Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, Page 6

  CHAPTER V.

  The author, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an invasion. A hightitle of honour is conferred upon him. Ambassadors arrive from theemperor of Blefuscu, and sue for peace. The empress's apartment on fireby an accident; the author instrumental in saving the rest of the palace.

  The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the north-east ofLilliput, from which it is parted only by a channel of eight hundredyards wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon this notice of an intendedinvasion, I avoided appearing on that side of the coast, for fear ofbeing discovered, by some of the enemy's ships, who had received nointelligence of me; all intercourse between the two empires having beenstrictly forbidden during the war, upon pain of death, and an embargolaid by our emperor upon all vessels whatsoever. I communicated to hismajesty a project I had formed of seizing the enemy's whole fleet; which,as our scouts assured us, lay at anchor in the harbour, ready to sailwith the first fair wind. I consulted the most experienced seamen uponthe depth of the channel, which they had often plumbed; who told me, thatin the middle, at high-water, it was seventy _glumgluffs_ deep, which isabout six feet of European measure; and the rest of it fifty _glumgluffs_at most. I walked towards the north-east coast, over against Blefuscu,where, lying down behind a hillock, I took out my small perspectiveglass, and viewed the enemy's fleet at anchor, consisting of about fiftymen of war, and a great number of transports: I then came back to myhouse, and gave orders (for which I had a warrant) for a great quantityof the strongest cable and bars of iron. The cable was about as thick aspackthread and the bars of the length and size of a knitting-needle. Itrebled the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I twistedthree of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into a hook.Having thus fixed fifty hooks to as many cables, I went back to thenorth-east coast, and putting off my coat, shoes, and stockings, walkedinto the sea, in my leathern jerkin, about half an hour before highwater. I waded with what haste I could, and swam in the middle aboutthirty yards, till I felt ground. I arrived at the fleet in less thanhalf an hour. The enemy was so frightened when they saw me, that theyleaped out of their ships, and swam to shore, where there could not befewer 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 cordstogether at the end. While I was thus employed, the enemy dischargedseveral thousand arrows, many of which stuck in my hands and face, and,beside the excessive smart, gave me much disturbance in my work. Mygreatest apprehension was for mine eyes, which I should have infalliblylost, if I had not suddenly thought of an expedient. I kept, among otherlittle necessaries, a pair of spectacles in a private pocket, which, as Iobserved before, had escaped the emperor's searchers. These I took outand fastened as strongly as I could upon my nose, and thus armed, went onboldly with my work, in spite of the enemy's arrows, many of which struckagainst the glasses of my spectacles, but without any other effect,further than a little to discompose them. I had now fastened all thehooks, and, taking the knot in my hand, began to pull; but not a shipwould stir, for they were all too fast held by their anchors, so that theboldest part of my enterprise remained. I therefore let go the cord, andleaving the looks fixed to the ships, I resolutely cut with my knife thecables that fastened the anchors, receiving about two hundred shots in myface and hands; then I took up the knotted end of the cables, to which myhooks were tied, and with great ease drew fifty of the enemy's largestmen 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 thecables, and thought my design was only to let the ships run adrift orfall foul on each other: but when they perceived the whole fleet movingin order, and saw me pulling at the end, they set up such a scream ofgrief and despair as it is almost impossible to describe or conceive.When I had got out of danger, I stopped awhile to pick out the arrowsthat stuck in my hands and face; and rubbed on some of the same ointmentthat was given me at my first arrival, as I have formerly mentioned. Ithen took off my spectacles, and waiting about an hour, till the tide wasa little fallen, I waded through the middle with my cargo, and arrivedsafe at the royal port of Lilliput.

  The emperor and his whole court stood on the shore, expecting the issueof this great adventure. They saw the ships move forward in a largehalf-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 bedrowned, and that the enemy's fleet was approaching in a hostile manner:but he was soon eased of his fears; for the channel growing shallowerevery step I made, I came in a short time within hearing, and holding upthe end of the cable, by which the fleet was fastened, I cried in a loudvoice, "Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput!" This great princereceived me at my landing with all possible encomiums, and created me a_nardac_ upon the spot, which is the highest title of honour among them.

  His majesty desired I would take some other opportunity of bringing allthe rest of his enemy's ships into his ports. And so unmeasureable isthe ambition of princes, that he seemed to think of nothing less thanreducing the whole empire of Blefuscu into a province, and governing it,by a viceroy; of destroying the Big-endian exiles, and compelling thatpeople to break the smaller end of their eggs, by which he would remainthe sole monarch of the whole world. But I endeavoured to divert himfrom this design, by many arguments drawn from the topics of policy aswell as justice; and I plainly protested, "that I would never be aninstrument of bringing a free and brave people into slavery." And, whenthe matter was debated in council, the wisest part of the ministry wereof my opinion.

  This open bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the schemes andpolitics of his imperial majesty, that he could never forgive me. Hementioned it in a very artful manner at council, where I was told thatsome of the wisest appeared, at least by their silence, to be of myopinion; but others, who were my secret enemies, could not forbear someexpressions which, by a side-wind, reflected on me. And from this timebegan an intrigue between his majesty and a junto of ministers,maliciously bent against me, which broke out in less than two months, andhad like to have ended in my utter destruction. Of so little weight arethe greatest services to princes, when put into the balance with arefusal to gratify their passions.

  About three weeks after this exploit, there arrived a solemn embassy fromBlefuscu, with humble offers of a peace, which was soon concluded, uponconditions very advantageous to our emperor, wherewith I shall nottrouble the reader. There were six ambassadors, with a train of aboutfive hundred persons, and their entry was very magnificent, suitable tothe grandeur of their master, and the importance of their business. Whentheir treaty was finished, wherein I did them several good offices by thecredit I now had, or at least appeared to have, at court, theirexcellencies, who were privately told how much I had been their friend,made me a visit in form. They began with many compliments upon my valourand generosity, invited me to that kingdom in the emperor their master'sname, and desired me to show them some proofs of my prodigious strength,of which they had heard so many wonders; wherein I readily obliged them,but shall not trouble the reader with the particulars.

  When I had for some time entertained their excellencies, to theirinfinite satisfaction and surprise, I desired they would do me the honourto present my most humble respects to the emperor their master, therenown of whose virtues had so justly filled the whole world withadmiration, and whose royal person I resolved to attend, before Ireturned to my own country. Accordingly, the next time I had the honourto see our emperor, I desired his general license to wait on theBlefuscudian monarch, which he was pleased to grant me, as I couldperceive, in a very cold manner; but could not guess the reason, till Ihad a whisper from a certain person, "that Flimnap and Bolgolam hadrepresented my intercourse with those ambassadors as a mark ofdisaffection;" from which I am sure my heart was wholly free. And thiswas the first time I began to conceive
some imperfect idea of courts andministers.

  It is to be observed, that these ambassadors spoke to me, by aninterpreter, the languages of both empires differing as much from eachother as any two in Europe, and each nation priding itself upon theantiquity, beauty, and energy of their own tongue, with an avowedcontempt for that of their neighbour; yet our emperor, standing upon theadvantage he had got by the seizure of their fleet, obliged them todeliver their credentials, and make their speech, in the Lilliputiantongue. And it must be confessed, that from the great intercourse oftrade and commerce between both realms, from the continual reception ofexiles which is mutual among them, and from the custom, in each empire,to send their young nobility and richer gentry to the other, in order topolish themselves by seeing the world, and understanding men and manners;there are few persons of distinction, or merchants, or seamen, who dwellin the maritime parts, but what can hold conversation in both tongues; asI found some weeks after, when I went to pay my respects to the emperorof Blefuscu, which, in the midst of great misfortunes, through the maliceof my enemies, proved a very happy adventure to me, as I shall relate inits proper place.

  The reader may remember, that when I signed those articles upon which Irecovered my liberty, there were some which I disliked, upon account oftheir being too servile; neither could anything but an extreme necessityhave forced me to submit. But being now a _nardac_ of the highest rankin that empire, such offices were looked upon as below my dignity, andthe emperor (to do him justice), never once mentioned them to me.However, it was not long before I had an opportunity of doing hismajesty, at least as I then thought, a most signal service. I wasalarmed at midnight with the cries of many hundred people at my door; bywhich, being suddenly awaked, I was in some kind of terror. I heard theword _Burglum_ repeated incessantly: several of the emperor's court,making their way through the crowd, entreated me to come immediately tothe palace, where her imperial majesty's apartment was on fire, by thecarelessness of a maid of honour, who fell asleep while she was reading aromance. I got up in an instant; and orders being given to clear the waybefore me, and it being likewise a moonshine night, I made a shift to getto the palace without trampling on any of the people. I found they hadalready applied ladders to the walls of the apartment, and were wellprovided with buckets, but the water was at some distance. These bucketswere about the size of large thimbles, and the poor people supplied mewith them as fast as they could: but the flame was so violent that theydid little good. I might easily have stifled it with my coat, which Iunfortunately left behind me for haste, and came away only in my leathernjerkin. The case seemed wholly desperate and deplorable; and thismagnificent palace would have infallibly been burnt down to the ground,if, by a presence of mind unusual to me, I had not suddenly thought of anexpedient. I had, the evening before, drunk plentifully of a mostdelicious wine called _glimigrim_, (the Blefuscudians call it _flunec_,but ours is esteemed the better sort,) which is very diuretic. By theluckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged myself of any part ofit. The heat I had contracted by coming very near the flames, and bylabouring to quench them, made the wine begin to operate by urine; whichI voided in such a quantity, and applied so well to the proper places,that in three minutes the fire was wholly extinguished, and the rest ofthat noble pile, which had cost so many ages in erecting, preserved fromdestruction.

  It was now day-light, and I returned to my house without waiting tocongratulate with the emperor: because, although I had done a veryeminent piece of service, yet I could not tell how his majesty mightresent the manner by which I had performed it: for, by the fundamentallaws of the realm, it is capital in any person, of what quality soever,to make water within the precincts of the palace. But I was a littlecomforted by a message from his majesty, "that he would give orders tothe grand justiciary for passing my pardon in form:" which, however, Icould not obtain; and I was privately assured, "that the empress,conceiving the greatest abhorrence of what I had done, removed to themost distant side of the court, firmly resolved that those buildingsshould never be repaired for her use: and, in the presence of her chiefconfidents could not forbear vowing revenge."