Swift, Johnathan - Gulliver's Travels

VIP免费
2024-12-12 0 0 387.28KB 129 页 5.9玖币
侵权投诉
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
Table of Contents
Gulliver's Travels................................................................................................................................................1
Jonathan Swift..........................................................................................................................................1
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER...................................................................................................2
A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON..........................................3
PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER I.............................................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER II............................................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER III........................................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER IV........................................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER V.........................................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER VI........................................................................................................................................22
CHAPTER VII.......................................................................................................................................26
CHAPTER VIII.....................................................................................................................................30
PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG..................................................................................................33
CHAPTER I...........................................................................................................................................33
CHAPTER II..........................................................................................................................................38
CHAPTER III........................................................................................................................................41
CHAPTER IV........................................................................................................................................45
CHAPTER V.........................................................................................................................................47
CHAPTER VI........................................................................................................................................51
CHAPTER VII.......................................................................................................................................55
CHAPTER VIII.....................................................................................................................................58
PART III. A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND
JAPAN...............................................................................................................................................................63
CHAPTER I...........................................................................................................................................63
CHAPTER II..........................................................................................................................................66
CHAPTER III........................................................................................................................................69
CHAPTER IV........................................................................................................................................72
CHAPTER V.........................................................................................................................................74
CHAPTER VI........................................................................................................................................78
CHAPTER VII.......................................................................................................................................80
CHAPTER VIII.....................................................................................................................................82
CHAPTER IX........................................................................................................................................85
CHAPTER X.........................................................................................................................................86
CHAPTER XI........................................................................................................................................90
PART IV—A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS....................................................92
CHAPTER I...........................................................................................................................................92
CHAPTER II..........................................................................................................................................95
CHAPTER III........................................................................................................................................97
CHAPTER IV......................................................................................................................................100
CHAPTER V.......................................................................................................................................102
CHAPTER VI......................................................................................................................................105
CHAPTER VII.....................................................................................................................................108
CHAPTER VIII...................................................................................................................................112
CHAPTER IX......................................................................................................................................114
CHAPTER X.......................................................................................................................................117
CHAPTER XI......................................................................................................................................120
CHAPTER XII.....................................................................................................................................124
Gulliver's Travels
i
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
This page copyright © 2003 Blackmask Online.
http://www.blackmask.com
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.• A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.• PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.•
CHAPTER I.• CHAPTER II.• CHAPTER III.• CHAPTER IV.• CHAPTER V.• CHAPTER VI.• CHAPTER VII.• CHAPTER VIII.•
PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.•
CHAPTER I.• CHAPTER II.• CHAPTER III.• CHAPTER IV.• CHAPTER V.• CHAPTER VI.• CHAPTER VII.• CHAPTER VIII.•
PART III. A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND JAPAN.•
CHAPTER I.• CHAPTER II.• CHAPTER III.• CHAPTER IV.• CHAPTER V.• CHAPTER VI.• CHAPTER VII.• CHAPTER VIII.• CHAPTER IX.• CHAPTER X.• CHAPTER XI.•
PART IV—A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS.•
CHAPTER I.• CHAPTER II.•
Gulliver's Travels 1
CHAPTER III.• CHAPTER IV.• CHAPTER V.• CHAPTER VI.• CHAPTER VII.• CHAPTER VIII.• CHAPTER IX.• CHAPTER X.• CHAPTER XI.• CHAPTER XII.•
Transcribed from the 1892 George Bell and Sons edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
by Jonathan Swift
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
[As given in the original edition.]
The author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my ancient and intimate friend; there is likewise some
relation between us on the mother's side. About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary of the concourse
of curious people coming to him at his house in Redriff, made a small purchase of land, with a convenient
house, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, his native country; where he now lives retired, yet in good esteem
among his neighbours.
Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father dwelt, yet I have heard him say his
family came from Oxfordshire; to confirm which, I have observed in the churchyard at Banbury in that
county, several tombs and monuments of the Gullivers.
Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of the following papers in my hands, with the liberty to dispose
of them as I should think fit. I have carefully perused them three times. The style is very plain and simple;
and the only fault I find is, that the author, after the manner of travellers, is a little too circumstantial. There is
an air of truth apparent through the whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for his veracity, that it
became a sort of proverb among his neighbours at Redriff, when any one affirmed a thing, to say, it was as
true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.
By the advice of several worthy persons, to whom, with the author's permission, I communicated these papers,
I now venture to send them into the world, hoping they may be, at least for some time, a better entertainment
to our young noblemen, than the common scribbles of politics and party.
This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages
relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with
the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account
of longitudes and latitudes; wherein I have reason to apprehend, that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied.
But I was resolved to fit the work as much as possible to the general capacity of readers. However, if my own
Gulliver's Travels
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER. 2
ignorance in sea affairs shall have led me to commit some mistakes, I alone am answerable for them. And if
any traveller hath a curiosity to see the whole work at large, as it came from the hands of the author, I will be
ready to gratify him.
As for any further particulars relating to the author, the reader will receive satisfaction from the first pages of
the book.
RICHARD SYMPSON.
A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1727.
I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent
urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to
hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin
Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.” But I do not remember I gave
you power to consent that any thing should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted;
therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that kind; particularly a paragraph about her
majesty Queen Anne, of most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem her more than
any of human species. But you, or your interpolator, ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination,
so was it not decent to praise any animal of our composition before my master Houyhnhnm: And besides, the
fact was altogether false; for to my knowledge, being in England during some part of her majesty's reign, she
did govern by a chief minister; nay even by two successively, the first whereof was the lord of Godolphin, and
the second the lord of Oxford; so that you have made me say the thing that was not. Likewise in the account
of the academy of projectors, and several passages of my discourse to my master Houyhnhnm, you have either
omitted some material circumstances, or minced or changed them in such a manner, that I do hardly know my
own work. When I formerly hinted to you something of this in a letter, you were pleased to answer that you
were afraid of giving offence; that people in power were very watchful over the press, and apt not only to
interpret, but to punish every thing which looked like an innuendo (as I think you call it). But, pray how
could that which I spoke so many years ago, and at about five thousand leagues distance, in another reign, be
applied to any of the Yahoos, who now are said to govern the herd; especially at a time when I little thought,
or feared, the unhappiness of living under them? Have not I the most reason to complain, when I see these
very Yahoos carried by Houyhnhnms in a vehicle, as if they were brutes, and those the rational creatures?
And indeed to avoid so monstrous and detestable a sight was one principal motive of my retirement hither.
Thus much I thought proper to tell you in relation to yourself, and to the trust I reposed in you.
I do, in the next place, complain of my own great want of judgment, in being prevailed upon by the entreaties
and false reasoning of you and some others, very much against my own opinion, to suffer my travels to be
published. Pray bring to your mind how often I desired you to consider, when you insisted on the motive of
public good, that the Yahoos were a species of animals utterly incapable of amendment by precept or example:
and so it has proved; for, instead of seeing a full stop put to all abuses and corruptions, at least in this little
island, as I had reason to expect; behold, after above six months warning, I cannot learn that my book has
produced one single effect according to my intentions. I desired you would let me know, by a letter, when
party and faction were extinguished; judges learned and upright; pleaders honest and modest, with some
tincture of common sense, and Smithfield blazing with pyramids of law books; the young nobility's education
entirely changed; the physicians banished; the female Yahoos abounding in virtue, honour, truth, and good
sense; courts and levees of great ministers thoroughly weeded and swept; wit, merit, and learning rewarded;
all disgracers of the press in prose and verse condemned to eat nothing but their own cotton, and quench their
thirst with their own ink. These, and a thousand other reformations, I firmly counted upon by your
Gulliver's Travels
A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON. 3
encouragement; as indeed they were plainly deducible from the precepts delivered in my book. And it must
be owned, that seven months were a sufficient time to correct every vice and folly to which Yahoos are
subject, if their natures had been capable of the least disposition to virtue or wisdom. Yet, so far have you
been from answering my expectation in any of your letters; that on the contrary you are loading our carrier
every week with libels, and keys, and reflections, and memoirs, and second parts; wherein I see myself
accused of reflecting upon great state folk; of degrading human nature (for so they have still the confidence to
style it), and of abusing the female sex. I find likewise that the writers of those bundles are not agreed among
themselves; for some of them will not allow me to be the author of my own travels; and others make me
author of books to which I am wholly a stranger.
I find likewise that your printer has been so careless as to confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my
several voyages and returns; neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, nor day of the month: and I
hear the original manuscript is all destroyed since the publication of my book; neither have I any copy left:
however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may insert, if ever there should be a second edition:
and yet I cannot stand to them; but shall leave that matter to my judicious and candid readers to adjust it as
they please.
I hear some of our sea Yahoos find fault with my sea−language, as not proper in many parts, nor now in use. I
cannot help it. In my first voyages, while I was young, I was instructed by the oldest mariners, and learned to
speak as they did. But I have since found that the sea Yahoos are apt, like the land ones, to become
new−fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; insomuch, as I remember upon each return to
my own country their old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new. And I observe, when
any Yahoo comes from London out of curiosity to visit me at my house, we neither of us are able to deliver
our conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other.
If the censure of the Yahoos could any way affect me, I should have great reason to complain, that some of
them are so bold as to think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain, and have gone so far as
to drop hints, that the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia.
Indeed I must confess, that as to the people of Lilliput, Brobdingrag (for so the word should have been spelt,
and not erroneously Brobdingnag), and Laputa, I have never yet heard of any Yahoo so presumptuous as to
dispute their being, or the facts I have related concerning them; because the truth immediately strikes every
reader with conviction. And is there less probability in my account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is
manifest as to the latter, there are so many thousands even in this country, who only differ from their brother
brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use a sort of jabber, and do not go naked? I wrote for their
amendment, and not their approbation. The united praise of the whole race would be of less consequence to
me, than the neighing of those two degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from these,
degenerate as they are, I still improve in some virtues without any mixture of vice.
Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity? Yahoo as I
am, it is well known through all Houyhnhnmland, that, by the instructions and example of my illustrious
master, I was able in the compass of two years (although I confess with the utmost difficulty) to remove that
infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my
species; especially the Europeans.
I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any
further. I must freely confess, that since my last return, some corruptions of my Yahoo nature have revived in
me by conversing with a few of your species, and particularly those of my own family, by an unavoidable
necessity; else I should never have attempted so absurd a project as that of reforming the Yahoo race in this
kingdom: But I have now done with all such visionary schemes for ever.
Gulliver's Travels
A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON. 4
April 2, 1727
PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.
CHAPTER I.
[The author gives some account of himself and family. His first inducements to travel. He is shipwrecked,
and swims for his life. Gets safe on shore in the country of Lilliput; is made a prisoner, and carried up the
country.]
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire: I was the third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College
in Cambridge at fourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies; but
the charge of maintaining me, although I had a very scanty allowance, being too great for a narrow fortune, I
was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years.
My father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other
parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or
other, my fortune to do. When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my father: where, by the assistance of him and
my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain
me at Leyden: there I studied physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long
voyages.
Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the
Swallow, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander; with whom I continued three years and a half, making a
voyage or two into the Levant, and some other parts. When I came back I resolved to settle in London; to
which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to several patients. I took part
of a small house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton,
second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate−street, with whom I received four hundred
pounds for a portion.
But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my business began to fail; for
my conscience would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my brethren. Having
therefore consulted with my wife, and some of my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea. I was
surgeon successively in two ships, and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West Indies, by
which I got some addition to my fortune. My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and
modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the
manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language; wherein I had a great facility, by
the strength of my memory.
The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the sea, and intended to stay at home
with my wife and family. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping
to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things
would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope, who
was making a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage was at first
very prosperous.
Gulliver's Travels
PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 5
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the particulars of our adventures in those
seas; let it suffice to inform him, that in our passage from thence to the East Indies, we were driven by a
violent storm to the north−west of Van Diemen's Land. By an observation, we found ourselves in the latitude
of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the rest
were in a very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer in those parts,
the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cable's length of the ship; but the wind was
so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom I was one,
having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my
computation, about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already spent with labour while
we were in the ship. We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the
boat was overset by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat, as well as of
those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, I cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my
own part, I swam as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often let my legs drop,
and could feel no bottom; but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found myself within
my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile
before I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight o'clock in the evening. I then advanced forward
near half a mile, but could not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition,
that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat of the weather, and about half a
pint of brandy that I drank as I left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass,
which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I
reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was just day−light. I attempted to rise, but was not able to
stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the
ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender
ligatures across my body, from my arm−pits to my thighs. I could only look upwards; the sun began to grow
hot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me; but in the posture I lay, could see
nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing gently
forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I
perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his
back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was
in the utmost astonishment, and roared so loud, that they all ran back in a fright; and some of them, as I was
afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they
soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and
eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice, Hekinah degul : the others repeated the same
words several times, but then I knew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in
great uneasiness. At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the
pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had
taken to bind me, and at the same time with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened
the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches.
But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very
shrill accent, and after it ceased I heard one of them cry aloud Tolgo phonac; when in an instant I felt above a
hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which, pricked me like so many needles; and besides, they shot
another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body, (though I felt
them not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered with my left hand. When this shower of
arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged
another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but by
good luck I had on a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie still,
and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free
myself: and as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest army they could
bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed otherwise of me.
When the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their
numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an
Gulliver's Travels
PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 6
hour, like that of people at work; when turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings would permit
me, I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants,
with two or three ladders to mount it: from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made
me a long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned, that before the
principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro dehul san (these words and the former
were afterwards repeated and explained to me); whereupon, immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants came
and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to the right,
and of observing the person and gesture of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and
taller than any of the other three who attended him, whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed
to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on each side to support him. He acted
every part of an orator, and I could observe many periods of threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and
kindness. I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up my left hand, and both my
eyes to the sun, as calling him for a witness; and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a
morsel for some hours before I left the ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upon me, that I could not
forbear showing my impatience (perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger frequently to
my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The hurgo (for so they call a great lord, as I afterwards learnt)
understood me very well. He descended from the stage, and commanded that several ladders should be
applied to my sides, on which above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted and walked towards my mouth,
laden with baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither by the king's orders, upon the first
intelligence he received of me. I observed there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish
them by the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those of mutton, and very well dressed,
but smaller than the wings of a lark. I ate them by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time,
about the bigness of musket bullets. They supplied me as fast as they could, showing a thousand marks of
wonder and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another sign, that I wanted drink. They found
by my eating that a small quantity would not suffice me; and being a most ingenious people, they slung up,
with great dexterity, one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and beat out the top; I
drank it off at a draught, which I might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small wine of
Burgundy, but much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner,
and made signs for more; but they had none to give me. When I had performed these wonders, they shouted
for joy, and danced upon my breast, repeating several times as they did at first, Hekinah degul. They made
me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first warning the people below to stand out of the
way, crying aloud, Borach mevolah; and when they saw the vessels in the air, there was a universal shout of
Hekinah degul. I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards and forwards on my body,
to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the
remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of
honour I made them—for so I interpreted my submissive behaviour— soon drove out these imaginations.
Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated me with so
much expense and magnificence. However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity
of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk upon my body, while one of my hands was
at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so prodigious a creature as I must appear to them. After some
time, when they observed that I made no more demands for meat, there appeared before me a person of high
rank from his imperial majesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of my right leg, advanced
forwards up to my face, with about a dozen of his retinue; and producing his credentials under the signet
royal, which he applied close to my eyes, spoke about ten minutes without any signs of anger, but with a kind
of determinate resolution, often pointing forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards the capital city,
about half a mile distant; whither it was agreed by his majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I answered
in few words, but to no purpose, and made a sign with my hand that was loose, putting it to the other (but over
his excellency's head for fear of hurting him or his train) and then to my own head and body, to signify that I
desired my liberty. It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by way of
disapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I must be carried as a prisoner. However, he made
other signs to let me understand that I should have meat and drink enough, and very good treatment.
Gulliver's Travels
PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 7
Whereupon I once more thought of attempting to break my bonds; but again, when I felt the smart of their
arrows upon my face and hands, which were all in blisters, and many of the darts still sticking in them, and
observing likewise that the number of my enemies increased, I gave tokens to let them know that they might
do with me what they pleased. Upon this, the hurgo and his train withdrew, with much civility and cheerful
countenances. Soon after I heard a general shout, with frequent repetitions of the words Peplom selan; and I
felt great numbers of people on my left side relaxing the cords to such a degree, that I was able to turn upon
my right, and to ease myself with making water; which I very plentifully did, to the great astonishment of the
people; who, conjecturing by my motion what I was going to do, immediately opened to the right and left on
that side, to avoid the torrent, which fell with such noise and violence from me. But before this, they had
daubed my face and both my hands with a sort of ointment, very pleasant to the smell, which, in a few
minutes, removed all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances, added to the refreshment I had received
by their victuals and drink, which were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight hours, as I
was afterwards assured; and it was no wonder, for the physicians, by the emperor's order, had mingled a
sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine.
It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the ground, after my landing, the emperor
had early notice of it by an express; and determined in council, that I should be tied in the manner I have
related, (which was done in the night while I slept;) that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to me, and a
machine prepared to carry me to the capital city.
This resolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am confident would not be imitated by
any prince in Europe on the like occasion. However, in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as
generous: for, supposing these people had endeavoured to kill me with their spears and arrows, while I was
asleep, I should certainly have awaked with the first sense of smart, which might so far have roused my rage
and strength, as to have enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were not
able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy.
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection in mechanics, by the
countenance and encouragement of the emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning. This prince has
several machines fixed on wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great weights. He often builds his largest
men of war, whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where the timber grows, and has them carried on
these engines three or four hundred yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately
set at work to prepare the greatest engine they had. It was a frame of wood raised three inches from the
ground, about seven feet long, and four wide, moving upon twenty−two wheels. The shout I heard was upon
the arrival of this engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It was brought parallel to
me, as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one
foot high, were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of packthread, were fastened by
hooks to many bandages, which the workmen had girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my legs.
Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys fastened on the
poles; and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast. All this I
was told; for, while the operation was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous
medicine infused into my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses, each about four inches and
a half high, were employed to draw me towards the metropolis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant.
About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by a very ridiculous accident; for the carriage being
stopped a while, to adjust something that was out of order, two or three of the young natives had the curiosity
to see how I looked when I was asleep; they climbed up 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 left 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 waking so suddenly. We made a long march the remaining
part of the day, and, rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with torches, and half
Gulliver's Travels
PART I—A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 8
摘要：

Gulliver'sTravelsJonathanSwiftTableofContentsGulliver'sTravels................................................................................................................................................1JonathanSwift...................................................................................

展开>> 收起<<
Swift, Johnathan - Gulliver's Travels.pdf

共129页,预览26页

还剩页未读， 继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

相关推荐

更多
立即下载
分类：外语学习 价格：5.9玖币 属性：129 页 大小：387.28KB 格式：PDF 时间：2024-12-12

开通VIP享超值会员特权

  • 多端同步记录
  • 高速下载文档
  • 免费文档工具
  • 分享文档赚钱
  • 每日登录抽奖
  • 优质衍生服务

作者详情

相关内容

更多

热门标签

人际关系 配电装置 动力学连接体 力的合成 高考理综 全宋诗作者索引 公务员考试
/ 129
评分 收藏
分享
立即下载 VIP免费下载
客服
关注