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Chapter 9

Gulliver escapes from Brobdingnag

I was still hoping to return to England one day. But the ship in which I had arrived in Brobdingnag was the first that had ever come near the coast. So I could not see how 1 could get away. I began to think more and more about my family and my home.

By now I had been in Brobdingnag for about two years. When the King and Queen travelled to the south coast, Glumdalclitch and I went with them. I really wanted to be close to the sea again, which I had not seen or even smelt for so long. As Glumdalclitch was ill, I asked a young servant to take me down to the beach for some fresh air. The boy carried me in my travelling box, and put me down on the beach, while he looked for birds’ eggs among the rocks. I looked sadly at the sea, but stayed in my box, and after a while I fell asleep.

I was woken suddenly when my box was lifted high in the air. I can only suppose that a large bird took hold of the ring on top of the box with his talons, and flew away with it. Through the windows I could see the sky and clouds passing by, and I could hear the noise of the bird’s wings. Then I was falling, so fast that I felt quite breathless. There was a loud crash, as the box fell into the sea. Perhaps the bird had been attacked by others, and so had to drop what he was carrying.

Luckily, the box had been well made, and not much sea water came in. But I do notthinkany traveller has ever been in a worse situation than I was then. I wondered how long I would survive, with no food or drink in the middle of the ocean. I felt sure I would never see poor Glumdalclitch again, and I knew how sad she would be to lose me.

Several hours passed, and then I suddenly heard a strange noise above my head. People were fastening a rope to the ring. Then my box was pulled through the water. Was it a ship that was pulling me along?

‘Help! Help!’ I shouted as loudly as I could.

I was delighted to hear English voices reply.

‘Who’s there?’ they cried.

‘I’m English!’ I shouted back desperately. ‘Please help me to get out of here! Just put your finger into the ring on top of the box and lift it out of the water! Quickly!’

There were great shouts of laughter.

‘He’s mad!’ I heard one man say.

‘Ten men couldn’t lift that huge box!’ said another. There was more laughter.

Indeed, because I had been with giants for so long, I had forgotten that my countrymen were as small as me. The on! y thing the sailors could do was to cut a hole in the top of my box, and help me to climb out. I was exhausted and unable to walk far.

They took me to their captain.

‘Welcome to my ship,’ he said kindly. ‘You’re lucky we found you. My men saw that huge box on the water, and we decided to pull it along behind the ship. Then we realized there was a man inside! Why were you locked up in there? Was it a punishment for some terrible crime? But tell me all about it later. Now you need to sleep, and then eat.’

When I told him my story, a few hours later, he found it difficult to believe. But after a while he began to accept that what I told him must be true.

‘But why do you shout so loudly?’ he asked. ‘We can hear you perfectly well if you speak normally.’

‘You see,’ I explained, ‘for two years I’ve had to shout to make myself understood by the giants. I was like a man in the street who was trying to talk to another man at the top of a very call building. And another thing - your sailors all seem very small to me, because I’ve been used to looking up at people twenty metres tall.’

He shook his head. ‘Well, what a story! I think you should write a book about it when you get home.’

I stayed on the ship for several months, as we sailed slowly home to England. Finally, we arrived in Bristol on June 3rd, 1706. When I reached home, my wife made me promise never co go to sea again, and I thought my adventures had come to an end.