience;
which I readily consented to, on account of his quality and personal
merits, as well as of the many good offices he had done me during my
solicitations at court. I offered to lie down, that he might the more
conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather to let me hold him in my
hand during our conversation. He began with compliments on my liberty;
said he might pretend to some merit in it; but, however, added, that if
it had not been for the present situation of things at court perhaps I
might not have obtained it so soon.
"For," said he, "as flourishing a condition as we may appear to be in to
foreigners, we labor under two mighty evils; a violent faction at home,
and the danger of an invasion by a most potent enemy from abroad. As to
the first, you are to understand that for above seventy moons[12] past
there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under the names
_Tramecksan_ and _Slamecksan_, from the high and low heels of
their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves. It is alleged,
indeed, that the high heels are most agreeable to our ancient
constitution; but, however this be, his majesty hath determined to make
use of only low heels in the administration of the government, and all
offices in the gift of the crown, as you cannot but observe; and
particularly that his majesty's imperial heels are lower, at least by a
_drurr_, than any of his court (_drurr_ is a measure about the
fourteenth part of an inch). The animosities between these two parties
run so high that they will neither eat nor drink, nor talk with each
other. We compute the _Tramecksan_, or high heels, to exceed us in
number; but the power is wholly on our side. We apprehend his imperial
highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency toward the high
heels; at least we can plainly discover one of his heels higher than the
other, which gives him a hobble in his gait.
[Footnote 12: These little people measure time by _moons_ or
months, rather than by the longer division of years.]
"Now, in the midst of these intestine disquiets, we are threatened with
an invasion from the island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire
of the universe, almost as large and powerful as this of his majesty.
For, as to what we have heard you affirm, that there are other kingdoms
and states in the world, inhabited by human creatures as large as
yourself, our philosophers are in much doubt, and would rather
conjecture that you dropped from the moon or one of the stars; because
it is certain that an hundred mortals of your bulk would in a short time
destroy all the fruits and cattle of his majesty's dominions; besides,
our histories of six thousand moons make no mention of any other regions
than the two great empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu; which two mighty
powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most
obstinate war for thirty-six moons past. It began upon the following
occasion:
"It is allowed on all hands that the primitive way of breaking eggs,
before we eat them, was upon the larger end; but his present majesty's
grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking it
according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his fingers;
whereupon, the emperor, his father, published an edict, commanding all
his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their
eggs. The people so highly resented this law that our histories tell us
there have been six rebellions raised on that account; wherein one
emperor lost his life, and another his crown.
"These civil commotions were constantly fomented by the monarchs of
Blefuscu; and when they were quelled the exiles always fled for refuge
to that empire. It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at
several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at
the smaller end. Many hundred large volumes have been published upon
this controversy; but the books of the Big-endians have been long
forbidden, and the whole party rendered incapable by law of holding
employments. During the course of these troubles, the emperors of
Blefuscu did frequently expostulate by their ambassadors, accusing us of
making a schism in religion by offending against a fundamental doctrine
of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the
Blundecral (which is their Alcoran)[13]. This, however, is thought to be
a mere strain upon the text; for the words are these: that all true
believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end. And which is the
convenient end seems, in my humble opinion, to be left to every man's
conscience, or at least in the power of the chief magistrate to
determine.
[Footnote 13: The Alcoran, or, as it is more commonly called, the Koran,
is the Mohammedan Bible.]
"Now, the Big-endian exiles have found so much credit in the emperor of
Blefuscu's court, and so much private assistance and encouragement from
their party here at home, that a bloody war hath been carried on between
the two empires for thirty-six moons with various success; during which
time we have lost forty capital ships, and a much greater number of
smaller vessels, together with thirty thousand of our best seamen and
soldiers; and the damage received by the enemy is reckoned to be
somewhat greater than ours. However, they have now equipped a numerous
fleet, and are just preparing to make a descent upon us; and his
imperial majesty, placing great confidence in your valor and strength,
hath commanded me to lay this account of his affairs before you."
I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the emperor; and to
let him know that I thought it would not become me, who was a foreigner,
to interfere with parties; but I was ready, with the hazard of my life,
to defend his person and state against all invaders.
The empire of Blefuscu is an island, situated to the northeast of
Lilliput, from which it is parted only by a channel of eight hundred
yards wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon this notice of an intended
invasion I avoided appearing on that side of the coast, for fear of
being discovered by some of the enemy's ships, who had received no
intelligence of me; all intercourse between the two empires having been
strictly forbidden during the war, upon pain of death. I communicated to
his majesty a project I had formed, of seizing the enemy's whole fleet;
which, as our scouts assured us, lay at anchor in the harbor, ready to
sail with the first fair wind. I consulted the most experienced seamen
upon the depth of the channel, which they had often plumbed; who told me
that in the middle, at high-water, it was seventy _glumgluffs_
deep, which is about six foot of European measure; and the rest of it
fifty _glumgluffs_ at most.
I walked toward the northeast coast, over against Blefuscu, and, lying
down behind a hillock, took out my small pocket perspective glass, and
viewed the enemy's fleet at anchor, consisting of about fifty
men-of-war, and a great number of transports: I then came back to my
house, and gave order (for which I had a warrant) for a great quantity
of the strongest cable and bars of iron. The cable was about as thick as
packthread, and the bars of the length and size of a knitting-needle. I
trebled the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I twisted
three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into a hook.
Having thus fixed fifty hooks to as many cables, I went back to the
northeast coast, and, putting off my coat, shoes, and stockings, walked
into the sea, in my leathern jerkin, about half an hour before
high-water.
I waded with what haste I could, and swam in the middle, about thirty
yards, till I felt ground. I arrived at the fleet in less than half an
hour. The enemy was so frighted when they saw me that they leaped out of
their ships, and swam to shore, where there could not be fewer than
thirty thousand souls: I then took my tackling, and, fastening a hook to
the hole at the prow of each, I tied all the cords together at the end.
While I was thus employed the enemy discharged several thousand arrows,
many of which stuck in my hands and face; and, besides the excessive
smart, gave me much disturbance in my work. My greatest apprehension was
for mine eyes, which I should have infallibly lost, if I had not
suddenly thought of an expedient. I kept, among other little
necessaries, a pair of spectacles in a private pocket, which, as I
observed before, had escaped the emperor's searchers. These I took out,
and fastened as strongly as I could upon my nose, and, thus armed, went
on boldly with my work, in spite of the enemy's arrows, many of which
struck against the glasses of my spectacles, but without any other
effect further than a little to discompose them.
I had now fastened all the hooks, and, taking the knot in my hand, began
to pull; but not a ship would stir, for they were all too fast held by
their anchors, so that the bold part of my enterprise remained. I
therefore let go the cord, and, leaving the hooks fixed to the ships, I
resolutely cut with my knife the cables that fastened the anchors,
receiving about two hundred shots in my face and hands; then I took up
the knotted end of the cables, to which my hooks were tied, and with
great ease drew fifty of the enemy's largest men-of-war after me.
The Blefuscudians, who had not the least imagination of what I intended,
were at first confounded with astonishment. They had seen me cut the
cables, and thought my design was only to let the ships run adrift, or
fall foul on each other; but when they perceived the whole fleet moving
in order, and saw me pulling at the end, they set up such a scream of
grief and despair that it is almost impossible to describe or conceive.
When I had got out of danger I stopped a while to pick out the arrows
that stuck in my hands and face; and rubbed on some of the ointment that
was given me at my first arrival, as I have formerly mentioned. I then
took off my spectacles, and, waiting about an hour, till the tide was a
little fallen, I waded through the middle with my cargo, and arrived
safe at the royal port of Lilliput.
The emperor and his whole court stood on the shore, expecting the issue
of this great adventure. They saw the ships move forward in a large
half-moon, but could not discern me, who was up to my breast in water.
When I advanced to the middle of the channel they were yet more in pain,
because I was under water to my neck. The emperor concluded me to be
drowned, and that the enemy's fleet was approaching in a hostile manner:
but he was soon eased of his fears; for, the channel growing shallower
every step I made, I came in a short time within hearing, and, holding
up the end of the cable by which the fleet was fastened, I cried in a
loud voice, "Long live the most puissant Emperor of Lilliput!" This
great prince received me at my landing with all possible encomiums, and
created me a _nardac_ upon the spot, which is the highest title of
honor among them.
[Illustration: GULLIVER TAKES THE ENEMY'S FLEET]
His majesty desired I would take some other opportunity of bringing all
the rest of the enemy's ships into his ports. And so unmeasurable is the
ambition of princes, that he seemed to think of nothing else than
reducing the whole empire of Blefuscu into a province, and governing it
by a viceroy; of destroying the Big-endian exiles, and compelling that
people to break the smaller end of their eggs, by which he would remain
the sole monarch of the whole world. But I endeavored to divert him from
this design, by many arguments drawn from the topics of policy as well
as justice; and I plainly protested that I would never be an instrument
of bringing a free and brave people into slavery. And, when the matter
was debated in council, the wisest part of the ministry were of my
opinion.
This open, bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the schemes and
politics of his imperial majesty that he could never forgive it. He
mentioned it in a very artful manner at council, where I was told that
some of the wisest appeared at least, by their silence, to be of my
opinion; but others, who were my secret enemies, could not forbear some
expressions which, by a side-wind, reflected on me. And from this time
began an intrigue between his majesty and a junto of ministers,
maliciously bent against me, which broke out in less than two months,
and had like to have ended in my utter destruction. Of so little weight
are the greatest services to princes when put into the balance with a
refusal to gratify their passions.
About three weeks after this exploit there arrived a solemn embassy from
Blefuscu, with humble offers of a peace; which was soon concluded, upon
conditions very advantageous to our emperor, wherewith I shall not
trouble the reader.
_IV. The Escape and the Return_
Before I proceed to give an account of my leaving this kingdom, it may
be proper to inform the reader of a private intrigue which had been for
two months forming against me.
When I was just preparing to pay my attendance on the emperor of
Blefuscu, a considerable person at court (to whom I had been very
serviceable at a time when he lay under the highest displeasure of his
imperial majesty) came to my house very privately at night, in a close
chair, and, without sending his name, desired admittance. The chairmen
were dismissed; I put the chair, with his lordship in it, into my coat
pocket; and giving orders to a trusty servant to say I was indisposed
and gone to sleep, I fastened the door of my house, placed the chair on
the table, according to my usual custom, and sate down by it. After the
common salutations were over, observing his lordship's countenance full
of concern, and inquiring into the reason, he desired I would hear him
with patience, in a matter that highly concerned my honor and my life.
His speech was to the following effect, for I took notes of it as soon
as he left me:
"You are to know," said he, "that several committees of council have
been lately called, in the most private manner, on your account; and it
is but two days since his majesty came to a full resolution.
"You are very sensible that Skyresh Bolgolam (_galbet_, or high
admiral) hath been your mortal enemy almost ever since your arrival. His
original reasons I know not; but his hatred is much increased since your
great success against Blefuscu, by which his glory as admiral is
obscured. This lord, in conjunction with Flimnap the high treasurer,
Limtoc the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand
justiciary have prepared articles of impeachment against you, for
treason and other capital crimes.
"In three days your friend the secretary will be directed to come to
your house, and read before you the articles of impeachment; and then to
signify the great lenity and favor of his majesty and council, whereby
you are only condemned to the loss of your eyes, which his majesty doth
not question you will gratefully and humbly submit to; and twenty of his
majesty's surgeons will attend in order to see the operation well
performed, by discharging very sharp-pointed arrows into the balls of
your eyes, as you lie on the ground.
"I leave to your prudence what measures you will take; and, to avoid
suspicion, I must immediately return in as private a manner as I came."
His lordship did so; and I remained alone, under many doubts and
perplexities of mind.
I took the opportunity, before the three days were elapsed, to send a
letter to my friend the secretary, signifying my resolution of setting
out that morning for Blefuscu, pursuant to the leave I had got; and,
without waiting for an answer, I went to that side of the island where
our fleet lay. I seized a large man-of-war, tied a cable to the prow,
and, lifting up the anchors, I stripped myself, put my clothes (together
with my coverlet, which I brought under my arm) into the vessel, and,
drawing it after me, between wading and swimming, arrived at the royal
port of Blefuscu, where the people had long expected me: they lent me
two guides to direct me to the capital city, which is of the same name.
I held them in my hands till I came within two hundred yards of the
gate, and desired them to signify my arrival to one of the secretaries,
and let him know I there waited his majesty's command. I had an answer
in about an hour, that his majesty, attended by the royal family, and
great officers of the court, was coming out to receive me. I advanced a
hundred yards. The emperor and his train alighted from their horses; the
empress and ladies from their coaches; and I did not perceive they were
in any fright or concern. I lay on the ground to kiss his majesty's and
the empress' hand. I told his majesty that I was come, according to my
promise, and with the license of the emperor my master, to have the
honor of seeing so mighty a monarch, and to offer him any service in my
power, consistent with my duty to my own prince; not mentioning a word
of my disgrace, because I had hitherto no regular information of it, and
might suppose myself wholly ignorant of any such design; neither could I
reasonably conceive that the emperor would discover the secret while I
was out of his power.
Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the northeast
coast of the island, I observed, about half a league off in the sea,
somewhat that looked like a boat overturned. I pulled off my shoes and
stockings, and, wading two or three hundred yards, I found the object to
approach nearer by force of the tide; and then plainly saw it to be a
real boat, which I supposed might by some tempest have been driven from
a ship: whereupon I returned immediately toward the city, and desired
his imperial majesty to lend me twenty of the tallest vessels he had
left, after the loss of his fleet, and three thousand seamen under the
command of the vice-admiral.
This fleet sailed round, while I went back the shortest way to the
coast, where I first discovered the boat. I found the tide had driven it
still nearer. The seamen were all provided with cordage, which I had
beforehand twisted to a sufficient strength. When the ships came up, I
stripped myself, and waded till I came within an hundred yards of the
boat, after which I was forced to swim till I got up to it. The seamen
threw me the end of the cord, which I fastened to a hole in the fore
part of the boat, and the other end to a man-of-war, but I found all my
labor to little purpose; for, being out of my depth, I was not able to
work. In this necessity, I was forced to swim behind, and push the boat
forward, as often as I could, with one of my hands; and the tide
favoring me, I advanced so far that I could just hold up my chin and
feel the ground. I rested two or three minutes, and then gave the boat
another shove, and so on, till the sea was no higher than my armpits,
and now, the most laborious part being over, I took out my other cables,
which were stowed in one of the ships, and fastened them first to the
boat, and then to nine of the vessels which attended me; the wind being
favorable, the seamen towed and I shoved, till we arrived within forty
yards of the shore; and waiting till the tide was out, I got dry to the
boat, and, by the assistance of two thousand men, with ropes and
engines, I made a shift to turn it on its bottom, and found it was but
little damaged.
[Illustration: GULLIVER BRINGS IN THE DRIFTING BOAT]
I shall not trouble the reader with the difficulties I was under, by the
help of certain paddles, which cost me ten days' making, to get my boat
to the royal port of Blefuscu, where a mighty concourse of people
appeared upon my arrival, full of wonder at the sight of so prodigious a
vessel. I told the emperor that my good fortune had thrown this boat in
my way to carry me some place from whence I might return into my native
country; and begged his majesty's orders for getting materials to fit it
up, together with his license to depart; which, after some kind
expostulations, he was pleased to grant.
Five hundred workmen were employed to make two sails to my boat,
according to my directions, by quilting thirteen folds of their
strongest linen together. I was at the pains of making ropes and cables
by twisting ten, twenty or thirty of the thickest and strongest of
theirs. A great stone that I happened to find served me for an anchor. I
had the tallow of three hundred cows for greasing my boat, and other
uses. I was at incredible pains in cutting down some of the largest
timber-trees for oars and masts; wherein I was much assisted by his
majesty's ship carpenters, who helped me in smoothing them after I had
done the rough work.
In about a month, when all was prepared, I sent to receive his majesty's
commands, and to take my leave. The emperor and royal family came out of
the palace: I lay on my face to kiss his hand, which he very graciously
gave me: so did the empress and young princes of the blood. His majesty
presented me with fifty purses of two hundred _sprugs_ apiece,
together with his picture at full length, which I put immediately into
one of my gloves, to keep it from being hurt. The ceremonies at my
departure were too many to trouble the reader with at this time.
I stored the boat with the carcasses of an hundred oxen and three
hundred sheep, with bread and drink proportionable, and as much meat
ready dressed as four hundred cooks could provide. I took with me six
cows and two bulls alive, with as many ewes and rams, intending to carry
them into my own country, and propagate the breed. And, to feed them on
board, I had a good bundle of hay and a bag of corn. I would gladly have
taken a dozen of the natives, but this was a thing which the emperor
would by no means permit; and, besides a diligent search into my
pockets, his majesty engaged my honor not to carry away any of his
subjects, although with their own consent and desire.
Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able, I set sail on the
24th day of September, 1701, at six in the morning; and when I had gone
about four leagues to the northward, the wind being at southeast, at six
in the evening I descried a small island, about half a league to the
northwest. I advanced forward, and cast anchor on the lee-side of the
island, which seemed to be uninhabited. I then took some refreshment,
and went to my rest. I slept well, and I conjecture at least six hours,
for I found the day broke in two hours after I awaked. It was a clear
night. I eat my breakfast before the sun was up; and, heaving anchor,
the wind being favorable, I steered the same course that I had done the
day before, wherein I was directed by my pocket compass. My intention
was to reach, if possible, one of those islands which I had reason to
believe lay to the northeast of Van Diemen's Land.[14]
[Footnote 14: Australia is a short distance from Tasmania, or Van
Diemen's Land. There are no islands to the northeast for a long
distance.]
I discovered nothing all that day; but upon the next, about three in the
afternoon, when I had, by my computation, made twenty-four leagues from
Blefuscu, I described a sail steering to the southeast; my course was
due east. I hailed her, but could get no answer; yet I found I gained
upon her, for the wind slackened. I made all the sail I could, and in
half an hour she spied me, then hung out her ancient,[15] and discharged
a gun. It is not easy to express the joy I was in, upon the unexpected
hope of once more seeing my beloved country, and the dear pledges I left
in it. The ship slackened her sails, and I came up with her between five
and six in the evening, September 26; but my heart leaped within me to
see her English colors. I put my cows and sheep into my coat pockets,
and got on board with all my little cargo of provisions.
[Footnote 15: _Ancient_ is an old word for _ensign_.]
The vessel was an English merchantman, returning from Japan by the North
and South Seas; the captain, Mr. John Biddel of Deptford, a very civil
man and an excellent sailor. We were now in the latitude of thirty
degrees south; there were about fifty men in the ship; and I met an old
comrade of mine, one Peter Williams, who gave me a good character to the
captain. This gentleman treated me with kindness, and desired I would
let him know what place I came from last, and whither I was bound; which
I did in few words, but he thought I was raving, and that the dangers I
underwent had disturbed my head; whereupon I took my black cattle and
sheep out of my pocket, which, after great astonishment, clearly
convinced him of my veracity. I then showed him the gold given me by the
Emperor of Blefuscu, together with his majesty's picture at full length,
and some other rarities of that country. I gave him two purses of two
hundred _sprugs_ each, and promised, when we arrived in England, to
make him a present of a cow and a sheep.
I shall not trouble the reader with a particular account of this voyage,
which was very prosperous for the most part. We arrived in the Downs on
the 13th of April, 1702. I had only one misfortune, that the rats on
board carried away one of my sheep: I found her bones in a hole, picked
clean from the flesh. The rest of my cattle I got safe on shore, and set
them a-grazing in a bowling green at Greenwich, where the fineness of
the grass made them feed very heartily, though I had always feared the
contrary; neither could I possibly have preserved them in so long a
voyage, if the captain had not allowed me some of his best biscuit,
which, rubbed to powder and mingled with water, was their constant food.
The short time I continued in England, I made a considerable profit by
showing my cattle to many persons of quality and others; and before I
began my second voyage, I sold them for six hundred pounds. Since my
last return I find the breed is considerably increased, especially the
sheep, which I hope will prove much to the advantage of the woolen
manufacture, by the fineness of the fleeces.
ADVENTURES IN BROBDINGNAG
_I. Among the Giants_
Having been condemned, by nature and fortune, to an active and restless
life, in two months after my return I again left my native country, and
took shipping in the Downs, on the 20th day of June, 1702, in the
_Adventure_, Captain John Nicholas, a Cornishman, commander, bound
for Surat.
We had a very prosperous gale till we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope,
where we landed for fresh water; but discovering a leak, we unshipped
our goods and wintered there; for the captain falling sick of an ague,
we could not leave the Cape till the end of March. We then set sail, and
had a good voyage till we passed the Straits of Madagascar; but having
got northward of that island, and to about five degrees south latitude,
the winds, which in those seas are observed to blow a constant equal
gale between the north and west, from the beginning of December to the
beginning of May, on the 19th of April began to blow with much greater
violence, and more westerly than usual, continuing so for twenty days
together; during which time we were driven a little to the east of the
Molucca Islands,[16] and about three degrees northward of the line, as
our captain found by an observation he took the 2d of May, at which time
the wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm; whereat I was not a little
rejoiced. But he, being a man well experienced in the navigation of
those seas, bid us all prepare against a storm, which accordingly
happened the day following; for a southern wind, called the Southern
monsoon,[17] began to set in, and soon it was a very fierce storm.
[Footnote 16: They could not really have been driven to the east of the
Molucca Islands without passing Sumatra, Java, Borneo or other islands.]
[Footnote 17: _Monsoons_ are winds that blow part of the year in
one direction, and the rest of the year in the opposite direction.]
During this storm, which was followed by a strong wind west-southwest,
we were carried, by my computation, about five hundred leagues to the
east, so that the oldest sailor on board could not tell in what part of
the world we were. Our provisions held out well, our ship was staunch,
and our crew all in good health; but we lay in the utmost distress for
water. We thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than turn
more northerly, which might have brought us to the northwest parts of
Great Tartary, and into the Frozen Sea.
On the 16th day of June, 1703, a boy on the topmast discovered land. On
the 17th we came in full view of a great island, or continent (for we
knew not whether), on the south side whereof was a small neck of land
jutting out into the sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship of
above one hundred tons. We cast anchor within a league of this creek,
and our captain sent a dozen of his men well armed in the longboat, with
vessels for water, if any could be found. I desired his leave to go with
them, that I might see the country, and make what discoveries I could.
When we came to land we saw no river or spring, nor any sign of
inhabitants. Our men therefore wandered on the shore to find out some
fresh water near the sea, and I walked alone about a mile on the other
side, where I observed the country all barren and rocky. I now began to
be weary, and, seeing nothing to entertain my curiosity, I returned
gently down toward the creek; and the sea being full in my view, I saw
our men already got into the boat, and rowing for life to the ship.
I was going to halloo after them, although it had been to little
purpose, when I observed a huge creature walking after them in the sea,
as fast as he could; he waded not much deeper than his knees, and took
prodigious strides; but our men had got the start of him half a league,
and the sea thereabouts being full of sharp-pointed rocks, the monster
was not able to overtake the boat. This I was afterward told, for I
durst not stay to see the issue of that adventure; but ran as fast as I
could the way I first went, and then climbed up a steep hill, which gave
me some prospect of the country. I found it fully cultivated; but that
which first surprised me was the length of the grass, which in those
grounds that seemed to be kept for hay was above twenty foot high.
I fell into a highroad, for so I took it to be, though it served to the
inhabitants only as a footpath through a field of barley. Here I walked
on for some time, but could see little on either side, it being now near
harvest, and the corn rising at least forty foot. I was an hour walking
to the end of this field, which was fenced in with a hedge of at least
one hundred and twenty foot high, and the trees so lofty that I could
make no computation of their altitude. There was a stile to pass from
this field into the next. It had four steps, and a stone to cross over
when you came to the uppermost. It was impossible for me to climb this
stile, because every step was six foot high, and the upper stone above
twenty.
I was endeavoring to find some gap in the hedge, when I discovered one
of the inhabitants in the next field, advancing toward the stile, of the
same size with him whom I saw in the sea pursuing our boat. He appeared
as tall as an ordinary spire steeple, and took about ten yards at every
stride, as near as I could guess. I was struck with the utmost fear and
astonishment, and ran to hide myself in the corn, from whence I saw him
at the top of the stile, looking back into the next field on the right
hand, and heard him call in a voice many degrees louder than a
speaking-trumpet; but the noise was so high in the air that at first I
certainly thought it was thunder. Whereupon seven monsters, like
himself, came toward him with reaping hooks in their hands, each hook
about the largeness of six scythes. These people were not so well clad
as the first, whose servants or laborers they seemed to be; for, upon
some words he spoke, they went to reap the corn in the field where I
lay.
I kept from them at as great a distance as I could, but was forced to
move with extreme difficulty, for the stalks of the corn were sometimes
not above a foot distant, so that I could hardly squeeze my body betwixt
them. However, I made a shift to go forward till I came to a part of the
field where the corn had been laid by the rain and wind. Here it was
impossible for me to advance a step; for the stalks were so interwoven
that I could not creep through, and the beards of the fallen ears so
strong and pointed that they pierced through my clothes into my flesh.
At the same time I heard the reapers not above an hundred yards behind
me. Being quite dispirited with toil, and wholly overcome by grief and
despair, I lay down between two ridges, and heartily wished I might
there end my days. I bemoaned my desolate widow and fatherless children.
I lamented my own folly and willfulness in attempting a second voyage,
against the advice of all my friends and relations. In this terrible
agitation of mind I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose
inhabitants looked upon me as the greatest prodigy that ever appeared in
the world; where I was able to draw an imperial fleet in my hand, and
perform those other actions which will be recorded forever in the
chronicles of that empire, while posterity shall hardly believe them,
although attested by millions. I reflected what a mortification it must
prove to me to appear as inconsiderable in this nation as one single
Lilliputian would be among us. But this I conceived was to be the least
of my misfortunes; for, as human creatures are observed to be more
savage and cruel in proportion to their bulk, what could I expect but to
be a morsel in the mouth of the first among these enormous barbarians
that should happen to seize me? Undoubtedly philosophers are in the
right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than
by comparison. It might have pleased fortune to let the Lilliputians
find some nation, where the people were as diminutive with respect to
them as they were to me. And who knows but that even this prodigious
race of mortals might be equally overmatched in some distant part of the
world, whereof we have yet no discovery.
Scared and confounded as I was, I could not forbear going on with these
reflections, when one of the reapers, approaching within ten yards of
the ridge where I lay, made me apprehend that with the next step I
should be squashed to death under his foot, or cut in two with his
reaping-hook. And therefore when he was again about to move, I screamed
as loud as fear could make me; whereupon the huge creature trod short,
and, looking round about under him for some time, at last espied me as I
lay on the ground. He considered awhile, with the caution of one who
endeavors to lay hold on a small dangerous animal in such a manner that
it may not be able either to scratch or to bite him, as I myself have
sometimes done with a weasel in England.
At length he ventured to take me up behind, by the middle, between his
forefinger and thumb, and brought me within three yards of his eyes,
that he might behold my shape more perfectly. I guessed his meaning, and
my good fortune gave me so much presence of mind that I resolved not to
struggle in the least as he held me in the air above sixty foot from the
ground, although he grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should slip
through his fingers. All I ventured was to raise mine eyes toward the
sun, and place my hands together in a supplicating posture, and to speak
some words in an humble, melancholy tone, suitable to the condition I
then was in; for I apprehended every moment that he would dash me
against the ground, as we usually do any little hateful animal which we
have a mind to destroy. But my good star would have it that he appeared
pleased with my voice and gestures, and began to look upon me as a
curiosity, much wondering to hear me pronounce articulate words,
although he could not understand them. In the meantime I was not able to
forbear groaning and shedding tears, and turning my head toward my
sides; letting him know as well as I could how cruelly I was hurt by the
pressure of his thumb and finger. He seemed to apprehend my meaning;
for, lifting up the lappet of his coat, he put me gently into it, and
immediately ran along with me to his master, who was a substantial
farmer, and the same person I had first seen in the field.
The farmer having (as I supposed by their talk) received such an account
of me as his servant could give him, took a piece of a small straw,
about the size of a walking-staff, and therewith lifted up the lappets
of my coat; which, it seems, he thought to be some kind of covering that
nature had given me. He blew my hairs aside to take a better view of my
face. He called his hinds about him, and asked them, as I afterward
learned, whether they had ever seen in the fields any little creature
that resembled me. He then placed me softly on the ground upon all four,
but I got immediately up, and walked slowly backward and forward, to let
those people see I had no intent to run away.
They all sate down in a circle about me, the better to observe my
motions. I pulled off my hat, and made a low bow toward the farmer. I
fell on my knees, and lifted up my hands and eyes, and spoke several
words as loud as I could; I took a purse of gold out of my pocket, and
humbly presented it to him. He received it on the palm of his hand, then
applied it close to his eye to see what it was, and afterward turned it
several times with the point of a pin (which he took out of his sleeve),
but could make nothing of it. Whereupon I made a sign that he should
place his hand on the ground. I then took the purse, and opening it,
poured all the gold into his palm. There were six Spanish pieces of four
pistoles[18] each, besides twenty or thirty smaller coins. I saw him wet
the tip of his little finger upon his tongue, and take up one of my
largest pieces, and then another; but he seemed to be wholly ignorant
what they were. He made me a sign to put them again into my purse, and
the purse again into my pocket, which, after offering to him several
times, I thought it best to do.
[Footnote 18: A _pistole_ is equivalent to about four dollars.]
The farmer, by this time, was convinced I must be a rational creature.
He spoke often to me; but the sound of his voice pierced my ears like
that of a water-mill, yet his words were articulate enough. I answered
as loud as I could in several languages, and he often laid his ear
within two yards of me; but all in vain, for we were wholly
unintelligible to each other. He then sent his servants to their work,
and taking his handkerchief out of his pocket, he that I desired his son
might be pardoned. The father complied, and the lad took his seat again,
whereupon I went to him, and kissed his hand, which my master took, and
made him stroke me gently with it.
In the midst of dinner my mistress' favorite cat leaped into her lap. I
heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen stocking-weavers at work;
and turning my head I found it proceeded from the purring of this
animal, who seemed to be three times larger than an ox, as I computed by
the view of her head and one of her paws, while her mistress was feeding
and stroking her. The fierceness of this creature's countenance
altogether discomposed me though I stood at the further end of the
table, above fifty foot off; and although my mistress held her fast, for
fear she might give a spring, and seize me in her talons. But it
happened there was no danger; for the cat took not the least notice of
me when my master placed me within three yards of her. And, as I have
been always told, and found true by experience in my travels, that
flying or discovering fear before a fierce animal is a certain way to
make it pursue or attack you, so I resolved, in this dangerous juncture,
to show no manner of concern. I walked with intrepidity five or six
times before the very head of the cat, and came within half a yard of
her; whereupon she draw herself back, as if she were more afraid of me.
I had less apprehension concerning the dogs, whereof three or four came
into the room as it is usual in farmers' houses; one of which was a
mastiff, equal in bulk to four elephants, and a greyhound, somewhat
taller than the mastiff, but not so large.
When dinner was almost done the nurse came in with a child of a year old
in her arms, who immediately spied me, and began a squall that you might
have heard from London Bridge to Chelsea, after the usual oratory of
infants, to get me for a plaything.
The mother, out of pure indulgence, took me up, and put me toward the
child, who presently seized me by the middle and got my head in his
mouth, where I roared so loud that the urchin was frighted, and let me
drop, and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the mother had not
held her apron under me. The nurse, to quiet her babe, made use of a
rattle, which was a kind of hollow vessel filled with great stones, and
fastened by a cable to the child's waist.
The vast creatures are not deformed: for I must do them justice to say
they are a comely race of people; and particularly the features of my
master's countenance, although he was but a farmer, when I beheld him
from the height of sixty foot, appeared very well-proportioned.
When dinner was done my master went out to his laborers, and, as I could
discover by his voice and gesture, gave his wife a strict charge to take
care of me. I was very much tired, and disposed to sleep, which my
mistress perceiving she put me on her own bed, and covered me with a
clean white handkerchief, but larger and coarser than the mainsail of a
man-of-war.
I slept about two hours, and dreamed I was at home with my wife and
children, which aggravated my sorrows when I awaked and found myself
alone in a vast room, between two and three hundred foot wide, and above
two hundred high, lying in a bed twenty yards wide. My mistress was gone
about her household affairs, and had locked me in. The bed was eight
yards from the floor. I wished to get down, but durst not presume to
call; and if I had it would have been in vain, with such a voice as
mine, at so great a distance as from the room where I lay to the kitchen
where the family kept.
[Illustration: THE BABY SEIZED GULLIVER]
While I was under these circumstances two rats crept up the curtains,
and ran smelling backward and forward on the bed. One of them came up
almost to my face, whereupon I rose in a fright, and drew out my
hanger[19] to defend myself. These horrible animals had the boldness to
attack me on both sides, and one of them held his forefeet at my collar;
but I had the good fortune to rip up his belly before he could do me any
mischief. He fell down at my feet; and the other, seeing the fate of his
comrade, made his escape, but not without one good wound on the back,
which I gave him as he fled, and made the blood run trickling from him.
After this exploit I walked gently to and fro on the bed, to recover my
breath and loss of spirits. These creatures were of the size of a large
mastiff, but infinitely more nimble and fierce; so that, if I had taken
off my belt before I went to sleep, I must have infallibly been torn to
pieces and devoured. I measured the tail of the dead rat, and found it
to be two yards long, wanting an inch; but it went against my stomach to
drag the carcass off the bed, where it lay still bleeding; I observed it
had yet some life, but with a strong slash across the neck I thoroughly
despatched it.[20]
[Footnote 19: _Hanger_ is the name given to a kind of short, broad
sword which was formerly carried.]
[Footnote 20: Gulliver told how, as he was returning from Lilliput, an
ordinary rat carried off a Lilliputian sheep; here he tells of rats
large enough to kill and eat a man. It is by such violent contrasts as
these that Swift impresses on us the difference in size between the
Lilliputians and the giants.]
Soon after my mistress came into the room, who, seeing me all bloody,
ran and took me up in her hand. I pointed to the dead rat, smiling, and
making other signs to show I was not hurt; whereat she was extremely
rejoiced, calling the maid to take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs,
and throw it out of the window. Then she set me on a table, where I
showed her my hanger all bloody, and wiping it on the lappet of my coat,
returned it to the scabbard.
I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these and the
like particulars, which, however insignificant they may appear to
groveling vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge
his thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as
well as private life, which was my sole design in presenting this and
other accounts of my travels to the world; wherein I have been chiefly
studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments of learning or of
style. But the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression
on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my memory, that, in committing it
to paper, I did not omit one material circumstance: however, upon a
strict review, I blotted out several passages of less moment, which were
in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious and trifling,
whereof travelers are often, perhaps not without justice, accused.
My mistress had a daughter of nine years old, a child of towardly parts
for her age, very dexterous at her needle, and skillful in dressing her
baby.[21] Her mother and she contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for
me against night; the cradle was put into a small drawer of a cabinet,
and the drawer placed upon a hanging shelf for fear of the rats. This
was my bed all the time I stayed with those people, though made more
convenient by degrees, as I began to learn their language, and make my
wants known. She made me seven shirts and some other linen, of as fine
cloth as could be got, which indeed was coarser than sackcloth; and
these she constantly washed for me with her own hands. She was likewise
my schoolmistress, to teach me the language; when I pointed to anything
she told me the name of it in her own tongue, so that in a few days I
was able to call for whatever I had a mind to. She was very
good-natured, and not above forty foot high, being little for her age. I
called her my _Glumdalclitch,_ or little nurse, and I should be guilty
of great ingratitude if I omitted this honorable mention of her care and
affection toward me, which I heartily wish it lay in my power to requite
as she deserves.
[Footnote 21: That is, her doll.]
A most ingenious artist, according to my directions, in three weeks
finished for me a wooden chamber, of sixteen foot square, and twelve
high, with sash windows, a door, and two closets, like a London
bedchamber. The board that made the ceiling was to be lifted up and down
by two hinges, to put in a bed, ready furnished by her majesty's
upholsterer, which Glumdalclitch took out every day to air, made it with
her own hands, and letting it down at night, locked up the roof over me.
A workman, who was famous for little curiosities, undertook to make me
two chairs, with backs and frames, of a substance not unlike ivory, and
two tables, with a cabinet to put my things in. The room was quilted on
all sides, as well as the floor and the ceiling, to prevent any accident
from the carelessness of those who carried me, and to break the force of
a jolt when I went in a coach. I desired a lock for my door, to prevent
rats and mice from coming in. The smith made the smallest that ever was
seen among them, for I have known a larger at the gate of a gentleman's
house in England. I made a shift to keep the key in a pocket of my own,
fearing Glumdalclitch might lose it.
_III. Adventures at the Royal Court_
I should have lived happily enough in that country if my littleness had
not exposed me to several ridiculous and troublesome accidents; some of
which I shall venture to relate. Glumdalclitch often carried me into the
gardens of the court in a smaller box, and would sometimes take me out
of it, and hold me in her hand, or set me down to walk. I remember the
queen's dwarf followed us one day into those gardens, and my nurse
having set me down, he and I being close together, near some dwarf apple
trees, I must needs show my wit, by a silly allusion between him and the
trees, which happens to hold in their language as it does in ours.
Whereupon, the malicious rogue, watching his opportunity when I was
walking under one of them, shook it directly over my head, by which a
dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came
tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to
stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face; but I received no other
hurt, and the dwarf was pardoned at my desire, because I had given the
provocation.
Another day Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grassplot to divert
myself, while she walked at some distance with her governess. In the
meantime there suddenly fell such a violent shower of hail that I was
immediately, by the force of it, struck to the ground; and when I was
down the hailstones gave me such cruel bangs all over the body, as if I
had been pelted with tennis balls; however, I made a shift to creep on
all four, and shelter myself, by lying flat on my face, on the lee-side
of a border of lemon-thyme; but so bruised from head to foot that I
could not go abroad in ten days. Neither is this at all to be wondered
at, because nature in that country, observing the same proportion
through all her operations, a hailstone is near eighteen hundred times
as large as one in Europe; which I can assert upon experience, having
been so curious as to weigh and measure them.
But a more dangerous accident happened to me in the same garden, where
my little nurse, believing she had put me in a secure place (which I
often entreated her to do, that I might enjoy my own thoughts), and
having left my box at home to avoid the trouble of carrying it, went to
another part of the gardens, with her governess and some ladies of her
acquaintance. While she was absent, and out of hearing, a small white
spaniel, belonging to one of the chief gardeners, having got by accident
into the garden, happened to range near the place where I lay; the dog
following the scent came directly up, and taking me in his mouth, ran
straight to his master, wagging his tail, and set me gently on the
ground. By good fortune he had been so well taught that I was carried
between his teeth without the least hurt, or even tearing my clothes.
But the poor gardener, who knew me well, and had a great kindness for
me, was in a terrible fright; he gently took me up in both his hands,
and asked me how I did, but I was so amazed and out of breath that I
could not speak a word. In a few minutes I came to myself, and he
carried me safe to my little nurse, who by this time had returned to the
place where she left me, and was in cruel agonies when I did not appear
nor answer when she called. She severely reprimanded the gardener on
account of his dog.
This accident absolutely determined Glumdalclitch never to trust me
abroad for the future out of her sight. I had been long afraid of this
resolution, and therefore concealed from her some little unlucky
adventures that happened in those times when I was left by myself. Once
a kite hovering over the garden made a stoop at me, and if I had not
resolutely drawn my hanger, and run under a thick espalier, he would
have certainly carried me away in his talons.
Another time, walking to the top of a fresh molehill, I fell to my neck
in the hole through which that animal had cast up the earth, and coined
some lie, not worth remembering, to excuse myself for spoiling my
clothes. I likewise broke my right shin against the shell of a snail,
which I happened to stumble over, as I was walking alone, and thinking
on poor England.
I cannot tell whether I were more pleased or mortified to observe, in
those solitary walks, that the smaller birds did not appear to be at all
afraid of me, but would hop about within a yard distance, looking for
worms and other food, with as much indifference and security as if no
creature at all were near them. I remember, a thrush had the confidence
to snatch out of my hand, with his bill, a piece of cake that
Glumdalclitch had just given me for my breakfast. When I attempted to
catch any of these birds they would boldly turn against me, endeavoring
to peck my fingers, which I durst not venture within their reach; and
then they would turn back unconcerned, to hunt for worms or snails, as
they did before. But one day I took a thick cudgel, and threw it with
all my strength so luckily at a linnet that I knocked him down, and
seizing him by the neck with both my hands, ran with him in triumph to
my nurse. However, the bird, who had only been stunned, recovering
himself, gave me so many boxes with his wings on both sides of my head
and body, though I held him at arm's length, and was out of the reach of
his claws, that I was twenty times thinking to let him go. But I was
soon relieved by one of our servants, who wrung off the bird's neck, and
I had him next day for dinner. This linnet, as near as I can remember,
seemed to be somewhat larger than an English swan.
The queen, who often used to hear me talk of my sea voyages, and took
all occasions to divert me when I was melancholy, asked me whether I
understood how to handle a sail or an oar, and whether a little exercise
of rowing might not be convenient for my health. I answered that I
understood both very well; for although my proper employment had been to
be surgeon or doctor to the ship, yet often upon a pinch I was forced to
work like a common mariner. But I could not see how this could be done
in their country, where the smallest wherry was equal to a first-rate
man-of-war among us; and such a boat as I could manage would never live
in any of their rivers. Her majesty said, if I would contrive a boat,
her own joiner should make it, and she would provide a place for me to
sail in. The fellow was an ingenious workman, and by my instructions, in
ten days finished a pleasure-boat, with all its tackling, able
conveniently to hold eight Europeans. When it was finished the queen was
so delighted that she ran with it in her lap to the king, who ordered it
to be put into a cistern full of water, with me in it, by way of trial,
where I could not manage my two sculls, or little oars, for want of
room.
But the queen had before contrived another project. She ordered the
joiner to make a wooden trough of three hundred foot long, fifty broad,
and eight deep; which, being well pitched, to prevent leaking, was
placed on the floor, along the wall, in an outer room of the palace. It
had a cock near the bottom to let out the water, when it began to grow
stale; and two servants could easily fill it in half an hour. Here I
often used to row for my own diversion, as well as that of the queen and
her ladies, who thought themselves well entertained with my skill and
agility. Sometimes I would put up my sails, and then my business was
only to steer, while the ladies gave me a gale with their fans; and,
when they were weary, some of their pages would blow my sail forward
with their breath, while I showed my art by steering starboard or
larboard as I pleased. When I had done, Glumdalclitch always carried
back my boat into her closet, and hung it on a nail to dry.
One time, one of the servants, whose office it was to fill my trough
every third day with fresh water, was so careless as to let a huge frog
(not perceiving it) slip out of his pail. The frog lay concealed till I
was put into my boat, but then, seeing a resting place, climbed up, and
made it lean so much on one side that I was forced to balance it with
all my weight on the other, to prevent overturning. When the frog was
got in it hopped at once half the length of the boat; and then over my
head, backward and forward, daubing my face and clothes with odious
slime. The largeness of its features made it appear the most deformed
animal that can be conceived. However, I desired Glumdalclitch to let me
deal with it alone. I banged it a good while with one of my sculls, and
at last forced it to leap out of the boat.
[Illustration: A GALE WITH THEIR FANS]
But the greatest danger I ever underwent in that kingdom was from a
monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of the kitchen. Glumdalclitch
had locked me up in her closet, while she went somewhere upon business
or a visit. The weather being very warm, the closet window was left
open, as well as the windows and the door of my bigger box, in which I
usually lived, because of its largeness and conveniency. As I sat
quietly meditating at my table I heard Something bounce in at the closet
window, and skip about from one side to the other: whereat, although I
was much alarmed, yet I ventured to look out, but not stirring from my
seat; and then I saw this frolicsome animal frisking and leaping up and
down, till at last he came to my box, which he seemed to view with great
pleasure and curiosity, peeping in at the door and every window. I
retreated to the further corner of my room or box; but the monkey,
looking in at every side, put me into such a fright that I wanted
presence of mind to conceal myself under the bed, as I might easily have
done. After some time spent in peeping, grinning, and chattering, he at
last espied me; and, reaching one of his paws in at the door, as a cat
does when she plays with a mouse, although I often shifted place to
avoid him, he at length caught hold of the lappet of my coat (which,
being made of that country cloth, was very thick and strong), and
dragged me out. He took me up in his right forefoot, and held me, just
as I have seen the same sort of creature do with a kitten in Europe; and
when I offered to struggle he squeezed me so hard that I thought it more
prudent to submit. I have good reason to believe that he took me for a
young one of his own species, by his often stroking my face very gently
with his other paw. In these diversions he was interrupted by a noise at
the closet door, as if somebody were opening it, whereupon he suddenly
leaped up to the window at which he had come in, and thence upon the
leads and gutters, walking upon three legs, and holding me in the
fourth, till he clambered up to a roof that was next to ours. I heard
Glumdalclitch give a shriek at the moment he was carrying me out. The
poor girl was almost distracted; that quarter of the palace was all in
an uproar; the servants ran for ladders; the monkey was seen by hundreds
in the court sitting upon the ridge of a building, holding me like a
baby in one of his forepaws, and feeding me with the other, by cramming
into my mouth some victuals he had squeezed out of the bag on one side
of his chaps, and patting me when I would not eat; whereat the rabble
below could not forbear laughing; neither do I think they justly ought
to be blamed, for without question the sight was ridiculous enough to
everybody but myself.
Some of the people threw up stones, hoping to drive the monkey down; but
this was strictly forbidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been
dashed out.
The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several men, which the
monkey observing, and finding himself almost encompassed, not being able
to make speed enough with his three legs, let me drop on a ridge tile,
and made his escape. Here I sat for some time, three hundred yards from
the ground, expecting every moment to be blown down by the wind, or to
fall by my own giddiness, and come tumbling over and over from the ridge
to the eaves; but an honest lad, one of my nurse's footmen, climbed up,
and, putting me into his breeches pocket, brought me down safe.
I was so weak and bruised in the sides by the squeezes given me by this
odious animal that I was forced to keep my bed a fortnight. The king,
queen, and all the court, sent every day to inquire after my health; and
her majesty made me several visits during my sickness. The monkey was
killed, and an order made that no such animal should be kept about the
palace.
When I attended the king after my recovery, to return him thanks for his
favors, he was pleased to rally me a good deal upon this adventure. He
asked me what my thoughts and speculations were while I lay in the
monkey's paw; how I liked the victuals he gave me; his manner of
feeding; and whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach.
He desired to know what I would have done upon such an occasion in my
own country.
I told his majesty that in Europe we had no monkeys, except such as were
brought for curiosities from other places, and so small that I could
deal with a dozen of them together, if they presumed to attack me. And
as for that monstrous animal with whom I was so lately engaged (it was
indeed as large as an elephant), if my fear had suffered me to think so
far as to make use of my hanger (looking fiercely, and clapping my hand
upon the hilt as I spoke), when he poked his paw into my chamber,
perhaps I should have given him such a wound as would have made him glad
to withdraw it with more haste than he put it in. This I delivered in a
firm tone, like a person who was jealous lest his courage should be
called in question. However, my speech produced nothing else besides a
loud laughter, which all the respect due to his majesty from those about
him could not make them contain. This made me reflect how vain an
attempt it is for a man to endeavor doing himself honor among those who
are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him. And yet I have
seen the moral of my own behavior very frequent in England since my
return; where a little, contemptible varlet, without the least title to
birth, person, wit, or common sense, shall presume to look with
importance, and put himself upon a foot with the greatest persons of the
kingdom.[22]
[Footnote 22: Gulliver's hatred of mankind betrays him, even in the
midst of his mildest satire, into such sharp, biting remarks as
this.]
[Illustration: GULLIVER AND THE KING]
_IV. A Wonderful Escape_
I had always a strong impulse that I should some time recover my
liberty, though it was impossible to conjecture by what means, or to
form any project with the least hope of succeeding. The ship in which I
sailed was the first ever known to be driven within sight of that coast,
and the king had given strict orders that if at any time another
appeared it should be taken ashore, and, with all its crew and
passengers, brought in a tumbrel to the capital. I was indeed treated
with much kindness; I was the favorite of a great king and queen, and
the delight of the whole court; but it was upon such a foot as ill
became the dignity of human kind. I could never forget those domestic
pledges I had left behind me. I wanted to be among people with whom I
could, converse upon even terms, and walk about the streets and fields
without fear of being trod to death like a frog or a young puppy. But my
deliverance came sooner than I expected, and in a manner not very
common; the whole story and circumstances of which I shall faithfully
relate.
I had now been two years in the country; and about the beginning of the
third Glumdalclitch and I attended the king and queen in a progress to
the south coast of the kingdom. I was carried, as usual, in my
traveling-box, a very convenient closet of twelve foot wide.
And I had ordered a hammock to be fixed, by silken ropes, from the four
corners at the top, to break the jolts when a servant carried me before
him on horseback, as I sometimes desired; and would often sleep in my
hammock while we were upon the road. On the roof of my closet, not
directly over the middle of the hammock, I ordered the joiner to cut out
a hole of a foot square, to give me air in hot weather, as I slept;
which hole I shut at pleasure with a board that drew backward and
forward through a groove.
When we came to our journey's end, the king thought proper to pass a few
days at a palace he hath near Flanflasnic, a city within eighteen
English miles of the seaside. Glumdalclitch and I were much fatigued: I
had gotten a small cold, but the poor girl was so ill as to be confined
to her chamber. I longed to see the ocean, which must be the only scene
of my escape, if ever it should happen. I pretended to be worse than I
really was, and desired leave to take the fresh air of the sea, with a
page whom I was very fond of, and who had sometimes been trusted with
me. I shall never forget with what unwillingness Glumdalclitch
consented, nor the strict charge she gave the page to be careful of me,
bursting at the same time into a flood of tears, as if she had some
foreboding of what was to happen.
The boy took me out in my box, about half an hour's walk from the
palace, toward the rocks on the seashore.[23] I ordered him to set me
down, and lifting up one of my sashes, cast many a wistful, melancholy
look toward the sea. I found myself not very well, and told the page
that I had a mind to take a nap in my hammock, which I hoped would do me
good. I got in, and the boy shut the window close down, to keep out the
cold. I soon fell asleep, and all I can conjecture is, that while I
slept the page, thinking no danger could happen, went among the rocks to
look for bird's eggs, having before observed him from my window
searching about, and picking up one or two in the clefts.
[Footnote 23: Here again we have a striking contrast--the "half an
hour's walk" of eighteen miles set over against the day and a
half's ride of one-half mile in Lilliput.]
Be that as it will, I found myself suddenly awaked with a violent pull
upon the ring, which was fastened at the top of my box for the
conveniency of carriage. I felt my box raised very high in the air, and
then borne forward with prodigious speed. The first jolt had like to
have shaken me out of my hammock, but afterward the motion was easy
enough. I called out several times as loud as I could raise my voice,
but all to no purpose.
I looked toward my windows, and could see nothing but the clouds and
sky. I heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and
then began to perceive the woeful condition I was in; that some eagle
had got the ring of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on
a rock, like a tortoise in a shell, and then pick out my body, and
devour it: for the sagacity and smell of this bird enable him to
discover his quarry at a great distance, though better concealed than I
could be within a two-inch board.
In a little time I observed the noise and flutter of wings to increase
very fast, and my box was tossed up and down, like a sign in a windy
day. I heard several bangs or buffets, as I thought, given to the eagle
(for such, I am certain, it must have been that held the ring of my box
in his beak), and then, all on a sudden, felt myself falling
perpendicularly down for above a minute, but with such incredible
swiftness that I almost lost my breath. My fall was stopped by a
terrible squash, that sounded louder to my ears than the cataract of
Niagara; after which I was quite in the dark for another minute, and
then my box began to rise so high that I could see light from the tops
of my windows. I now perceived that I was fallen into the sea. My box,
by the weight of my body, the goods that were in it, and the broad
plates of iron fixed for strength at the four corners of the top and
bottom, floated above five foot deep in water. I did then, and do now,
suppose that the eagle, which flew away with my box, was pursued by two
or three others, and forced to let me drop, while he was defending
himself against the rest, who hoped to share in the prey. The plates of
iron fastened at the bottom of the box (for those were the strongest)
preserved the balance while it fell, and hindered it from being broken
on the surface of the water. Every joint of it was well grooved; and the
door did not move on hinges, but up and down like a sash, which kept my
closet so tight that very little water came in. I got, with much
difficulty, out of my hammock, having first ventured to draw back the
slip-board on the roof, already mentioned, contrived on purpose to let
in air, for want of which I found myself almost stifled.
How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdalclitch, from whom
one single hour had so far divided me! And I may say with truth, that,
in the midst of my own misfortunes, I could not forbear lamenting my
poor nurse, the grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of
the queen, and the ruin of her fortune. Perhaps many travelers have not
been under greater difficulties and distress than I was at this
juncture, expecting every moment to see my box dashed in pieces, or, at
least, overset by the first violent blast, or a rising wave. A breach in
one single pane of glass would have been immediate death: nor could
anything have preserved the windows, but the strong lattice wires,
placed on the outside, against accidents in traveling. I saw water ooze
in at several crannies, although the leaks were not considerable, and I
endeavored to stop them as well as I could. I was not able to lift up
the roof of my closet, which otherwise I certainly should have done, and
sat on top of it; where I might at least preserve myself some hours
longer, than by being shut up (as I may call it) in the hold. Or, if I
escaped these dangers for a day or two, what could I expect but a
miserable death of cold and hunger? I was four hours under these
circumstances, expecting, and indeed wishing, every moment to be my
last.
There were two strong staples fixed upon that side of my box which had
no window, and into which the servant, who used to carry me on
horseback, would put a leathern belt, and buckle it about his waist.
Being in this disconsolate state, I heard, or at least thought I heard,
some kind of grating noise on that side of my box where the staples were
fixed; and soon after I began to fancy that the box was pulled or towed
along in the sea; for I now and then felt a sort of tugging, which made
the waves rise near the tops of my windows, leaving me almost in the
dark. This gave me some faint hopes of relief, although I was not able
to imagine how it could be brought about. I ventured to unscrew one of
my chairs, which were always fastened to the floor; and having made a
hard shift to screw it down again, directly under the slipping-board
that I had lately opened, I mounted on the chair, and, putting my mouth
as near as I could to the hole, I called for help in a loud voice, and
in all the languages I understood. I then fastened my handkerchief to a
stick I usually carried, and, thrusting it up the hole waved it several
times in the air, that, if any boat or ship were near, the seamen might
conjecture some unhappy mortal to be shut up in this box.
I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly perceived my closet
to be moved along; and in the space of an hour, or better, that side of
the box where the staples were, and had no windows, struck against
something that was hard. I apprehended it to be a rock, and found myself
tossed more than ever. I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my
closet like that of a cable, and the grating of it as it passed through
the ring. I then found myself hoisted up, by degrees, at least three
foot higher than I was before. Whereupon I again thrust up my stick and
handkerchief, calling for help till I was almost hoarse. In return to
which I heard a great shout repeated three times, giving me such
transports of joy as are not to be conceived but by those who feel them.
I now heard a trampling over my head, and somebody calling through the
hole with a loud voice, in the English tongue, if there be anybody
below, let them speak.
I answered, I was an Englishman, drawn, by ill fortune, into the
greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and begged, by all
that was moving, to be delivered out of the dungeon I was in. The voice
replied, I was safe, for my box was fastened to their ship, and the
carpenter should immediately come and saw a hole in the cover, large
enough to pull me out. I answered, that was needless, and would take up
too much time; for there was no more to be done, but let one of the crew
put his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the sea into the
ship, and so into the captain's cabin. Some of them, upon hearing me
talk so wildly, thought I was mad; others laughed; for indeed it never
came into my head that I was now got among people of my own stature and
strength. The carpenter came, and, in a few minutes, sawed a passage
about four foot square, then let down a small ladder, upon which I
mounted, and from thence was taken into the ship in a very weak
condition.
The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand questions,
which I had no inclination to answer. I was equally confounded at the
sight of so many pigmies, for such I took them to be, after having so
long accustomed mine eyes to the monstrous objects I had left. But the
captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, an honest, worthy Shropshireman, observing
I was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a cordial to
comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own bed, advising me to take a
little rest, of which I had great need.
Before I went to sleep I gave him to understand that I had some valuable
furniture in my box, too good to be lost; a fine hammock--an handsome
field bed--two chairs--a table--and a cabinet. That my closet was hung
on all sides, or rather quilted with silk and cotton; that, if he would
let one of the crew bring my closet into his cabin, I would open it
there before him, and show him my goods. The captain, hearing me utter
these absurdities, concluded I was raving; however (I suppose to pacify
me), he promised to give order as I desired, and going upon deck, sent
some of his men down into my closet, from whence (as I afterward found)
they drew up all my goods, and stripped off the quilting; but the
chairs, cabinet, and bedstead, being screwed to the floor, were much
damaged by the ignorance of the seamen, who tore them up by force. Then
they knocked off some of the boards for the use of the ship, and when
they had got all they had a mind for, let the hull drop into the sea,
which, by reason of many breaches made in the bottom and sides, sunk to
rights.[24] And, indeed, I was glad not to have been a spectator of the
havoc they made, because I am confident it would have sensibly touched
me, by bringing former passages into my mind, which I had rather forget.
[Footnote 24: _To rights_ means _directly_.]
I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams of the place I
had left, and the dangers I had escaped. However, upon waking, I found
myself much recovered. It was now about eight o'clock at night, and the
captain ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too
long. He entertained me with great kindness, observing me not to look
wildly, or talk inconsistently; and, when we were left alone, desired I
would give him a relation of my travels, and by what accident I came to
be set adrift in that monstrous wooden chest. He said that about twelve
o'clock at noon, as he was looking through his glass, he spied it at a
distance, and thought it was a sail, which he had a mind to make, being
not much out of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit, his own
beginning to fall short; that, upon coming nearer, and finding his
error, he sent out his longboat to discover what it was; that his men
came back in a fright, swearing that they had seen a swimming house;
that he laughed at their folly, and went himself in the boat, ordering
his men to take a strong cable along with them; that the weather being
calm, he rowed round me several times, observed my windows, and the wire
lattice that defended them; that he discovered two staples upon one
side, which was all of boards, without any passage for light. He then
commanded his men to row up to that side, and fastening a cable to one
of the staples, ordered them to tow my chest, as they called it, toward
the ship. When it was there, he gave directions to fasten another cable
to the ring fixed in the cover, and to raise up my chest with pulleys,
which all the sailors were not able to do above two or three foot. He
said they saw my stick and handkerchief thrust out of the hole, and
concluded that some unhappy man must be shut up in the cavity.
I asked whether he or the crew had seen any prodigious birds in the air
about the time he first discovered me. To which he answered, that
discoursing this matter with the sailors while I was asleep, one of them
said he had observed three eagles flying toward the north, but remarked
nothing of their being larger than the usual size; which, I suppose,
must be imputed to the great height they were at; and he could not guess
the reason of my question. I then asked the captain how far he reckoned
we might be from land. He said by the best computation he could make, we
were, at least, an hundred leagues. I assured him that he must be
mistaken by almost half, for I had not left the country from whence I
came above two hours before I dropped into the sea. Whereupon, he began
again to think that my brain was disturbed, of which he gave me a hint,
and advised me to go to bed in a cabin he had provided.
I assured him I was well refreshed with his good entertainment and
company, and as much in my senses as ever I was in my life. He then grew
serious, and desired to ask me freely, whether I were not troubled in
mind by the consciousness of some enormous crime, for which I was
punished, at the command of some prince, by exposing me in that chest;
as great criminals, in other countries, have been forced to sea in a
leaky vessel, without provisions; for although he should be sorry to
have taken so ill a man into his ship, yet he would engage his word to
set me safe on shore at the first port where we arrived. He added that
his suspicions were much increased by some very absurd speeches I had
delivered at first to the sailors, and afterward to himself, in relation
to my closet or chest, as well as by my odd looks and behavior while I
was at supper.
I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I faithfully did,
from the last time I left England to the moment he first discovered me.
And as truth always forceth its way into rational minds, so this honest,
worthy gentleman, who had some tincture of learning and very good sense,
was immediately convinced of my candor and veracity.
But further to confirm all I had said, I entreated him to give order
that my cabinet should be brought, of which I had the key in my pocket;
for he had already informed me how the seamen disposed of my closet. I
opened it in his own presence, and showed him the small collection of
rarities I made in the country from whence I had been so strangely
delivered. There was a comb I had contrived out of the stumps of the
king's beard, and another of the same materials, but fixed into a paring
of her majesty's thumb-nail, which served for the back. There was a
collection of needles and pins, from a foot to half a yard long; four
wasp's stings, like joiner's tacks; a gold ring, which one day she made
me a present of, in a most obliging manner, taking it from her little
finger, and throwing it over my head like a collar. I desired the
captain would please to accept this ring in return of his civilities,
which he absolutely refused. I showed him a corn that I had cut off,
with my own hand, from a maid of honor's toe; it was the bigness of a
Kentish pippin, and grown so hard that, when I returned to England, I
got it hollowed into a cup, and set in silver. Lastly, I desired him to
see the breeches I had then on, which were made of a mouse's skin.
I could force nothing on him but a footman's tooth, which I observed him
to examine with great curiosity, and found he had a fancy for it. He
received it with abundance of thanks, more than such a trifle could
deserve. It was drawn by an unskillful surgeon in a mistake, from one of
Glumdalclitch's men, who was afflicted with the toothache, but it was as
sound as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it in my cabinet. It
was about a foot long and four inches in diameter.
The captain wondered at one thing very much, which was, to hear me speak
so loud; asking me whether the king or queen of that country were thick
of hearing. I told him it was what I had been used to for above two
years past, and that I wondered as much at the voices of him and his
men, who seemed to me only to whisper, and yet I could hear them well
enough. But when I spoke in that country it was like a man talking in
the street to another looking out from the top of a steeple, unless when
I was placed on a table, or held in any person's hand.
I told him I had likewise observed another thing, that, when I first got
into the ship, and the sailors stood all about me, I thought they were
the most contemptible little creatures I had ever beheld. For, indeed,
while I was in that prince's country I could never endure to look in a
glass after mine eyes had been accustomed to such prodigious objects,
because the comparison gave me so despicable a conceit of myself.
The captain said that while we were at supper he observed me to look at
everything with a sort of wonder, and that I often seemed hardly able to
contain my laughter, which he knew not well how to take, but imputed it
to some disorder in my brain.
I answered, it was very true: and I wondered how I could forbear when I
saw his dishes of the size of a silver threepence, a leg of pork hardly
a mouthful, a cup not so big as a nutshell; and so I went on, describing
the rest of his household stuff and provisions, after the same manner.
For, although the queen had ordered a little equipage of all things
necessary for me, while I was in her service, yet my ideas were wholly
taken up with what I saw on every side of me, and I winked at my own
littleness as people do at their own faults.
The captain understood my raillery very well, and merrily replied with
the old English proverb, that he doubted mine eyes were bigger than my
belly, for he did not observe my stomach so good, although I had fasted
all day; and continuing in his mirth, protested, that he would have
gladly given a hundred pounds to have seen my closet in the eagle's
bill, and afterward in its fall from so great a height into the sea,
which would certainly have been a most astonishing object, worthy to
have the description of it transmitted to future ages; and the
comparison of Phaëthon[25] was so obvious that he could not forbear
applying it, although I did not much admire the conceit.
[Footnote 25: _Phaëthon_ was, according to Greek mythology, the son
of Apollo, the sun god. One day he prevailed upon his father to allow
him to mount the chariot of the sun and drive the white cloud-horses
across the heavens. He was unable to guide his steeds, however, and they
worked great havoc by dragging the sun up and down and from one side of
the sky to the other. Finally, Jupiter hurled the youth into a river.]
The captain having been at Tonquin was in his return to England driven
north-eastward to the latitude of 44 degrees, and of longitude 143. But
meeting a trade-wind two days after I came on board him, we sailed
southward a long time, and coasting New Holland kept our course
west-southwest, and then south-south-west till we doubled the Cape of
Good Hope. Our voyage was very prosperous, but I shall not trouble the
reader with a journal of it. The captain called in at one or two ports,
and sent in his long boat for provisions and fresh water, but I never
went out of the ship, till we came into the Downs which was on the third
day of June, 1706, about nine months after my escape. I offered to leave
my goods in security for payment of my freight; but the captain
protested he would not receive one farthing. We took kind leave of each
other, and I made him promise he would come to see me at my house. I
hired a horse and guide for five shillings, which I borrowed of the
captain.
As I was on the road, observing the littleness of the horses, the trees,
the cattle, and the people, I began to think myself in Lilliput. I was
afraid of trampling on every traveler I met, and often called aloud to
have them stand out of the way, so that I had like to have gotten one or
two broken heads for my impertinence.
When I came to my own house, for which I was forced to inquire, one of
the servants opening the door, I bent down to go in (like a goose under
a gate), for fear of striking my head. My wife ran out to embrace me,
but I stooped lower than her knees, thinking she could otherwise never
be able to reach my mouth. My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, but I
could not see her till she arose, having been so long used to stand with
my head and eyes erect to above sixty feet; and then I went to take her
up with one hand by the waist. I looked down upon the servants, and one
or two friends who were in the house, as if they had been pigmies, and I
a giant. I told my wife, "she had been too thrifty, for I found she had
starved herself and her daughter to nothing." In short, I behaved myself
so unaccountably that they were all of the captain's opinion when he
first saw me, and concluded I had lost my wits. This I mention as an
instance of the great power of habit and prejudice.
In a little time, I and my family and friends came to a right
understanding; but my wife protested I should never go to sea any more;
although my evil destiny so ordered, that she had not power to hinder
me.
THE BALLAD OF AGINCOURT
_By_ MICHAEL DRAYTON[1]
[Footnote 1: Michael Drayton was an English poet who lived from 1563 to
1631. Little is known of his life beyond the fact that he served as a
page in the household of some nobleman, and that he tried in vain to
gain the patronage of King James I. This _Ballad of Agincourt_ is
one of the finest of the English martial ballads.]
Fair stood the wind for France,[2]
When we our sails advance,
Nor now to prove our chance
Longer will tarry;
But putting to the main,
At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,
With all his martial train,
Landed King Harry.[3]
[Footnote 2: From 1337 to 1453 the French and the English were engaged
in a series of struggles to which the name of _The Hundred Years'
War_ has been given. The cause of the conflict was the attempt of the
English kings to establish their rule over France.]
[Footnote 3: This was Henry V, king of England from 1413 to 1422. He was
a general of great ability, and the battle described in this ballad was
one of his chief victories.]
And taking many a fort,
Furnished in warlike sort,
Marched towards Agincourt[4]
In happy hour,--
Skirmishing day by day.
[Footnote 4: The English army numbered but 14,000, while the French were
about 50,000 strong. Henry, to save his men, was willing to make terms
with the French, who, however, demanded unconditional surrender. The two
armies met for battle near the little village of Agincourt.]
With those that stopped his way,
Where the French general lay
With all his power,
Which in his height of pride,
King Henry to deride,
His ransom to provide
To the king sending;
Which he neglects the while,
As from a nation vile,
Yet, with an angry smile,
Their fall portending.
And turning to his men,
Quoth our brave Henry then:
"Though they to one be ten,
Be not amazed;
Yet have we well begun,--
Battles so bravely won
Have ever to the sun
By fame been raised.
"And for myself," quoth he,
"This my full rest shall be;
England ne'er mourn for me,
Nor more esteem me.
Victor I will remain,
Or on this earth lie slain;
Never shall she sustain
Loss to redeem me.
"Poitiers[5] and Cressy[6] tell,
When most their pride did swell,
Under our swords they fell;
No less our skill is
Than when our grandsire[7] great,
Claiming the regal seat,
By many a warlike feat
Lopped the French lilies." [8]
[Footnote 5: The Battle of Poitiers was fought in 1356. The English
under the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England, defeated the
French under King John, though the French outnumbered them more than
five to one.]
[Footnote 6: In the Battle of Cressy, which was fought in 1346, 35,000
English under King Edward III defeated 75,000 French under Philip VI.
About 30,000 of the French army were slain.]
[Footnote 7: The great-grandfather of Henry V was Edward III, the hero
of the early part of the Hundred Years' War.]
[Footnote 8: The lily, or fleur-de-lis, is the national flower of
France. _Lopped the French lilies_ is a poetical way of saying _defeated
the French._]
[Illustration: "VICTOR I WILL REMAIN"]
The Duke of York so dread
The eager vaward[9] led;
With the main Henry sped,
Amongst his henchmen.
Excester had the rear,--
A braver man not there:
O Lord! how hot they were
On the false Frenchmen!
[Footnote 9: _Vaward_ is an old word for _vanward_, or _advance-guard._]
They now to fight are gone;
Armor on armor shone;
Drum now to drum did groan,--
To hear was wonder;
That with the cries they make
The very earth did shake;
Trumpet to trumpet spake,
Thunder to thunder.
Well it thine age became,
O noble Erpingham!
Which did the signal aim
To our hid forces;
When, from a meadow by,
Like a storm suddenly,
The English archery
Struck the French horses,
With Spanish yew so strong,
Arrows a cloth-yard long,
That like to serpents stung,
Piercing the weather;
None from his fellow starts,
But playing manly parts,
And like true English hearts
Stuck close together.
When down their bows they threw,
And forth their bilboes[10] drew,
And on the French they flew,
Not one was tardy;
Arms were from shoulders sent;
Scalps to the teeth were rent;
Down the French peasants went;
Our men were hardy.
[Footnote 10: _Bilboes_ is a poetical word for _swords_.]
This while our noble king,
His broadsword brandishing,
Down the French host did ding,[11]
As to o'erwhelm it;
And many a deep wound lent,
His arms with blood besprent,
And many a cruel dent
Bruiséd his helmet.
[Footnote 11: To _ding_ is to _strike_.]
Glo'ster, that duke so good,
Next of the royal blood,
For famous England stood,
With his brave brother,--
Clarence, in steel so bright,
Though but a maiden knight,
Yet in that furious fight
Scarce such another.
Warwick in blood did wade;
Oxford the foe invade,
And cruel slaughter made,
Still as they ran up.
Suffolk his axe did ply;
Beaumont and Willoughby
Bare them right doughtily,
Ferrers and Fanhope.
Upon Saint Crispin's[12] day
Fought was this noble fray,
Which fame did not delay
To England to carry;
O, when shall Englishmen
With such acts fill a pen,
Or England breed again
Such a King Harry!
[Footnote 12: Crispin was a Christian saint who suffered martyrdom in
the third century. The 25th of October was made sacred to him.
It was on Saint Crispin's day, 1415, that the Battle of Agincourt
was fought.]
SOME CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF
THE PAST
_By_ GRACE E. SELLON
Probably somewhere about your home, put away so far from sight that you
never think of them any more, are some of the ABC books and the alphabet
blocks and the brightly colored story books about horses, dogs and other
familiar animals that used to amuse you when you were just learning to
say the alphabet and to spell a few three-letter words. Perhaps you can
remember how much you liked to have the stories read to you and how much
fun there was in repeating your A B C's when you could point out the
big, colored letters in your book or on your blocks. But have you ever
thought that you were any more fortunate than other children of other
ages in having these interesting things to help you? Have you ever
wondered whether, far back in history before our country was discovered
and settled by white men, boys and girls had the same kinds of picture
books and drawing-slates, alphabet games and other playthings that used
to delight you in the days when you were going to kindergarten or
learning your first simple lessons from your mother?
If you have never thought enough about this matter to ask some older
person about it, you will find the lesson books and story books used by
children of even a hundred years ago very curious. Suppose we go farther
back, to 1620, the year of the Mayflower, let us say. You could never
imagine what a child then living in England was given to learn his
letters from. As soon as he was able to remember the first little things
that children are taught, his mother would fasten to his belt a string
from which was suspended what she would call his _hornbook_. This was
not at all what we think of to-day as a book, for it was made of a piece
of cardboard covered on one side with a thin sheet of horn, and
surrounded by a frame with a handle. Through the covering of horn the
little boy could see the alphabet written on the cardboard in both large
and small letters. After these would come rows of syllables to help him
in learning to pronounce simple combinations of sounds. Probably last on
the sheet there would be the Lord's Prayer, which he must be taught to
say without a mistake. As he went about he could easily take up his
hornbook once in a while and say over to himself the letters and the
rows of syllables. Sometimes--especially if he had been obedient and had
studied well--he was given a hornbook made of gingerbread; and then, of
course, he would find that the tiresome lines of letters had all at once
become very attractive.
The hornbook must have done its work well, or at least no better way of
teaching the alphabet had been found when the Puritans came to America,
for it was not many years before little folks in the New World were
being taught from the famous _New England Primer_, which joined to what
had been in the hornbook a catechism and various moral teachings. With
its rude illustrations and its dry contents, this little book would
probably be laughed at by school-children of to-day, if they did not
stop to think how very many of the writers, statesmen and soldiers who
have made our country great learned their first lessons from its pages.
Somewhere between 1687 and 1690 it was first published, and for a
hundred years from that time it was the schoolbook found in almost every
New England home and classroom.
[Illustration: CHILDREN WITH HORNBOOKS]
Can you imagine what kind of reading lessons were in this primer? If you
think they were like the lively little stories and the pleasing verses
printed in your readers, you will he a good deal surprised to find that
they are stern and gloomy tales that were meant to frighten children
into being good, rather than to entertain them.
First of all in the little book came the alphabet and the lists of
syllables, as in the hornbook. There was this difference, however. At
the beginning of the first line of letters in the hornbooks was placed a
cross, as the symbol of Christianity, and from this fact the first line
was called the _Christ-cross_, or _criss-cross row_. But the Puritans
strictly kept the cross out of the _Primer_, for to them it stood in a
disagreeable way for the older churches from which they had separated
themselves.
Then came a series of sentences from the Bible teaching moral lessons
and illustrating the use of the letters of the alphabet, one being made
prominent in each verse. The Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's Creed might
appear next, followed by twenty-four alphabet rhymes with accompanying
pictures. Most of these verses were upon Bible subjects, as in the case
of the letter _R_, for example, illustrated by the lines:
"Young pious Ruth
Left all for Truth."
One of the best-loved rhymes was one put into the series after the
Revolution to stir the pride of every young American by reminding him
that
"Great Washington brave
His country did save."
In the pages that followed were to be found an illustrated poem telling
of the awful fate of John Rogers, burned at the stake while his wife and
their ten children looked on, and a dialogue between Christ, a youth and
the devil, in which the youth was finally overcome by Satan's
temptations.
This story of the terrifying fate of the youth was placed after the
shorter Westminster catechism, possibly as a warning to all children who
would not obey their religious teachings. The one hundred seven
questions of the catechism must be answered correctly, even though the
five-syllable words were even harder to understand than to pronounce.
Religious songs and pictures and descriptions of good and of bad
children were also scattered through the book, and in some copies is to
be found the little prayer beginning: "Now I lay me down to sleep,"
which was probably published for the first time in the _Primer_.
As the years went on, pictures and verses and little articles about the
objects of nature and the everyday things that children are interested
in began to take the place of the Bible verses and subjects; and at
length when people saw how well children liked this new way of teaching,
better books than the _Primer_ took its place.
While the young folks in New England families were thus being warned in
story and verse against the awful temptations that lay all around them,
the children in old England were being entertained by popular
penny-books that treated of all kinds of subjects, from the _History of
Joseph and his Brother_ to _The Old Egyptian Fortune Teller's Last
Legacy_. These books were of a size scarcely larger than that of the
letter-paper made for little folks, and they contained usually from
sixteen to twenty-four pages. Illustrations that looked a good deal like
the pictures made by a small boy in his schoolbooks adorned the rough
little volumes.
In every city and town and even in the villages peddlers went along the
streets selling these chapbooks, as they were called. Imagine how the
children, and the grown people too, must have flocked around the peddler
as he began taking out one after another of his queer little books, for
he had something to please every one. The boys might choose stories like
_The Mad Pranks of Tom Tram_, _A Wonderful and Strange Relation of a
Sailor_ or _The True Tale of Robin Hood_, and we can see them almost
getting into a brawl over the possession of _The Merry Life and Mad
Exploits of Captain James Hind, the Great Robber of England_. Probably
the girls would choose _Patient Grissel_, _The History of Mother Bunch_
or _Cinderella_. For the small children there were, for example, the
_History of Two Children in the Wood_, _The Pleasant History of Jack
Horner_ and _Tom Thumb_. Most likely it was only the pennies of
much-tried mothers and fathers that were spent for _A Timely Warning to
Rash and Disobedient Children_.
The chapman or peddler we may well believe did not stand silently
looking on as he disposed of his stock. He had at the tip of his tongue
such a fair-sounding advertisement for every book that everybody, young
and old, came under the spell of his words and bought of his wares.
After he had departed with his traveling library, we can picture the
children taking themselves off to quiet places with their new chapbooks.
Perhaps you are wondering why it was that they were so eager to read
them. If so, you may like to look into a few of these rare old story
books. As you read, notice how quaint the wording seems when compared
with that of the stories of to-day.
(Extract from _The History of Tom Long the Carrier._)
As Tom Long the Carrier was travelling between Dover and Westchester, he
fortuned to pass something near a House, where was kept a great Mastiff
Dog, who, as soon as he espied Tom, came running open-mouthed at him,
and so furiously assaulted him, as if he meant to devour him at a bite.
But Tom, having in his Hand a good Pikestaff, most valiantly defended
himself like a Man, and to withstand the danger he thrust the Pike-end
of his Staff into his Throat and so killed him. Whereupon the Owner
thereof, seeing the Dog lost, comes earnestly unto Tom, and between
threatening and chiding, asking him why he struck him not with the great
End of the staff. 'Marry,' quoth he, 'because your Dog runs not at me
with his tail.'
(Extract from _The Kentish Miracle, or, A Seasonable Warning to all
Sinners_.) Shewn in the Wonderful Relation of one Mary Moore whose
Husband died some time ago, and left her with two children, and who was
reduced to great want. How she wandered about the Country asking relief
and went two Days without any Food--How the Devil appeared to her and
the many great offers he made her to deny Christ and enter into his
service, and how she confounded Satan by powerful Argument. How she came
to a well of water when she fell down on her knees to pray to God that
He would give that Vertue to the Water that it might refresh and satisfy
her Children's Hunger, with an Account how an Angel appeared to her, and
relieved her, also declared many Things that shall happen in the Month
of March next. Shewing likewise what strange and surprising Accidents
shall happen by means of the present War, and concerning a dreadful
Earthquake, etc.
(Extract from _A Timely Warning to Rash and Disobedient Children_.)
As this Child went to School one Day
Through the Churchyard she took her Way
When lo, the Devil came and said
Where are you going to, my pretty Maid
To School I am going Sir, said she
Pish, Child, don't mind the same saith he,
But haste to your Companions dear
And learn to lie and curse and swear.
They bravely spend their Time in Play
God they don't value--no, not they.
It is a Fable, Child, he cry'd
At which his cloven Foot she spy'd.
I'm sure there is a God, saith she
Who from your Power will keep me free,
And if you should this Thing deny
Your cloven Foot gives you the Lie.
Satan, avaunt, hence, out of hand,
In Name of Jesus I command.
At which the Devil instantly
In Flames of Fire away did fly.
(Extract from _Wonder of Wonders_, being a strange and wonderful
Relation of a Mermaid that was seen and spoke with by one John Robinson,
Mariner, who was tossed on the Ocean for 6 Days and Nights. All the
other Mariners perished.)
He was in great Fear and dreadful Fright in the main Ocean ...... but to
his great Amazement he espy'd a beautiful young Lady combing her Head
and toss'd on the Billows, cloathed all in green (but by chance he got
the first Word from her). Then She with a Smile came on Board and asked
how he did. The young Man, being Something Smart and a Scholar
reply'd--Madam, I am the better to see you in good Health, in great
hopes trusting you will be a Comfort and Assistance to me in this my low
Condition: and so caught hold of her Comb and Green Girdle that was
about her Waist. To which she reply'd, Sir, you ought not to rob a young
Woman of her Riches and then expect a Favour at her Hands, but if you
will give me my Comb and Girdle again, what lies in my Power, I will do
for you. She presents him with a Compass, told him to steer S.W., made
an Appointment for following Friday, and jumped in the sea. He arrives
safely home, and while musing on his promise She appeared to him with a
smiling Countenance, and (by his Misfortune) she got the first Word of
him, so that he could not speak one Word and was quite Dumb, and she
began to sing, after which she departed, taking from him the Compass.
She took a Ring from her Finger and gave him. (The young man went home,
fell ill and died 5 days after), to the wonderful Admiration of all
People who saw the young Man.
* * * * *
After the eighteenth century the chapbooks gradually went out of favor,
and since then in England, as in America, more and more careful
attention has been given to writing good stories for children and
printing these attractively. These better books could not have come,
however, had it not been that for generation after generation crude
little primers and storybooks, such as the interesting kinds that have
been described, helped to point out to people, little by little, how to
make children's reading both instructive and pleasing.
LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT
_By_ CARDINAL NEWMAN
Of this poem, Newman has written: "I was aching to get home; yet for
want of a vessel, I was kept at Palermo for three weeks. At last I got
off on an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. Then it was that I wrote
the lines, _Lead, Kindly Light_, which have since become well known."
Again, he has said: "This is one full of light, rejoicing in suffering
with our Lord. This is what those who like _Lead, Kindly Light_ must
come to--they have to learn it."
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on;
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead thou me on;
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years.
So long thy power has blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost the while.
LET SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID[A]
[Footnote A: From _Home-Folks,_ by James Whitcomb Riley. Used by
special permission of the publishers, _The Bobbs-Merrill Company_.]
_By_ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
When over the fair fame of friend or foe
The shadows of disgrace shall fall; instead
Of words of blame, or proof of so and so,
Let something good be said.
Forget not that no fellow-being yet
May fall so low but love may lift his head;
Even the cheek of shame with tears is wet,
If something good be said.
No generous heart may vainly turn aside
In ways of sympathy; no soul so dead
But may awaken strong and glorified,
If something good be said.
And so I charge ye, by the thorny crown,
And by the cross on which the Saviour bled,
And by your own soul's hope for fair renown,
Let something good be said!
POLONIUS' ADVICE
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous choice in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
SHAKESPEARE _(Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3)_.
KING ARTHUR
I. ARTHUR MADE KING
Uther Pendragon was one of the kings who ruled in Britain so long ago
that many marvelous legends have sprung up about him and his more famous
son, Arthur. They lived in the days when magicians and witches were
believed to be common, and the stories of the time are filled with deeds
of magic and with miraculous events.
Merlin was the greatest of magicians, and it was only by his power that
King Uther won the wife he wanted and that his son was protected and
nurtured during his childhood and youth. Many of the knights of King
Uther aspired to his throne, and so to protect the baby Arthur, Merlin
carried him to the good knight Sir Ector, who brought him up with his
own son Kay; but none knew that the boy was Uther's son.
When Arthur had grown to be a tall, manly youth and was skilled in the
use of arms, the Archbishop of Canterbury called together all the
men-at-arms and the great ladies of the land, for Merlin had declared
that at Christmas-tide great wonders should be done. King Uther had been
long dead, and there was much wrangling over his successor, although he
had declared on his death bed that his son Arthur was living and should
reign in his stead.
From all sides, barons, knights and ladies, with long retinues of
servants, crowded into London and gathered into the greatest church.
When the people came forth from the service there was seen in the
churchyard a great marble stone, four square, and having in the midst of
it a steel anvil a foot high. Through the middle of this anvil a
beautiful sword was sticking, with the point projecting beyond. Around
the sword in letters of gold was written,
"WHOSO PULLETH THIS SWORD
OUT OF THIS STONE AND ANVIL IS
THE TRUE-BORN KING OF BRITAIN."
The excitement was great and for some time difficult to quell, for every
man who hoped to be king wished to be the first to try to draw the
sword; but the Archbishop arranged the men in order, and one after
another they made their attempts. Not even the strongest man in the
kingdom could move the sword the fraction of a single inch.
When it became certain that no one could draw the sword, the Archbishop
set ten knights to guard it and decreed that on New Year's Day the
people should meet for other attempts; in the meantime, word should be
sent abroad that all in the kingdom might know of the marvelous sword
and the reward that awaited the successful knight. A great tournament
was called and many rich prizes were offered.
Among those who came to the jousts were Sir Ector and his son, Sir Kay,
and the young man Arthur, not yet a knight. In the morning when they
rode to the field where the multitude were gathered to watch the
jousting, Sir Kay discovered that he had left his sword at his lodgings.
"Arthur, I beg you to ride back and bring me my sword," said Sir Kay.
[Illustration: ARTHUR DRAWS THE SWORD]
Arthur willingly rode back, but when he came to the lodging he could not
enter, because every one had gone out to see the jousting. Arthur loved
Sir Kay dearly, and could not bear to think of his brother being kept
out of the tourney because he had no sword. And so, as he rode by the
churchyard and saw the magic sword unguarded in the stone, he thought
how fine a weapon it would be for Sir Kay.
"How fortunate that the guards have gone to see the tourney. I'll take
this sword to Kay," he said.
When Arthur laid his hand on the jewelled hilt the sword came free from
its resting place, and the boy bore it joyously to his brother.
As soon as Sir Kay saw the sword he knew it was the one that had been in
the magic stone. Hastily riding to Sir Ector he said, "See, here is the
sword of the stone. It must be that I am to be king."
Sir Ector answered, "Give me the weapon and come with me to the church."
Together with Arthur they rode to the church, and all three alighted
from their horses and saw that the sword was gone from the stone.
"Now, my son, swear by the holy book to tell me honestly how you got the
sword."
"My brother Arthur brought it to me--this I swear," said Sir Kay.
"How did you get this sword?" said Sir Ector, turning to Arthur.
"Sir," said Arthur, "when I could not find my brother's sword and
returned by this place I saw the sword sticking in the stone. So I came
and pulled at it and it yielded easily, and I took it to Sir Kay, for I
would not have my brother sword-less."
"Were there any knights about the stone?" asked Sir Ector.
"None," said Arthur.
"Now I understand," said Sir Ector; "you, Arthur, are to be king of
Britain."
[Illustration: KING ARTHUR
_Statue by Peter Vischer, in the Hofkirche, Innsbruck_]
"Why should I be king of Britain?" asked the boy.
"I know not why, except that God wills it so, for it has been ordained
that the man who should draw the sword from the stone is the true-born
king of Britain. Now let me see whether you can put the sword where it
was and draw it forth again."
"That is not difficult," said Arthur, as he thrust the sword back into
the stone.
Sir Ector tried to pull it out again, but he could not move it.
"Now you try," he said to Sir Kay.
Although Sir Kay pulled with all his might the sword remained immovable.
"Now you try it," said Sir Ector to Arthur.
"I will," said Arthur, as he grasped the hilt and drew the sword out
without any difficulty.
Then Sir Ector and Sir Kay knelt down before Arthur and said, "Now we
know you for our king and swear allegiance to you."
"Now my own dear father, and Kay, my brother, do not kneel to me."
"Arthur," said Sir Ector, "I must now tell you that you are not my son,
nor is Sir Kay your brother. I do not know who you are, but I did not
think you were of kingly lineage."
Then Arthur wept, for he loved Ector and Kay as though they were father
and brother to him.
"When you are king," asked Sir Ector, "will you be kind to me and my
family?"
"Indeed I will," said Arthur, "or I shall be much to blame, for I am
more deeply in debt to you than to any other man in all the world, and
to your wife, whom I have always thought my mother and who has cared for
me as for her own son. If it ever is the will of God that I be king of
Britain, ask what you desire and it will be my pleasure to accord it."
The three then went to the Archbishop and told him all that had
happened. He counseled them to remain quiet till after the tournament,
when Arthur should make the trial in public. At that time, after all had
struggled madly to pull out the sword and had failed, Arthur drew it out
easily before the astonished eyes of the onlookers.
The barons and knights laughed in derision and said, "Shall Britain be
ruled over by a boy? Let us have another trial at Twelfth Day."
At Twelfth Day and at Easter were the trials again held with the same
results, but the fierce barons would not recognize Arthur until the
people grew angry and shouted, "Arthur is our king. We will have no one
but Arthur for our king."
Even the fierce knights who aspired to the throne could not resist the
call of the people combined with that of the many barons who sided with
Sir Ector. When the Archbishop placed the crown upon the head of the
young king all there did homage to Arthur though many scowled and
threatened the life of the new ruler. Arthur did not forget his
promises, but made Sir Kay his seneschal and gave broad lands and rich
presents to his foster parents.
II. ARTHUR WEDS GUINEVERE. THE ROUND TABLE
Arthur's reign began with savage wars with his neighbors and with
sedition and rebellion in his kingdom. In every conflict he was
successful, and every victory made him friends, for he was a noble man
and administered his affairs with justice to all. Moreover, he cut roads
through the forests and made it possible for his husbandmen to cultivate
the lands without danger from wild beasts or fear of marauders. He
established justice everywhere so that even the poor felt sure of his
protection. If treachery or oppression appeared among his nobles he
punished them severely, but he forgave personal injuries freely.
Many of the rulers of petty kingdoms near Arthur had occasion to bless
him for brave assistance, and among them was Leodegrance, king of
Cameliard, whom Arthur, in a fierce battle in which ten thousand men
were slain, freed from the tyranny of King Rience. After the battle,
Leodegrance entertained Arthur and his friends at a great feast, at
which Guinevere, the beautiful young daughter of the host, served the
table. At the sight of the fair maid Arthur's heart was won, and ever
after he loved her faithfully.
Merlin, the great magician, had always been the friend and counselor of
Arthur, and to his sound advice and wonderful enchantments the king was
indebted for much of his power and renown. Before Arthur proposed to
marry Guinevere, he took counsel of Merlin, who looked sorrowful and
dismayed at the young king's words.
"If indeed your heart is set on the fair Guinevere, you may not change
it. Yet it had been better for you to have loved another."
Delighted at even this guarded advice Arthur went at once to Leodegrance
and asked for the hand of his young daughter. Leodegrance consented with
joy, for he loved Arthur greatly, and welcomed him as a son-in-law.
In the great cathedral of Canterbury the two were married by the
Archbishop, while without, the people reflected in wild celebrations the
joys of the king and his fair bride.
Among the gifts which King Arthur received was one from King Leodegrance
which pleased him most. "This gift," said Leodegrance, "is the Table
Round which King Uther Pendragon gave to me and around which can sit a
hundred and fifty knights. This table the great Merlin made, as he made
also the hundred and fifty sieges which surround it."
The day of his marriage Arthur chose one hundred and twenty-eight
knights to found his famous Order of the Round Table, and to each he
gave one of the sieges or carved chairs, upon the back of which, as each
knight took his seat, appeared his name in magical letters of gold. Soon
all the seats were filled excepting one, the Siege Perilous, in which no
man might sit under peril of his life, unless he were blameless and free
from all sin. When by death or otherwise any of the other sieges became
vacant, a new knight was chosen to occupy it, and the magic letters
changed to spell his name.
[Illustration: THE WEDDING OF ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE]
Camelot, the lordly castle of Arthur, with its vast halls and beautiful
grounds, was all raised by Merlin's magic power without the aid of human
hands. Here at Christmas, at Easter and at Pentecost great festivals
were held, and Arthur's knights would gather to feast, to joust in
tournament and to tell the stories of the wonderful adventures which had
befallen them since the last meeting; and great was their knightly
pleasure in these gatherings.
III. ARTHUR AND PELLINORE
One day Arthur dressed himself in his best armor, mounted his best horse
and rode forth alone to seek adventure. He had started before dawn and
had ridden slowly along.
Just at day-break he saw Merlin running toward him in deadly peril, for
three fierce vagabonds brandishing huge clubs were close at his heels.
Arthur rode toward the robbers, and they turned and fled at the sight of
an armed knight.
"O, Merlin," said Arthur, "this time certainly you would have been
killed in spite of your magic if I had not appeared to rescue you."
"No," said Merlin, "I could have saved myself if I had wished; but you
are nearer death than I am, for now you are certainly traveling toward
death unless God befriend you."
Arthur asked the magician what he meant, but the wily man would give no
explanation. However, he turned and accompanied Arthur.
As they rode along they came across a beautiful wayside spring, near
which, under a wide-spreading tree, a rich tent was set. In front of it
sat a sturdy knight full armed for battle.
"Sir Knight," said Arthur, "why do you sit here in full armor thus
watching the road?"
"It is my custom," said the knight, "and no man may pass by unless he
fight with me."
"That is a vile custom," said the king, "and I bid you give it up."
"That will I not do," said the knight. "If any man does not like my
custom, let him change it."
"I will change it," said Arthur.
"I will defend myself," answered the knight.
Then the knight arose, took shield and spear, mounted the war-horse
tethered near and rode at Arthur, who spurred his horse to meet the
shock. They came together with such force that their horses were thrown
back upon their haunches and their spears were shivered against their
shields. Arthur recovered himself and pulled out his sword.
"No, no," said the knight, "I pray you let us fight again with spears.
It is the fairer way."
"I would be very willing," assented Arthur, "if I had another spear."
"But I have spears for both," declared the knight, as he called to a
squire to bring him two good spears.
When the weapons were brought Arthur selected one and the knight took
the other. Drawing apart they again charged together, and again their
spears were both broken at the hand. Again Arthur put his hand to his
sword, but the knight protested a second time.
"Nay, not so," he said, "for the honor of our knighthood let us joust
once more. You are the strongest knight and the best jouster I have ever
met."
"I am willing," said Arthur, "if you will let me have another spear."
Two more spears were brought--heavy ones such as only the best of
knights could handle. Again Arthur chose the one he liked, and again
they drew apart.
This time they ran together with greater force than ever, and once more
Arthur shivered his spear on the shield of his opponent. But this time
the spear of the unknown knight struck Arthur's shield full in the
center and drove both horse and rider to the earth.
The king sprang free from his horse, recovered his shield, drew his
sword and cried, "Now will I fight you on foot, for I have lost the
honor on horseback."
"No, I will fight only on horseback," said the knight.
Then Arthur grew very angry and rushed afoot at the knight. Seeing how
determined the king was, and thinking it dishonorable to keep his seat
while Arthur fought on foot, the knight alighted and dressed his shield
against his foe.
Long and fierce was the battle, for both were full of anger and
resentment. They charged and fell back; they hacked and hewed until
shields and armor were bent and broken in many places. Both were sorely
wounded, and the blood ran until the trampled ground was stained with
it. Then, out of breath and weary from the terrible exertion, they both
rested for a few moments, but they soon began the duel again, rushing
together like two fierce wild animals and striking such blows that both
were many times brought to their knees. Every time, however, they
recovered themselves and renewed the terrific struggle. At last the
swords met full in the air, and Arthur's was broken at the hilt.
[Illustration: MERLIN SAVES ARTHUR]
"Now yield," said the strange knight, "for you are wholly in my power
and I can slay or release you as I will. Yield now to me as a recreant
knight or I will slay you as you stand."
"As for death," said Arthur, "let it come when it will. I would rather
die than shame my manhood by yielding."
And then like lightning Arthur leaped upon the knight, clasped him round
the middle and threw him to the ground. But the knight was a powerful
man, and throwing Arthur off he hurled him to the ground, struck off his
helm and raised his sword to behead the king.
All the time Merlin had stood and watched the fray, but when he saw the
deadly peril in which Arthur lay, he called out, "Knight, hold your
hand! If you slay this knight you put this kingdom in the greatest
peril, for this is a more worshipful knight than you dream of."
"Why, who is he?" asked the knight.
"It is King Arthur," Merlin replied.
Then was the knight fearful of the vengeance of the King, if he should
survive the encounter. He raised his sword again and would have killed
Arthur as he lay, but Merlin cast an enchantment over him and he fell
into a deep sleep.
The magician caught up the king and rode forth on the knight's horse.
"Alas!" said Arthur, "what have you done, Merlin? Have you slain this
good knight by your crafts? There is no braver knight in the world than
he was. I would give half my kingdom if he were alive again."
"Do not trouble yourself," replied Merlin. "He is in less danger than
you are, for he lies asleep and will awake whole and refreshed in three
hours. I told you how powerful a knight he was, and you would have
certainly been slain here if I had not been by to help. This same knight
shall live to do you great service."
"Who is the knight?" asked Arthur.
"It is King Pellinore; and he shall have two sons, both of whom shall be
good men; and one shall have no equal in strength, courage and
goodness."
IV. ARTHUR GETS EXCALIBUR
After his battle with King Pellinore, Arthur was three days with a
hermit, who by magic salves healed him of his wounds and set him again
upon his way.
As they rode along, Arthur turned to Merlin and said, "Behold, I have no
sword."
"That does not matter," replied Merlin; "there is a good sword near here
that shall be yours if I can get it for you."
They turned aside and rode till they came to a beautiful little lake,
now quiet in the afternoon light. As Arthur looked he saw in the middle
of the lake an arm clothed in white samite, "mystic, wonderful,"
stretched up and holding in its hand a flashing sword.
"Lo!" said Merlin. "Yonder is the sword of which I spoke."
As Arthur looked he saw a fair maid coming toward him over the water.
"What damsel is that?" he inquired of Merlin. "That is the Lady of the
Lake," answered the magician. "Speak kindly to her and ask her to give
you the sword."
As the beautiful maid came nearer she saluted Arthur and he returned the
courtesy.
"Damsel," said Arthur, "what rich sword is that which yonder hand holds
above the water? I would it were mine, for I have no sword."
[Illustration: ARTHUR RECEIVES EXCALIBUR]
"That is my sword, Excalibur," answered the maid, "and I will give it to
you if you will give me a gift when I ask it."
"Right willingly will I give you what you ask, so that I may have the
sword."
"Well, take the boat and row yourself out to the sword. When the time
comes I will ask the gift."
So Arthur got down from his horse, tied it to a tree and entered the
boat. When he had come to the arm Arthur reached up and grasped the
sword and scabbard. Immediately both were released, and the
white-clothed arm sank back into the waters.
When he returned to the land the maiden had disappeared, and the two
rode on their way. Arthur kept looking at his sword, for he admired it
very much.
"Which do you prefer," asked Merlin, "the sword or the scabbard?"
"I like the sword the better," replied Arthur.
"That is not wise," rejoined the magician. "The scabbard is worth ten of
the swords, because while you have the scabbard on you, you cannot lose
a drop of blood no matter how severe your wound. Therefore keep the
scabbard always by you."
The number of King Arthur's Knights varies from twelve to several
hundred, according to the different poets or romancers. Here is one
account:
"The fellowship of the Table Round,
Soe famous in those dayes;
Whereatt a hundred noble knights
And thirty sat alwayes;
Who for their deeds and martiall feates,
As bookes done yett record,
Amongst all other nations
Wer feared through the world."
_Legend of King Arthur_ (Old Ballad)
BALIN AND BALAN
When Arthur was at one time in Camelot with his knights, a messenger
came to him from Rience, king of North Wales and Ireland, saying, "My
Lord, the king Rience has conquered eleven kings, and all of them do
homage to him.
"Moreover, each gave to the king his heard, shaved clean from his face,
and my master has used the eleven beards to trim his mantle. One place
on the mantle is still vacant, and Rience demands that you send your
beard at once to fill the vacant place or he will come with sword and
spear, lay waste your land and take your beard and your head with it."
Then was Arthur terribly enraged, and would have killed the messenger on
the spot, but that he remembered the knightly usage and spared the
herald.
"Now this is the most insulting message ever sent from one man to
another. Return to your king and tell him that my beard is yet too young
to trim a mantle with, and that, moreover, neither I nor any of my
lieges owe him homage. On the other hand I demand homage from him, and
unless he render it, I will assemble my knights and take both his head
and his kingdom."
The messenger departed, and soon Arthur heard that Rience had invaded
the kingdom with a great host, and had slain large numbers of people.
Arthur then hurriedly summoned his barons, knights and men-at-arms to
meet him at Camelot for council.
When Arthur and his followers had gathered at Camelot a damsel richly
clothed in a robe of fur rode among them, and as she came before the
king she let fall the mantle from her shoulders, and lo! there was girt
at her side a noble sword.
Arthur wondered, and said, "Why do you come before me in this unseemly
manner, girt with a great sword?"
The damsel answered, "I am girt with this great sword against my will
and may not remove it until it is drawn from its scabbard, a thing that
can be done only by a knight, and that a passing good one, without
treachery or villainy of any sort. I have been with King Rience, and
many of his knights have tried to draw the sword from its scabbard, but
no one succeeded. I have heard that here you have many good knights, and
perchance one may be found who can pull the blade."
"This is marvelous," said Arthur. "I will myself make the first attempt,
not because I think myself the best knight, but to give my knights an
example."
Then Arthur seized the sword by the scabbard and the hilt and pulled at
it eagerly, but it would not move.
"Sir," said the damsel, "you need not pull the half so hard, for he who
is fit can pull it with little strength."
Then one after another the knights all tried, but none could draw the
sword.
"Alas," said the maiden, "I had thought that in this court there would
be found at least one man of gentle blood on both his father's and his
mother's side, himself without treason or guile."
There was then at the court a poor knight born in Northumberland who had
been in prison for slaying the king's cousin, but who had been released
at the request of the barons, for he was known to be a good man and well
born.
Balin, for that was the knight's name, wished to try the sword, but was
afraid to come forward because of his appearance. As the damsel was
departing from the court, Balin called to her and said:
"Fair maid, I beg you to let me try to draw the sword, for though I am
poorly clad I feel in my heart that I am as good as many who have tried,
and I think I can succeed."
The damsel looked at Balin, and though she saw that he was a strong and
handsome man, yet she looked at his poor raiment and thought that he
could not be a noble knight without treachery and villainy. So she said
to him, "Sir, put me to no more trouble, for I cannot think you will
succeed where so many others have failed."
"Ah, fair damsel," said Balin, "perchance good deeds are not in a man's
clothing, but manliness and bravery are hid within the person, and many
a worshipful knight is not known to all the people. Therefore honor and
greatness are not in raiment."
"By the Lord," said the damsel, "you speak well and say the truth.
Therefore shall you try the sword."
And Balin grasped the scabbard and drew the sword out easily, and when
he saw the sword he was greatly pleased, for it was a marvelous weapon
of finest steel.
[Illustration: THE DAMSEL LET FALL HER MANTLE]
"Certainly," said the damsel, "this is a good knight, the best I have
ever found, without treason, treachery or villainy; and many noble deeds
shall he do. Now, gentle and gracious knight, give back the sword to
me."
"No," said Balin, "this sword will I keep unless it be taken from me by
force."
"Well," said the damsel, "you are unwise to hold the sword from me, for
with it you shall slay the best friend that you have, the man you best
love in all the world; and the sword shall also be your destruction."
"Nevertheless," replied Balin, "I shall take the event as God gives it
me. But the sword you shall not have."
"Within a very short time," said the damsel, "you shall repent it. I ask
the sword more on your account than mine, for I am sad for your sake. It
is a great pity that you will not believe that the sword will be your
destruction."
Speaking thus the damsel departed from the court, sorrowing as she went.
As soon as the damsel had gone, Balin sent for his horse and his armor
and made ready to depart from the court.
"Do not leave us so lightly," said King Arthur, "for though I have in
ignorance misused thee, I know now that thou art a noble knight, and if
thou wilt stay, I will advance thee much to thy liking."
"God bless your highness," said Balin. "Though no man may ever value
your kindness and bounty more, yet at the present time I must thank you
for your kindness and beseech your good grace."
"If you must go," said Arthur, "I pray you not to tarry long, for right
welcome will you be on your return, and then I shall take pains to make
right what I did amiss before."
"God reward your lordship," said Balin, as he made ready to depart.
Ere he could leave, however, there came riding into the court the Lady
of the Lake, from whom King Arthur had received his sword. She was
richly clothed, and as she entered she saluted Arthur royally and said,
"I come now to ask the gift you promised me when I gave you the sword."
"That is right," said Arthur; "a gift I certainly promised you, but I
have forgotten the name of the sword you gave me."
"The name of the sword is Excalibur. That is to say, 'Cut Steel.'"
"That is right," said the king. "Now ask what you will and you shall
have it if it lies in my power to give it."
"I ask," returned the Lady, "the head of the knight that to-day has won
the other sword, or else the head of the damsel who brought the sword.
By right I should have the heads of both, for he slew my brother, a good
and true knight, and that woman caused my father's death."
"Indeed," said Arthur, "I cannot grant such a request as that with any
justice to myself. Therefore, ask what else you will and I will grant
it."
"I want nothing else," said the Lady; "I will ask no other thing."
Now when Balin was leaving the court he saw this Lady of the Lake. Three
years before she had slain Balin's mother, and all this time he had been
searching for the wicked woman. Then some one told him that she had
asked his head of Arthur.
On hearing this, Balin went straight to the woman and said, "It is
unlucky for you that I have found you to-day. You asked my head of King
Arthur, and therefore you shall lose yours."
With these words Balin drew his sword, and before any one could
interfere struck off her head, even before the face of King Arthur.
"Alas," said Arthur, "why have you done this deed? You have shamed me
and all my court, for this was a lady to whom I was indebted, and she
came here under my safe conduct. I shall never forgive you this vile
deed."
"Sire," said Balin, "withdraw your displeasure, for this same lady was
the falsest lady living, and by enchantment and sorcery she has
destroyed many good knights. She it was who through falsehood and
treachery caused my mother to be burned."
"No matter what cause you had," replied the king, "you should have
waited till she left my presence. You shall certainly repent this deed,
for such another insult I never had in my court. Therefore, withdraw
from my presence with all the haste you may."
Balin took up the head of the Lady and carried it to his hostelry, where
he met his squire.
"Now," said Balin, as the two rode out of the town, "much I regret to
have displeased King Arthur. You must, however, take this head and carry
it to my friends in Northumberland, and tell them that my most bitter
enemy is dead. Tell them, too, that I am out of prison, and how I came
to get this sword."
"Alas," said the squire, "you were greatly to blame for so displeasing
King Arthur."
"As for that," said Balin, "I will go with all the haste I can to meet
King Rience that I may destroy him or die myself. If perchance I may
happen to overthrow him, then Arthur will forgive me and be my gracious
lord."
"Where shall I meet you?" said the squire.
"In King Arthur's court," answered Balin.
When Balin left King Arthur's court, Lanceor, a proud and arrogant
knight who counted himself the best of Arthur's followers, went and
offered to ride after Balin and bring him back dead or alive.
"Go," said King Arthur, "for I am wroth with Balin and would have
revenge for the insult he has shown me."
So Lanceor departed to arm himself, and in the meantime, Merlin arrived,
and hearing of the death of the Lady of the Lake, by the sword of Balin,
went in to King Arthur.
"Now," said Merlin, "you should know that this damsel who brought the
sword to the court is the falsest woman living. She has a brother whom
she hates beyond measure, and it was to compass his death that she came
hither, for it had been decreed that whoso drew the sword should slay
her brother. This I know to be true. Would to God she had never come to
this court, for the knight that drew the sword shall die by that sword,
and this shall be a great reproach to you and your court; for no man
liveth of greater ability and prowess than this same knight Balin, and
much good will he do you. It is a great pity he may not live to serve
you with his strength and hardiness."
In the meantime Lanceor, armed at all points, rode at full speed after
Balin, and when he caught sight of him he called in a loud voice, "Stop,
you false knight, for you shall return with me whether you will or not,
and your shield and your sword shall not help you."
When Balin heard the voice he turned his horse fiercely and said, "What
is it you will with me? Will you joust with me?"
"Yes," said the Irish knight. "For that reason have I followed you."
"Perchance," said Balin, "it would have been better if you had remained
at home, for many a man who strives to overthrow his enemy falls himself
in the struggle. From what court do you come?"
"I am from the court of King Arthur," said Lanceor, "and I came to seek
revenge for the insult you showed Arthur and his court this day."
"I see," said Balin, "that I must fight with you, but I much regret that
I have done wrong before King Arthur and his court. Your quarrel with me
is foolish, for the lady that I slew did me, through falsehood and
treachery, the greatest harm on earth, else would I have been as loath
as any knight that lives to slay a lady."
"Cease talking," said Lanceor, "and face me, for only one of us shall
remain alive."
Then they levelled their spears and clashed together as hard as their
horses could. The spear of the Irish knight struck Balin on the shield
and broke all in pieces, but Balin's spear pierced the shield of
Lanceor, passed through his hauberk and body and even into his horse, so
that Lanceor fell, a dead man.
Regretting much that he had slain one of Arthur's knights, Balin buried
Lanceor and proceeded on his way.
He had not ridden far into the forest when he saw a knight coming
towards him whom by his arms he recognized as his brother Balan. When
they met they dismounted and kissed each other and wept for pure joy.
When they had calmed themselves a little, Balan said, "I had no thought
of meeting you here; I had supposed you were still in prison, for a
knight that I met at the castle of Four Stones told me how you had been
imprisoned by the king. I came this way hoping to serve you."
Balin in reply told him of his adventures until the time they met, and
added, "Truly I am very sad that King Arthur is displeased with me, for
he is the most worshipful knight that reigneth on this earth. Now I mean
to regain his love or perish in the attempt. King Rience is even now
besieging the Castle Terrabil, and thither do I ride to see what I can
do against him."
"I will go with you," said Balan, "and we will help each other as true
knights and good brethren ought to do."
As they talked they saw coming toward them a misshapen old man. This was
Merlin in a strange disguise, though the brothers did not know him.
"Ah, Balin," said the old dwarf, "too ready are you to strike in anger,
for here you have slain one of the noblest knights of Arthur's court,
and his kinsmen will follow you through the world till they have slain
you."
"As for that," said Balin, "I have little fear, but I regret beyond
words that I have displeased my lord, King Arthur."
"Be that as it may," answered Merlin, "you have given the saddest blow
ever struck; and yet worse is to come, for with that same sword will you
slay your brother."
"If I believed that," the sad knight replied, "I should kill myself now
to prove you a liar."
At that moment the crippled o
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