سفر دریایی به بروبدینگناگ

Chapter 5

A voyage to Brobdingnag

I left Bristol on June 20th, 1702, in a ship which was sailing to India. We had good sailing weather until we reached the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where we landed to get fresh water. We had to stay there for the winter, however, because the ship needed repairs and the captain was ill. In the spring we left Africa and sailed round the island of Madagascar into the Indian Ocean. But on 19th April the wind began co blow very violently from the west, and we were driven to the east of the Molucca Islands. On 2nd May the wind stopped blowing and the sea was calm. But our captain, who knew that part of the world very well, warned us that there would be a storm the next day. So we prepared the ship as well as we could, and waited.

The captain was right. On 3rd May the wind began to get stronger. It was a wild, dangerous wind, blowing from the south this time. We had to cake down our sails as the storm hit our ship. Huge waves crashed down on to us, and the wind drove our helpless ship eastwards into the Pacific Ocean.

For several days we struggled with the wind and waves, but at last the storm died away and the sea was calm again. Luckily, our ship was not badly damaged, but we had been driven over two thousand kilometres to the east. None of us knew exactly where we were, so the captain decided to continue sailing eastwards, where we had never been before. We sailed on for another two weeks.

Finally, on 16th June, 1703, we saw a large island with a small piece of land joined to it. I later discovered that this country was called Brobdingnag. The captain sent some of his sailors in a boat to land there and bring back some fresh water. I went with them because I was interested in seeing a new country. We were delighted to be on land again, and while the men looked for a river or a lake, I walked for about a kilometre away from the beach.

When I returned, to my astonishment I saw that the sailors were already in the boat. They were rowing as fast as they could towards the ship! I was going to shout to tell them they had forgotten me, when suddenly I saw a huge creature walking after them into the sea. I realized he could not catch them, because they had nearly got to the ship, but I did not wait to see the end of that adventure. I ran away from him as fast as possible, and did not stop until I found myself in some fields. The grass was about seven metres high, and the corn about thirteen metres high. It took me an hour to cross just one field, which had a hedge at least forty metres high. The trees were much taller than that. Just as I was trying to find a hole in the hedge, so that I could get into the next field, I saw another giant coming towards me. He seemed as tall as a mountain, and every one of his steps measured about ten metres.

In fear and astonishment I hid in the com, and hoped he would not notice me. He shouted in a voice like thunder, and seven other giants appeared. They seemed to be his servants. When he gave the order, they began to cut the corn in the field where I was hiding. As they moved towards me, I moved away, but at last I came to a pan of the field where rain had knocked down the corn. There was no longer anywhere for me to hide, and I knew I would be cut to pieces by the giants’ sharp knives. I lay down and prepared to die. I could not stop myself thinking of Lilliput. There, I myself had been a giant, an important person who had become famous for helping the people of that small country. Here, it was the opposite. I was like a Lilliputian in Europe, and I began to understand how a very small creature feels.

Suddenly I noticed that one of the giants was very close to me. As his huge foot rose over my head, I screamed as loudly as I could. He looked around on the ground, and finally saw me. He stared at me for a moment, then very carefully, he picked me up with finger and thumb and looked at me. I was now twenty metres up in the air, and I desperately hoped he would not decide to throw me to the ground. I did not struggle, and spoke politely to him, although I knew he did not understand any of my languages. He took me to the farmer, who soon realized that I was not an animal, but an intelligent being. He carefully put me in his pocket and took me home co show co his wife. When she saw me, she screamed and jumped back in fear, perhaps thinking I was an insect. But in a little while she became used to me, and was very kind to me.