Escape to Blefuscu

Chapter-8

A large number of people had gathered at the royal port of Blefuscu to welcome me. They shouted and cheered as soon as they saw me. There were two people to guide me to the capital-city. I held both of them in my hands and started walking. When I was about two hundred yards away from the main gate of the city, I stopped. I asked one of the secretaries to inform the king about my arrival and tell him that I was waiting for his reply. I had to wait for an hour, and then, the king, alone with the royal family and important members of the court came to receive me. I lay on the ground to kiss the hands of the king and the queen.
I was very pleased to receive such a warm welcome. In the days to come, I faced a few difficulties as I had no house or bed and had to lie on the ground. On the third day, I went for a walk on the coast of the island. Suddenly, I saw something like an overturned boat about half a mile off in the sea. Without wasting a single moment I pulled out my shoes and stockings and waded in the sea for about two or three hundred yards. A strong tide brought the boat closer to me and I could clearly see that it was a real boat which might have drifted from some ship. I immediately returned to the city and requested the king to lend me twenty of his large ships and three thousand seamen. The king was kind enough to do as I said. I swam back to the same place to reach the boat. The seamen followed me in their ships and reached there. Somehow, we managed to bring the boat to the shore. I observed that the boat was a little damaged and could be repaired. The people here had never seen such an extraordinary and massive ship. Within seconds the coast was bustling with people. I requested the king to provide me with material so that I might repair the boat. I also begged that I should be permitted to leave for my country when the boat was ready. After thinking for a while, the king granted me the permission. He also ordered his men to help me in my mission.
During at time, the Lilliputians must have understood that I had left the country never to return. I even prayed that my friend who had revealed the plan of the king should not be caught. After a few days, an ambassador from Lilliput arrived at Blefuscu. He had brought with him a copy of the articles against me and showed it to the king. He even told the king that I was a traitor to the empire of Lilliput and had fled from there. He continued saying that I should return to Lilliput within two hours. If I did not obey the orders, the title of Nardac would be taken back from me. The king of Lilliput had sent an appeal in order to maintain peace and friendship between the two nations; I should be sent back immediately, tied up in chains.
After consulting with the members of his court, the king of Blefuscu sent his reply to the king of Lilliput, which is as follows, “You very well know that it is not possible to send him tied up in chains. In spite of the fact that he had captured our fleet, he has helped a lot in maintaining peace between the two nations. I would further like to inform you that he has found a strange ship that would carry him to the sea. Rather you should be happy that he is going to leave both the empires and we shall be free from such an extraordinary being.”
The king told me about all this later. The king was not at all disappointed with my decision to return to my country. He even promised to provide full protection to me if I stayed on in Blefuscu. I told him, “Probably it is God’s will that I should take leave from this place, that is why he sent a boat for me. I would rather take this risk than create further differences between two such mighty kings.”
I was keen to depart and the court of Blefuscu helped a great deal in my departure. It took about a month and the hard work of about five hundred workmen to get the boat ready to sail. The king and the royal family came to see me off. The king also presented me fifty purses of gold pieces and a full-length picture of himself, which I immediately put in my glove for safety.

The king was very kind; he ordered four hundred cooks to prepare food for my journey. I stored the carcasses of a hundred oxen, three hundred sheep, bread and milk. I took six cows and two bulls alive and as many ewes and rams so that I might show them in England and breed them there. I even took a big bundle of hay and a bag of corn to feed them during the journey. I also wished to carry about a dozen of the people, but the king refused to agree to this. In order to be sure that I did not do so, they thoroughly searched my pockets. After all the preparations, I set sail on the 24th of September 1701, at 6 in the morning.
I spotted a sail the next day, at about three in the afternoon. I gave a signal, but got no answer. I sailed as fast as I could. The wind was favourable. In about half an hour I managed to reach close to the ship. I was overjoyed when I saw the British flag fluttering atop the ship. The crew on board the ship also spotted me and lowered a boat. It was an English Merchant ship which was returning from Japan.
The captain, Mr. John Biddel, was an excellent sailor and a nice man as well.
On the 13th of April 1702, we reached England. The journey had been comfortable and good except for the fact that one of my sheep was eaten by a rat on board the ship. The rest of my cattle were safe with me. They liked the English grass and grew very well. I stayed in England for a short time and made a good earning by displaying my cattle to important people. I sold them for six hundred pounds before I began my next voyage. By then, my sheep multiplied to a big number.
I stayed in England with my wife and family for only two months. My great yearning to travel and see foreign countries made me impatient again. I purchased a house in Redriff and settled my family there. Besides my uncle John had left some land for me which gave me an yearly income of about sixty pounds.

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