Gulliver's Travels. A Voyage to Lilliput. A2 / Путешествия Гулливера. Гулливер в стране лилипутов

The author tells us about himself and family. When he travels, the bad weather finds their ship: he has to swim in the open ocean for his life. That's how he comes to the country of Lilliput.

My father had a small house in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of five sons. At fourteen years old, I went to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, where I lived for three years. To make money for my life, I had to become an assistant of Mr. James Bates, a famous doctor in London, with whom I worked for four years. When my father sent me money, I mostly spent it learning navigation, which I believed could be good for my future journeys.

After working with Mr. Bates, I went back to my father: with his and my family's help, I got some money for my life in Leyden, where I continued studying.

Just after I came back from Leyden, Mr. Bates helped me to find a job as a doctor to the ship called Swallow, Captain Abraham Pannel, on which I made a journey or two into the Levant, and some other parts.

When I came back, I decided to stay in London; and it was Mr. Bates, who told some of his patients about me. I got part of a small house in the Old Jewry; and married Mrs. Mary Burton, getting four hundred pounds from her father.

When Mr. Bates died, I got a big problem; I didn't have a good example anymore. I spoke to my wife and some friends, and decided to go to sea again. I worked on two ships for six years, going to the East and West Indies, which helped me to make some extra money. In my free time, I read the best authors, ancient and modern, paying attention to their manners, as well as learning their language; it was easy for me, thanks to my good memory.

The last of these journeys, I already felt tired of the sea and couldn't wait to stay at home with my wife and family. I moved from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and after to Wapping, hoping to find another job; but it didn't give any result. Only after three years, I found Captain William Prichard, who planned to go to the South Sea. We started from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our journey was at first very good.

The reason was that there was a strong storm in Van Diemen's Land. Twelve of us were dead because of hard work and bad food; others were very weak. On the 5th of November, the beginning of summer in that region, the weather was very bad, the wind was so strong, that our ship crashed into the stone. Six of us tried to use a boat to save our lives. When we were in the open ocean, we were very tired; in about half an hour our boat was upside down.

I cannot tell what happened to other people in the group; they were all lost. Speaking about myself, I decided to trust the ocean; when I almost died, I saw that the storm had finished. I was finally on the ground at about eight o'clock in the evening. There I did not find any people; or maybe I was so weak that I could not see them. I was extremely tired. After that, I lay down and slept for about nine hours; when I woke up, the sun was shining brightly. I felt that I couldn't move my body: something kept me on the ground. The sun began to be hot, and I opened my eyes because of its light.

When I looked down, I saw a small man not higher than six inches; there were at least forty more of them. I was shocked and started screaming and they all got scared. However, they were back soon, and the bravest one of them looked at my face and said, Hekinah degul: the others repeated the same words several times. I didn't know what it meant, I only wanted to be free.

For a long time, I felt very uncomfortable: I saw that they had tied me up. I could only move my head a little bit. These people ran away again, and one of them screamed Tolgo phonac, and I felt a hundred arrows in my hand and a terrible pain.

I decided to lie down and not move till night, so I could free myself easily when they would go to sleep. When they saw that I didn't scream, there were no arrows anymore. Then, one man, who was older and taller than the others, came closer and spoke to me, but I couldn't understand him. He repeated the same thing several times; after that about fifty people ran closer and I was free.

I showed him that I really needed to eat because I hadn't done it since the ship. He understood and told everyone to give me food. They used ladders to do it. I ate a lot and was surprised at how hungry I was. Then I showed them I wanted to drink. They gave me a big bottle of some drink, same as the wine of Burgundy, but much better. I drank it all and asked for more, but they didn't have any. After eating and drinking, they danced on me, repeating Hekinah degul some times.

I can tell you that as they were moving on my body, I wanted to throw them on the ground; but I felt that I needed to be polite with them, as they were good to me and spent so much on me. I was surprised by the fact how brave they are: they were not afraid to do that to such a big man as I was for them.

After some time, they saw that I didn't eat meat anymore and they asked some important person to visit me. He climbed onto my body, came closer to my face with about twelve other small people. He showed some important documents: he wanted to solve a problem, but he wasn't angry at all. I tried to answer but it didn't help.

Then I showed them that I wanted to be free. He looked like he understood me, but he didn't have the same opinion. But he showed me that I would always have enough food and drink, and they would always treat me well. I didn't like it and asked again, however, it didn't have any result. I showed them that they could do everything that they wanted to me. After this, the hurgo (“the great lord” in Lilliput) and other people left me. I had some food, drink, and medicine and I tried to sleep. I slept for about eight hours, as they told me; and I wasn't surprised because they added something to my wine.

Overall, I felt like I was lucky enough: I had a lot of meat and drink, and a special machine to get me to the capital city. I believe this decision was quite brave for them, and I was sure that no prince in Europe did the same in this situation. In my opinion, it was very wise and kind: if they tried to kill me when I slept, I could become angry and it could be dangerous.

They are great mathematicians, especially in mechanics. They didn't have any problem building a special machine for me, however, the main difficulty was to have me in it. When I slept, because of something that they added to my wine, there were nine hundred of the strongest men and fifteen hundred emperor's horses to move me there. It was hard, but successful: finally, I was inside.

On our way, we had problems with the machine and stopped; from the windows I woke up and saw a lot of people looking at me and playing with my nose. I sneezed and they ran away. We rode for the rest of the day, and at night I had five hundred people on each side of me, ready to send arrows, if I moved. We finally arrived at the capital about noon the next day; the emperor came to meet us with his guards.

There was an old temple where we stopped, the largest in the kingdom. Some years ago people were killed there, and since that time everyone could use it. They decided that I would stay there and chained me to it. Twenty feet away, there was the tower where the emperor stayed, with many important lords. I couldn't see them, but they, I believe, could easily see me. People there were shocked when they heard me walking. The biggest temple of the empire was big enough for me to lie down at my full length on the ground.

Dictionary

ship [ʃɪp] – n. корабль

believe [bɪ'li:v] – v. верить

journey ['dʒɜ:ni] – n. поездка

continue [kən'tɪnju:] – v. продолжать

decide [dɪ'saɪd] – v. решить

stay [steɪ] – n. остановка, v останавливаться

tired ['taɪəd] – adj. уставший

move [mu:v] – v. двигаться, переезжать

weak [wi:k] – adj. слабый

wind [wɪnd] – n. ветер

crash [kræʃ] – v. врезаться

stone [stəʊn] – n. камень

boat [bəʊt] – n. лодка

upside down ['ʌp'saɪd daʊn] – adv. перевёрнутый вверх ногами

ground [ɡraʊnd] – n. земля

lie down [laɪ daʊn] – v. ложиться

scream [skri:m] – v. кричать

brave [breɪv] – adj. смелый

tie [taɪ] – v. привязывать

arrow ['ærəʊ] – n. стрела

ladders ['lædərz] – n. лестница

throw [θrəʊ] – v. бросать

polite [pə'laɪt] – adj. вежливый

climb [klaɪm] – v. взбираться

solve [sɒlv] – v. решить (проблему)

treat [tri:t] – v. относиться

leave [li:v] – v. покидать, уходить

add [æd] – v. добавлять

wise [waɪz] – adj. мудрый

kill [kɪl] – v. убивать

dangerous ['deɪndʒərəs] – adj. опасный

successful [sək'sɛsfʊl] – adj. успешный

guard [ɡɑ:d] – n. охранник; v. охранять, защищать

temple ['tɛmpəl] – n. храм

chain [tʃeɪn] – v. приковать цепями

The emperor of Lilliput comes to see the author.

He also starts learning their language with teachers.

His pockets are searched, and some weapons are taken from him.

When I stood up, I looked around and understood that I had never seen such a beautiful place. It looked like a green garden, with so many beds of flowers. There were a lot of forests with trees, about seven feet high. It all looked like a painting, not real life.

For a few hours, I enjoyed the beauty of nature. I left my house and walked as much as I could. Since that time, I went out every day, as soon as I woke up.

So, I came out of my house, enjoying the fresh air and saw the emperor coming up to me on his horse. He kindly looked at me, but didn't come close. He ordered his cooks to give me food: I had a lot of meat and liquor. The empress and the young princes stood far from me.

The emperor, who was taller than his people, had a strong face of olive colour. He was already twenty-eight years old and he was a king for about seven years. His dress was very simple, the fashion of it between the Asiatic and European, but he had a sword of gold to protect himself from me. His voice was very clear; and I could hear it when I stood up. The emperor spoke to me, and I answered: but we didn't understand each other. There were other people who talked to me and I tried to speak as many languages as I knew, High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; it didn't help.

After a while, everyone left, and I stayed with some strong guards to keep me safe. There were people who wanted to get close to me, but some of them were not nice and sent arrows to me. One arrow almost crashed in my left eye. The emperor told to bring these people to me. I put five of them in my pocket, and for the sixth, I acted like I was going to eat him. Anyway, after all, I let them all go: people understood that I was good and started to respect me more.

At first, I slept on the ground; then the emperor ordered people to make a bed for my size. A hundred and fifty of their beds were used, so that I no longer slept on the floor, which was hard like a stone. They also gave me some sheets and blankets to make my sleep even better.

After I came to the kingdom, there were many rich and curious people who wanted to see me; so the emperor had to tell everyone not to come within fifty yards of my house; it was possible only for some money.

At the same time, the emperor had many meetings to decide what to do with me: my food was so expensive, that others could have nothing to eat. They wanted to stop giving me food, or to kill me quickly, but they thought that my big dead body would be a problem for the health of the kingdom. Surprisingly, my last actions helped me: when the emperor learnt that I let six bad people go and didn't kill them, he felt more kindness to me. He ordered to bring some fresh food for me every morning, and gave his own money for bread, wine, and other drinks. He also sent hundreds of people to help me: three hundred to make clothes for me, after the fashion of the country, and other six to teach me their language.

In three weeks, I made great progress in learning their language; thanks to the emperor's visits and his help to my teachers. We began speaking to each other a little bit, and the first phrase I learnt was “please let me be free;” which I repeated every day. His answer was, “I need time and and I need to speak to the council and you must first lumos kelmin pesso desmar lon emposo”. The phrase meant that I had to swear to be their friend. He told me to be patient and to behave well. He also added that the police need to search me for weapons; and I told that they can do it. I took the two of the police officers in my hands, put them first into my pockets, and then into every other pocket about me, and another secret pocket. They wrote down everything that they found, and here are some parts of it in English:

“Imprimis: In the right pocket of the great man-mountain (that's how I understand quinbus flestrin), we found only one large piece of cloth. In the left pocket, we saw something big made of silver; and we couldn't lift it. We asked him to open it, and there was something like dust inside. In another pocket, we found some white substances, about the size of three men. After, there was something that the man-mountain used to brush his head. We are not sure about it but we didn't always ask him questions since it was difficult to make him understand us. In the next pocket, there were some pieces of white and red metal of different sizes. Some of the white ones were so large and heavy that my friend and I could hardly lift them. In the left pocket, we found something that looked dangerous. We asked him to show us how it works. After he did it, he told us that in his country they shave with one of these, and cut their meat with the other. There were also two pockets which we could not open: we told him to show what he had inside; it looked like a globe. We believe that it was an animal we don't know, or his God; because he told us that he always asks it for advice before doing something. From the left pocket, he showed us big pieces of yellow metal, which looked like real gold.

These are all the things that we have found in the pockets of the man-mountain. We want to add that he was good to us and you, our great emperor, and treated us with great respect.

Clefrin Frelock, Marsi Frelock.”

When it was read to the emperor, he asked me to give some details. At the same time, he ordered three thousand people with arrows to be ready to fight; I didn't see it because I only looked at the emperor. He asked to show him my sword, which was bad because of the sea water; when I showed it, everyone was surprised by the light it reflected so brightly. The prince was less shocked than everyone: he ordered me to put it on the ground. After that, he asked for my pistols, which they also found. I showed how they worked; everyone got scared their noise: hundreds fell down as if they were dead. They took away my pistols and my sword. I showed them all my money, my shaver; my brush and my diary. I only hid some personal things, for example, my glasses, which were not so important for the emperor, as I believed.

Dictionary

search [sɜ:tʃ] – v. искать

weapons ['wɛpənz] – n. оружие

enjoy [ɪn'dʒɔɪ] – v. наслаждаться

order ['ɔ:də] – v. приказывать

sword [sɔ:d] – n. меч

protect [prə'tɛkt] – v. защищать

let [lɛt] – v. позволять

respect [rɪ'spɛkt] – v. уважать

curious ['kjʊəriəs] – adj. любопытный

within [wɪ'ðɪn] – prep. в пределах

health [hɛlθ] – n. здоровье

action ['ækʃən] – n. действие

council ['kaʊnsl] – n. (государственный) совет

patient ['peɪʃənt] – adj. терпеливый; n. пациент

behave [bɪ'heɪv] – v. вести себя

put [pʊt] – v. класть, ставить

pocket ['pɒkɪt] – n. карман

mountain ['maʊntɪn] – n. гора

silver ['sɪlvə] – n. серебро

brush [brʌʃ] – n. щётка, v. расчесывать

heavy ['hɛvi] – adj. тяжелый

shave [ʃeɪv] – v. бриться

gold [ɡəʊld] – n. золото

fight [faɪt] – v. драться, сражаться

light [laɪt] – adj. лёгкий; n. свет

noise [nɔɪz] – n. шум

fall down [fɔ:l daʊn] – v. падать

The author tells about how Lilliput spend their time. He shows the emperor some tricks. The author can go free with some rules to follow.

In a short time, I started thinking about running away again: the emperor and his people really liked my kindness and how well I behaved. I did all that I could to make them believe that I'm not dangerous, and it worked. I sometimes lay down, and let five or six of them dance on my hand and play with me. I made good progress in understanding and speaking the language. The emperor organised some shows for me; I enjoyed them and liked the dancers, who walked on a thread most of all.

It turned out that the only people who do this dance are ministers or future ministers. They are not always well-educated, however, they train to dance on the rope from childhood. Many people want to be in their place, because this job is very respected: when one of the ministers dies or falls ill, five or six of those candidates come to the emperor and ask to take their places. The candidate needs to jump highest and perform the most dangerous tricks to get the place. It often happens that candidates get traumas. However, it's much more dangerous when the working ministers start doing that: they can only win against each other so their jumps and tricks have to be more and more difficult each time. They told me that Flimnap, my friend, was in danger two years before my arrival, but the pillow on the floor helped him to stay safe.

There was one more game that the emperor, empress and the first minister liked. The emperor has three threads; one is blue, the other red, and the third green. He gives these threads to the best candidates. First, the emperor holds a stick in his hands, and people need to do tricks on it. Some of them jump over it, some of them creep under it back and forth. Sometimes the emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister the other; sometimes the minister has it all to himself. The best candidate gets the blue-coloured thread; the red is given to the next, and the green to the third.

A few days before I was free, a message came to the king to tell him that some people saw a large black thing on the ground. It was as wide as the king's bedroom and as tall as a person. It wasn't alive, just lying without moving. The king told them to bring it with five horses. When I saw it, I understood that it was my hat that I lost while swimming. I asked the king to give it back to me.

Two days later, the emperor wanted to have some fun. He asked me to stand like a giant with my legs wide; and told his soldiers to walk through them. They really tried to behave respectively, however, it was hard and they couldn't stop laughing.

Meanwhile, I never stopped asking the emperor to be free; and he decided to speak to his council. Everyone was ready to do it, and only one, Skyresh Bolgolam, didn't like this idea. However, the emperor didn't listen to him. He told him to make some rules upon which I can be free; when they were ready, Skyresh Bolgolam brought them to me along with some important people. After I read the rules, I answered that I would follow them. I believe that you, the reader, need to know them, so here is the English version:

“Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue, the great Emperor of Lilliput, here are our rules for the man-mountain, which he needs to follow:

“1st, He cannot leave without asking.

“2d, He cannot come to the capital without asking; and when he comes, all people need to be inside of their houses.

“3d, He can walk only in certain places.

“4th, He must be careful with our people, horses and machines; he can't take them without asking.

“5th, He must help the mailman with some messages; he must hold him and his horse in his pocket, so the mailman does his job faster.

“6th, When we have problems, he must help us to fight.

“7th, He must help us with building houses, parks and palaces.