ماجراهای بیشتر در برابدینگناگ

Chapter 8

More adventures in Brobdingnag

Because I was so small, I had several dangerous accidents during my stay at the palace. One day Glumdalclitch put me down on the grass in the palace garden, while she went j for a walk with some of the Queen’s ladies. A small white dog which belonged to one of the gardeners appeared, and seemed very interested in me. He took me in his mouth and carried me to his master. Luckily, he had been well trained, and did not try to bite me, so I was not hurt.

One day the Queen said to me, ‘It would be good for your health to do some rowing o r sailing. What do you think? Would you like me to arrange it for you?’

‘Madam,’ I answered, ‘I’d love to row or sail a little every day. But where can we find a boat that’s small enough?’

‘Leave that to me,’ she replied, and called for her workmen. She ordered them to make a tiny boat with sails. They also made a wooden container, about a hundred metres long, seventeen metres wide and three metres deep. This container was filled with water, and I was carefully placed in my boat on the water. Every day I used to row or sail there, while the Queen and her ladies watched. There was no wind, of course, but the ladies blew hard to move my boat along.

I nearly lost my life again, when a lady picked me up to put me in the boat. She was not careful enough, and dropped me. With horror, I felt myself falling through the air. But instead of crashing to the ground, I was caught, by my trousers, on a pin in her clothes. I had to stay there without moving a finger, until Glumdalclitch came running to rescue me.

But the greatest danger to me in Brobdingnag came from a monkey. One day Glumdalclitch left me alone in her bedroom while she visited some of the ladies. It was a warm day, and her window was open. I was in the box which I used as my bedroom, with the door open. Suddenly I heard the noise of an animal jumping through the window, and immediately I hid at the back of my box. The monkey, which appeared huge to me, very soon discovered my hiding-place. He picked me up, and held me close to him like a baby. When he heard someone opening the bedroom door, he jumped out of the window and ran on to the roof.

I thought I had never been in such great danger. He was running on three legs and holding me in the fourth. At any moment he could let me fall, and we were at least three hundred metres above the ground. I could hear a lot of shouting in the palace. The servants had realized what was happening, and brought ladders to climb up on to the roof. Glumdalclitch was crying, and hundreds of people were watching from the garden. Meanwhile, the monkey was sitting calmly on top of the roof. He was taking food from his mouth and trying to push it into my mouth. He still seemed to think I was his baby. I suppose it was an amusing sight for the crowd below, but I was in terrible fear of falling.

Finally, several servants climbed on the roof, and as they came nearer, the monkey put me down and ran away. I was rescued and brought down ro the ground. I had to stay in bed for two weeks after this, before I felt well enough to meet people again. The monkey was caught and killed.

When I next saw the King, he asked me about this experience. ‘How did you feel,’ he said, ‘when the monkey was holding you up on the roof?’

‘Sir,’ J replied bravely, ‘I was afraid, that’s true. But next time an animal like that attacks me, I shall not hesitate. I’ll pull out my sword like this’ - and I showed him what I would do - ‘and give the creature such a wound that it will never come near me again!’

But while I waved my tiny sword in the air, the King and his lords laughed loudly. I had wanted to prove my bravery, but I failed, because to them I was only an unimportant little creature. I realized later that this often happens in England, when we laugh at someone of no family, fortune, or intelligence, who pretends to be as important as our great leaders.

In the next few weeks, I began to have some very interesting conversations with the King. He was an intelligent, understanding person.

‘Tell me more about your country,’ he said to me one day. ‘I would like to hear about your laws, your political life, and your customs. Tell me everything. There may be something that we can usefully copy here in Brobdingnag.’

‘I shall be delighted, sir,’ I answered proudly. ‘Our king controls our three great countries, Scotland, Ireland and England. We grow much of our own food, and our weather is neither too hot nor too cold. There are two groups of men who make our laws. One is called the House of Lords- they are men from the oldest and greatest families in the country. The other is called the House of Commons -these are the most honest, intelligent, and sensible men in the country, and are freely chosen by the people. We have judges to decide punishments for criminals, and we have a large army, which cannot be defeated by any other in the world.’

While I was talking, the King was making notes. For several days I continued my explanation, and I also described British history over the last hundred years. Then the King asked me a large number of questions. These were some of them.

‘How do you teach and train young people of good family? If the last son of an old family dies, how do you make new lords for the House of Lords? Are these lords really the most suitable people to make the country’s laws? And in the House of Commons, are these men really so honest and intelligent? Do rich men never buy their way in to this House? You say the lawmakers receive no pay, but are you sure that they never accept bribes?’

Then he asked questions about our law courts. ‘Why are your trials so long and so expensive? How much do your lawyers and judges really know about the laws? How carefully do they decide between right and wrong?

‘And why,’ he went on, ‘are you so often at war? Either you enjoy fighting, or you have very difficult neighbours! Why do you need an army at all? You would not be afraid of any other country, if you were peaceful people. And in the last hundred years you’ve done nothing but rob, fight, and murder! Your recent history shows the very worst effects of cruelty, jealousy, dishonesty, and madness!’

I tried to answer the King as well as I could, but he did not think our system was a good one.

‘No, my little friend,’ he said kindly but seriously, ‘I’m sorry for you. You’ve proved to me that your country has nothing valuable co offer us. Perhaps once, in the past, your political life was adequately organized, but now it is clear that there is laziness and selfishness in every part of the system. Your politicians can be bribed, your soldiers aren’t really brave, your judges and lawyers are neither reasonable nor honest, and your lawmakers themselves know little and do less. I sincerely hope that you, who have spent most of your life travelling, have a better character than most Englishmen. But from what you’ve told me, I’m afraid that your countrymen are the worst little nation of insects that has ever crawled upon the ground.’

I am very sorry to have to report these words of the King’s, and I only do so because of my love of the truth. I must tell you exactly what happened, even if I do not agree with it. I had to listen patiently, while he was giving his extraordinary opinions of my dear country. We must remember, however, that this King lives in a country almost completely separate from the rest of the world. Because he does not know other countries’ systems or customs, he has a certain narrowness of thinking, which we Europeans do not have, of course.

You will find it difficult to believe what happened next.

‘Sir,’ I said, ‘I’d like to give you something to thank you for your kindness to me since I arrived at the palace. Three or four hundred years ago, we Europeans discovered how to make a special powder. When you set fire to it, it burns and explodes immediately, with a noise louder than thunder. You can use it to shoot heavy balls of metal from large guns. It can destroy the largest ships, it can kill a whole army, it can cut men’s bodies in half, it can destroy the strongest walls. It’s called gunpowder, and it’s easy and cheap to make. To show you how grateful I am to you, I’m offering to explain how to make it-then you will be able to destroy all your enemies!’

I was very surprised by the King’s reply.

‘No!’ he cried in horror. ‘Don’t tell me! I don’t want to know how to murder people like that. I would rather give half my country away than know the secret of this powder. How can a tiny creature like you have such inhuman, cruel ideas? Never speak to me of this again!’

How strange that such an excellent king should not take the chance I was offering him! No European king would hesitate for a moment. But he had other strange ideas. He believed, very simply, that every problem can be solved by honest, sensible people, and that the political life of a country must have no secrets and must be open for all to see and understand. Of course, we know that this is impossible, so perhaps his opinion of us is not worth considering.