yellow fairy tale book

Chapter 52 Travels to Lilliputian Country (3)

4.

Not long after playing the King, I came up with a plan to wipe out the enemy fleet.The Blafasca Empire is an island nation separated from the Liliput Empire by a strait eight hundred yards wide.I inquired of the depth of the Channel from the most experienced seamen, and they told me that it was seventy "Gramgaff" deep at high water in the center of the Channel (corresponding to about six feet in the European unit of measure).I walked towards the shore and lay down behind a small hill.I took out my binoculars and saw the enemy fleet in port, including about fifty battleships and other craft.Then I returned to my lodgings, and ordered a great deal of the strongest cables and iron rods to be made.The cables were about the thickness of wrapping rope, and the iron rods were the length and size of knitting needles.I twisted the three cables together to make the rope stronger; and to make the rod stronger I twisted the three rods together, and bent the ends into hooks.After having secured fifty hooks to fifty cables, I returned to the shore, took off my coat and shoes, and went down into the sea in a leather waistcoat, about half an hour before high tide.

I hastened to swim out to sea, and I swam about thirty yards in the middle of the channel until my feet touched the bottom of the sea, and in less than half an hour I was at the position of the enemy ship.When the enemy saw me, they were frightened out of their wits, and more than 3 people jumped out of the boat and swam to the shore.I hooked a hook to the small hole in the prow of each boat, and tied the ends of all the cables together.While I was working, the enemy fired thousands of arrows at me, many of which hit my hands and face.I am most afraid of an arrow in the eye, and if it hadn't suddenly occurred to me about the pair of spectacles that escaped the Crown Prosecutor's search, my eyes would have been destroyed.I took out my glasses and put them firmly on my nose, so that armed, I continued to work under the risk of arrows.A lot of arrows hit the lens, but apart from a little damage to the lens, it has no effect.Then, holding the knot in my hand, I began to pull hard, but the ships did not move, because they were all firmly fixed by iron anchors.So, I made the bravest move.I let down the ropes, and decisively cut the cables which fastened the anchor, when I received about two hundred arrows in the face and hands.Then I picked up the knot tied with the iron hook again, and easily towed away fifty of the enemy's largest warships.

When the Blafaska found that the entire fleet was pulled by me in an orderly manner, they immediately screamed. The screams of grief are indescribable.When I was out of danger, I took a breath, drew the arrows from my hand and face, dabbed a little of the ointment the Liliput had given me before, and took off my spectacles.After waiting about an hour, when the tide had receded a little, I waded back to the Royal Port of Lilliput.

The king and all the ministers of the court stood on the bank and waited for me.They could only see the fleet advancing in a huge half-moon, but not me, who was in the middle of the strait, up to my neck in the water.The king judged that I was drowned, and the enemy fleet was approaching.But soon he was relieved, because the further I walked, the shallower the sea, and after a while, I reached a place where we could hear each other shouting.I raised the end of the cable hooked to the fleet and shouted loudly: "Long live the mightiest King Lilyput!" The king happily welcomed me ashore and bestowed on me the highest honorary title "Nadal" on the spot.

The king hopes that I will take the opportunity to pull all the remaining enemy ships back to his port, and even wants to destroy the entire empire of Blefaska and make myself the only monarch in the world.But I frankly disapproved, saying that I would not be an instrument of slavery to a free and brave people.Although the wisest ministers agreed with me, my open refusal was so contrary to the King's ambitions that he never pardoned me.From then on, the king and those ministers who were hostile to me conceived a conspiracy, which almost brought me to an end.

Three weeks later, Blefaska sent an envoy, groveling to us for peace.The two nations soon concluded a peace which was very favorable to our King.Blefasca sent six ambassadors and an entourage of about five hundred, all richly attired.The ambassadors were privately told that I had dealt with them, and they paid me a visit, with a great deal of flattery, of my courage and generosity, and then invited me to visit them in the name of their Majesty. kingdom.I asked them to pay my respects to their King, and resolved to see him before returning home.Therefore, when I later visited King Liliput, I asked him to allow me to visit the Kingdom of Blafasca.He agreed, but in a very cold manner, for reasons I found out later.

Just as I was about to go to see King Blefaska, an important person of the court - whom I had helped a lot - suddenly came to my residence secretly at night. He did not announce his name, but said that he was to see me.I put this lord in my pocket, ordered my confidant servant not to allow anyone to enter, then closed the door, put the guest on the table, and sat down at the table.The lord looked worried, and begged me to listen patiently, for my honor and my life were at stake here.

"You know," he said, "Skerish Bergram was your sworn enemy from the moment you came here. His hatred of you since your defeat of Blafaska Deeper, for this battle discredited him as an admiral. Your lord and several others charged you with treason, and they called several councils in secret. In order to repay your kindness to me , I risked my head to find out the ins and outs of this matter, here is what they want to charge you with:

First, the person concerned had escorted the Royal Fleet of Blefaska to our Royal Port, and His Majesty the King then ordered him to escort the remaining ships back, and to execute all the exiles and those who refused to break the smaller end of the egg when they immediately agreed to eat the egg , and the parties involved are no different from treacherous and disobedient people, defying His Majesty the Supreme King on the pretext of unwillingness to violate their conscience and destroy the freedom and life of an innocent nation.

Secondly, when the envoys of Blefasca arrived in our country, they were treated like treacherous and disobedient people, and helped and entertained them, although they knew that these people were the lackeys of the enemy monarchs who had recently made open enemies with His Majesty the King.

Third, the person concerned is currently preparing to visit the country of Blefaska, which is an act of treachery.

"On the appeal of the case," continued my friend, "His Majesty the King has often emphasized your service to him, the Admiral and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have insisted on your execution. However, the Home Secretary, Redretius, has always You are so good friends, he begged His Majesty to save your life, and only ordered your eyes to be destroyed. In a way, this may be a just sentence. After hearing this, Admiral Bergram rose up in a rage, and said he wondered how the Home Secretary dared to advocate the preservation of a traitor's life. And the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who pointed out the expense incurred in feeding you, also advocated your death. But His Majesty said kindly, since Members of Parliament felt that the penalty for blinding the eyes was too light, and it could be increased in the future. At this time, the Minister of the Interior humbly asked to speak again, and he mentioned the expenses of supporting you. He suggested that you might as well reduce your rations gradually. If you have enough food, you will become more and more exhausted, and you will die after a few months. Once you die, the people can cut your flesh from your bones and bury them, leaving your skeleton for posterity to admire. "

"Therefore, thanks to the great friendship between you and the Secretary of the Interior, the matter was properly arranged. The king ordered that the plan to starve you gradually was carried out secretly, but the sentence of blinding you was written in the impeachment. In three days your friend the Home Secretary will come to your house to read you the impeachment and to show you His Majesty's kindness, for he only cost you a pair of eyes - His Majesty is sure that you will be humbled and grateful Afterwards, twenty imperial doctors will come to supervise the torture process to ensure its smooth progress. The torture process is: you lie on the ground, and then they shoot very sharp arrows into your eyeballs."

My friend went on to say: "You can think about what countermeasures to take. In order not to arouse suspicion, I have to go back secretly like when I came here."

The lord went away, leaving me alone, greatly perplexed.At the beginning, I still wanted to resist, because I was a free man, and I could smash the capital to pieces by throwing a few stones; but when I remembered that I had sworn an oath to the king, and remembered his favor to me, I immediately gave up in panic. this thought.In the end, I decided that since the king had granted me permission to visit Blefasca, I would take advantage of the opportunity.Before these three days had elapsed, I wrote to my friend the Home Secretary, informing him of my decision.Before he could reply, I came to the beach, went down the strait, half waded and half swam to the port of Blefaska, and I was waiting for the people there to take me into the capital.

His Majesty the King led the royal family and court officials out to greet me, and then entertained me with the generosity of a king.I said nothing, however, of my disgrace with King Liliput, for I reckoned I was out of his hands, and it was impossible for him to disclose the plot.However, later facts showed that I miscalculated.

5.

Three days after arriving in Blefaska, my curiosity drove me to the northeast coast of the island. I found something on the sea some distance from the coast, which looked like a capsized boat.I took off my shoes and stockings, and waded two or three hundred yards, and found that it was really a small boat, which I guessed had been blown off a large ship by the storm.I immediately went back to the city to ask for help, and with great difficulty managed to get the boat back to the Royal Port of Blefaska.I saw a sea of ​​people there, and everyone was surprised to see such a big ship.I said to the king, I am very lucky, God left this ship halfway, let it carry me to another place, maybe it can take me back to my motherland.I asked the King to order me some materials to have the boat repaired, and asked him to let me leave the country, and after much kind words, he graciously assented.

At this time, King Lilypot was disturbed by my long absence (but it did not occur to him that I knew of his plot), so he sent an important person to Blefasca I told the king about my impeachment.The envoy was also ordered to report to the king the magnanimity of his lord, because he only condemned me for blinding my eyes, and he hoped that Brother Blafaska would send me back to Lily with my hands and feet bound. Putt, so that I may be punished for treason.King Blefasca replied to this, with many polite words.He said, as for sending me back tied up, Brother Huang also knew that was impossible.Besides, although I took his fleet before, I helped him a lot in the peace negotiations, and he was grateful to me.But the king of both countries will be relieved at once, for I have found a large ship by the sea to take me to sea, and he has ordered the ship to be repaired, and he hopes that in a few weeks both countries will be free from me.

The envoy returned to Lilypot with this answer, and I (although King Blefaska secretly told me that if I would continue to serve him he would protect me at all costs) decided, and hoped no more for princes.

After about a month, I was ready to leave.The King and Queen of Blefasca and the royal family came out to see me off, and they graciously offered me their hands, and I lay down on my back and kissed them one by one.Your Majesty sent me fifty purses containing Spragues (the largest gold coin in their country) and a full-length portrait of him - which I put right away in a glove so as not to spoil it .Later, they held some other farewell ceremonies for me.

I put meat and water on board, and six live cows and two live bulls, and six live ewes and two live rams, to take back to my country.In order to feed them on board I took a large bale of hay and a sack of corn.I would have liked to take a dozen more natives, but the king may never allow it.In addition to a careful search of my pockets, His Majesty has asked me to pledge my honor not to take any of his subjects, even if they wanted to.

In this way, having made all the preparations I could, I set out to sea.Out of the island of Blafasca, after traveling about twenty-four leagues, I spotted a sailing ship heading northeast.I called to the ship, but there was no response, but the wind had died down, and I approached the ship.After half an hour, the people on board found me and shot me. At five or six o'clock in the evening, September 24, 1701, I caught up with it at last, and my heart beat at the sight of the Union Jack on that ship.I packed my cattle and sheep into my pockets, and went into the boat with all my little goods.The captain received me kindly, and told me to tell him where I came from, and after listening to the answer he thought I was talking nonsense.However, when I took the black cattle and sheep out of my pocket, he was so surprised that he completely believed what I said.

We arrived in England on April 1702, 4.I stayed with my wife and children for two months, but my longing to go to a foreign country made me unable to stay any longer.During my sojourn in England I made a considerable sum of money by exhibiting the sheep and cattle to dignitaries, and before embarking on my second journey I sold them for six hundred pounds.I left fifteen hundred pounds to my wife, and put her in a fine house.After saying goodbye to my wife and children in tears, I boarded the ship "Adventure".

(End of this chapter)