Chapter-7
Whenever the queen found me in a sad mood, she thought of different ways and means to entertain me. One day, she asked me whether I knew how to handle a sail or an oar; and whether a little exercise of rowing might be good for my health. I told her that as a surgeon I could sail and row because I sometime had to help the sailors in their jobs. But it was not possible in their country because their smallest boat was bigger than our largest ship. Thereupon, the queen assured me that her carpenter could make a boat for me if I gave the design. She also assured me that he could also make something for me to sail in.
She called her carpenter. Within ten days, a nice little boat was prepared for me. It was capable of carrying eight persons of my size. It was an excellent piece of work, complete with sails, oars and other things. When it was ready, she was so overjoyed that she carried it in her lap and ran to show it to the king.
The queen also ordered the carpenter to make a wooden trench which was placed on the floor along a wall in an outer room of the palace. The water in it would be refilled every now and then. I used to row my boat in this wooden trough quite often. Sometimes I did this for my own enjoyment and sometimes for the entertainment of the king, the queen and the others. I would sometime put up a sail and the ladies provided the wind with their fans. Sometimes the servants blew the sail forward with their breath. It was great fun for me as well for all the people of the palace.
One day, a frog entered into the trough. While I was sailing, the frog suddenly jumped and climbed up on one side of the boat. The frog was the size of a monkey. Due to its weight, the boat got tilted on one side. I tried to balance the boat by putting all my weight on the other side to prevent it from overturning. Meanwhile, the frog got into the boat and started hopping here and there. I banged the frog many times with my oar. After several attempts, the frog leaped out of the boat.
I strongly believed that I would be able to return to my country. But how and when this would happen was impossible to guess. The ship in which I had sailed to Brobdingnag was the first to have ever been seen by anyone of that country. The king had given strict orders that if any other ship was ever seen again it should be captured and brought to the capital along with all the crew and passengers. He was determined to find a wife of my own size so that we might start a new race in Brobdingnag.
But I strongly opposed this idea of the king. I would have preferred to die than leave behind a generation who would be kept in cages like birds and small animals for the entertainment of people and to be sold off whenever they wished. I solemnly agree that I was treated with a great deal of kindness in the palace. I was the favourite of a great king and a caring queen. But I could never forget my country and my home. I longed to be among our people who were similar to me. I wanted to walk about the streets and fields without any fear of being crushed to death like a frog or a young puppy. By God’s grace, my wishes were fulfilled sooner than I had expected.
I had spent two years in this country. At the commencement of the third year, the king and the queen decided to go on a tour to the south coast of the kingdom. Glumdalclitch also accompanied us. As usual, I was carried in my travelling box. As it was to be a long journey, I ordered the carpenter to fix a hammock (a kind of hanging bed) with silken ropes to the four top corners of the box. This was to be a sort of protection from the jerkings which I would have to experience while travelling. I also asked him to make a hole about a foot square in the ceiling so that fresh air might enter the box during the hot weather when I slept. This hole could be opened and closed with the help of a wooden board that could slide back and forth.
When we had reached the end of our journey, the king decided to stay there for a few days. He had a palace near Flanflasnic, a city within eighteen European miles of the sea. Both Glumdalclitch and I were very tired. I had a slight cold but my little nurse was so exhausted that she could not even move. She rested in her room. I desperately wanted to see the ocean because I thought that was the only means of escape if ever I was successful in it. I pretended to be a little ill and took permission from Glumdalclitch to go near the sea to take the fresh air. She did not allow me to go alone, so she sent a servant whom I loved to stay with. She gave the permission very reluctantly. At the same time, she burst into tears as if she had a feeling that we were parting for ever. She gave strict instructions to the servant to be very careful. Glumdalclitch behaved in the most touching way which I could never forget.
It took about half an hour for the boy to reach the sea. When we reached the rocks on the sea-shore, I asked him to place the box down. I lifted the curtains and looked out towards the sea hoping for the time when I could leave for my country. I was feeling sad and helpless and wanted to sleep for some time so that I might recover myself. I told the servant to leave me alone. He shut the windows of the box from outside and I went to sleep.
The boy probably thought that I was quite safe, and must have gone round the coast to hunt for the birds’ eggs. I knew he loved doing so because I had seen him doing that earlier also from my window. Suddenly, I was awakened by a sound, as if someone had pulled very hard the ring which was fixed at the roof of my box. I felt that my box was being raised high in the air and then taken forward at a great speed. I called out loudly many times but all was in vain. I looked out of the window but could see only the sky and the clouds. The only noise I heard was that of the flapping of wings.
Probably, I understood what had happened. An eagle had picked up my box from the ring on the roof. The eagle has a sharp sense of smell because of which it must have been able to discover that there was some sort of creature in that box. She might have picked me up thinking of dropping me on some rock to pick out my body and eat it. After some time, I found that the noise and flutter of wings had increased and that my box was being tossed up and down.
Suddenly, I found myself falling down straight at such a speed that I almost lost my breath. The fall ended with a terrible splash which sounded louder than the sound of the Niagara Falls. For a minute, I was quite in the dark and then my box started rising and I could see lights from the top of my windows. I realized that I had fallen into the sea and that my box was now floating on water. I supposed that the eagle which had flown away with my box must have been followed by two or three others. While it must have been defending itself from others, it dropped me down.
I owed my thanks to the queen and the carpenter who had made such a strong box of iron sheets and angles. Had the box not been that strong I would not have survived such a great fall. The windows were so tightly fixed with hinges that no water leaked inside. With great difficulty I stood on the hammock and opened the board in the ceiling to let in some fresh air.
Within an hour I was far off from my dear nurse. Even in such an unfortunate situation. I felt sorry for her. I could understand that she would be in great grief at my loss. She would also have to face the queen’s anger as well as an uncertain future. I felt extremely bad thinking about all that. I wished I were there with my dear Glumdalclitch.
I heard some kind of a rasping noise. Soon afterwards, I felt that my box was being pulled or towed along in the sea. This made the waves rise near the top of my windows, and I was almost in the dark. In order to see what was happening, I stood on the chair and put my mouth as near as I could to the hole under the sliding board at the ceiling. After sliding the board, I opened the hole and cried for help in all the languages I knew. I then fastened my handkerchief to a stick and thrust it out of the hole, and waved it many times in the air. I wished that the seamen might see my handkerchief and come to my rescue if a boat or ship were there. But I failed to get any response.
An hour passed away after which the box struck against something hard. Then I heard the grating sound of some cable passing through the ring of the box. Soon I found the box being pulled up slowly but steadily. I again pushed up my stick and handkerchief calling for help as loudly as I could. I heard a shout being repeated three times. I was delighted and overjoyed. I then heard the sounds of some footsteps at the roof of my box.
You cannot imagine my feelings when I heard somebody calling through the hole in a loud voice in English, “If there is anybody below, please speak up.” I answered, “I am an Englishman and beg you to free me from this prison.” The voice assured me that I was safe and that my box was fastened to their ship. I was also told that they had sent for a carpenter who would make a hole at the top. The carpenter came and made a passage about four feet square. A small ladder was lowered from this passage. I could hardly climb the ladder but the seamen helped me to come out of the box.
The sailors were very astonished to see me in the box and asked me many questions about how I happened to been trapped in that big box. I was not in a mood to answer their questions. I was confused at the sight of so many pygmies; that was exactly how I took them to be because I was used to seeing monstrous people for more than two years.
The captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, was a good man. He observed that I was about to faint. He took me to his cabin and asked me to take rest for some time. But before I went to sleep, I asked him to send his men to my box to collect some valuables from there. I told him that I had a fine hammock, a bed, two chairs, a table and a cupboard. I told him that my box was quilted on all sides with silk and cotton. I expressed my desire that the box be brought into the ship so that I might show these valuables to him.
The captain, on hearing me talk like that, thought that I had gone mad. The captain was all confused as to why the box must contain those things. But anyway, he advised me to go to sleep and not to worry about the box and its contents. However, he went to the deck and ordered his men to do as I had desired. But those ignorant sailors made a mess of everything. They caused a lot of damage to the things. The furniture was spoilt as it was screwed to the floor and they tore it forcefully. They stripped off the quilting and knocked off some of the boards for their own use. After doing all the damage, they dropped the box into the sea.
I slept for some hours but remained disturbed with the dreams of the place I had left and the dangers I had escaped from. It was now about eight o’ clock at night. The captain ordered dinner as he thought that I must be very hungry. He entertained me with great kindness.
Then he began to tell me how they managed to save me. He told me that he had spotted something in the sea at about twelve o’clock that day. On coming nearer to the object, he found it to be a huge wooden box. He sent his men to see what it was. They came back frightened and said that they had seen a swimming house. He laughed at them and went to see it for himself. He asked his men to take some strong cables along with them. He saw the strange box with windows and the wire lattices that shielded the windows. He then ordered his men to tow the box towards the ship. When they reached the ship, he asked his men to fasten another cable to the ring on the top of the box and to lift the box with pulleys. Then the sailors saw my stick and handkerchief and could make out that some unfortunate man was entrapped inside.
I asked the captain if he or any sailor had seen some huge birds in the air about the time they first discovered me. Thereupon, the captain said that he had discussed the matter with the sailors while I was sleeping. One of them said that he had seen three eagles flying towards the north. But he had nothing to say about their being abnormally big. I believed they must have seen them flying very high in the sky and, therefore, they could not have guessed their size.
The captain was very eager to know about me. He wanted to know why and how I was entrapped in that strange box. He even thought that I must be a criminal caught by a prince of some country and punished in that manner. If that was the case, he promised to land me safely at the next port. He told me that he found my behaviour very odd and awkward. He also pointed out that I spoke in a very loud voice. While having food, I kept staring at the dishes, which looked funny. He was anxious to know about my past.
At last, I began to narrate my story but begged him to listen to me with patience. Then I narrated everything to him from the beginning to the end. I showed him some of the things I had in my cupboard which I had collected when I was in Brobdingnag. There was a comb I had made from the hair of the king’s beard, some needles and pins, each of which was a foot to a yard long. I also showed him a gold ring that the queen had one day taken off her little finger and thrown over my head like a collar. I then asked him to see the trousers I was wearing; it was made of a mouse’s skin.
The captain who was an honest and learned person was somehow convinced about what I said. But he wondered why I spoke so loudly and asked me whether the king or the queen of that country was hard of hearing. I told him that I had been used to speaking loudly for the last two years. In that country, I would not have been heard if I spoke in my normal voice.
The captain was satisfied with that explanation. He further asked me why I was staring at the dishes when the food was served. He told me that he found it difficult to control his laughter at my behaviour. I explained that I had not seen the dishes of normal size for such a long time. The captain was convinced and expressed his hope that I should share my experience with people by writing a book on my adventures after returning to England.
On the 3rd of June, 1706, about nine months after my escape from Brobdingnag, we reached England safely. It took a long time to get used to England again. The first time I saw my wife, I got down on my knees to talk to her. I thought I was the same size as the people of Brobdingnag and that my wife was tiny. At first, I couldn’t see my children. I was used to looking forty feet into the air to talk to my little nurse. I did many strange things in my first weeks at home. My wife and friends thought I was mad. But after they had heard my story, they understood me and my wife expressed her desire that I should never go to the sea any more.
