Journeys Through Bookland, Volume 5 | Page 8

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