Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels (retelling for children). Journeys to some distant countries of the world by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then the captain of several ships Gulliver's Adventure summary by chapter

The author gives some information about himself and his family. First impulses to travel. He suffers a shipwreck, escapes by swimming and safely reaches the coast of the country of the Lilliputians. He is taken prisoner and taken inland.

My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of his five sons. When I was fourteen he sent me to Emanuel College, Cambridge. « …fourteen years…to Emanuel College, Cambridge…” – In those days, this was the usual age for entering universities. Leiden is a Dutch city, in the XVII-XVIII centuries. was famous for its university (especially the medical faculty), which attracted foreign students, including the British. where I stayed for three years, diligently giving myself up to my studies; but the cost of my maintenance (although I received a very meager allowance) was too much for my father's modest fortune, and therefore I was apprenticed to Mr. James Bets, an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I spent four years. The little money that my father sent me from time to time I used to study navigation and other branches of mathematics useful to people who were going to travel, since I always thought that sooner or later this share would fall to me. Leaving Mr. Bets, I returned to my father, and at home obtained from him, from Uncle John, and from other relatives, forty pounds sterling, and secured a promise that thirty pounds would be sent to me annually to Leiden. In this city, for two years and seven months, I studied medicine, knowing that it would be useful to me on long journeys.

Soon after my return from Leiden, on the recommendation of my venerable teacher, Mr. Bets, I entered as a surgeon on the ship Swallow, sailing under the command of Captain Abraham Pannel. I served with him for three and a half years, making several trips to the Levant and other countries. Levant - the islands and coast of the eastern Mediterranean in Asia Minor, the center of trade between West and East.. On my return to England I decided to settle in London, encouraged by Mr. Bets, my teacher, who recommended me to several of his patients. I rented part of a small house in Old Jury, and, on the advice of friends, married Miss Mary Burton, second daughter of Mr. Edmund Burton, a hosiery merchant in Newgate Street, for whom I received a dowry of four hundred pounds.

But since two years later my good teacher Bets died, and I had few friends, my affairs were shaken: for my conscience did not allow me to imitate the bad methods of many of my brothers. That is why, after consulting with my wife and some acquaintances, I decided to become a sailor again. For six years I was a surgeon on two ships and made several trips to the East and West Indies, which somewhat improved my financial situation. I devoted my leisure hours to reading the best authors, ancient and new, as I always stocked up on the road with books; on the shore, I observed the manners and customs of the natives and studied their language, which, thanks to my good memory, came very easily to me.

The last of these trips was not very successful, and I, tired of marine life, decided to stay at home with my wife and children. I moved from Old Jury to Fetter Lane, and thence to Woppin, hoping to have a practice among sailors, but this hope was not justified. After waiting three years for my situation to improve, I accepted the lucrative offer of Captain William Pritchard, owner of the Antelope, to go with him to the South Sea. On May 4, 1699, we weighed anchor at Bristol, and our journey was at first very successful.

For some reason it would be out of place to trouble the reader with a detailed description of our adventures in these seas; it will suffice to say that on crossing into the East Indies we were carried by a terrible storm to the northwest of Van Diemen's Land. Van Diemen's Land- a part of Australia, explored in 1642 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman and named after the governor of the East Indies, Anthony Van Diemen.. According to observations, we were at 30-2 "south latitude. Twelve of our crew died from overwork and bad food; the rest were extremely exhausted. On November 5 (the beginning of summer in these places) there was a thick fog, so that the sailors only at a distance of half a cable from the ship noticed rock, but the wind was so strong that we were blown right on it, and the ship instantly crashed. Six of the crew, including myself, managed to lower the boat and move away from the ship and the rock. According to my calculations, we rowed about three leagues, until we were completely exhausted, as we were already overworked on the ship. Therefore, we gave ourselves up to the will of the waves, and in half an hour the boat was overturned by a sudden gust of wind from the north. What became of my companions in the boat, and likewise with those who took refuge on the rock or remained on the ship, I cannot say, I think they all perished. As for myself, I swam wherever my eyes looked, driven by the wind and tide. I often lowered my legs, but did not m og find the bottom; when I was already completely exhausted and was no longer able to fight the waves, I felt the ground under my feet, and in the meantime the storm had subsided considerably. The bottom was so sloping in this place that I had to walk about a mile before I reached the shore; I guess it happened around 8pm. I walked another half mile, but could not detect any sign of habitation or population; or at least I was too weak to make out anything. I felt extremely tired; fatigue, the heat, and the half-pint of cognac I had drunk while still on the ship made me very sleepy. I lay down on the grass, which was very low and soft here, and fell asleep as soundly as I had ever slept in my life. According to my calculation, my sleep lasted about nine hours, because when I woke up it was already quite light. I tried to get up, but I couldn't move; I lay on my back and found that my arms and legs on both sides were firmly tied to the ground and my long and thick hair was tied to the ground in the same way. “I tried to get up ...” - This episode is probably inspired by the story of the ancient Greek writer Philostratus (“Eikoves”, that is, “Pictures”) about how Hercules was tied up by the pygmies who attacked him:

The pygmies were eager to avenge the death of Antaeus. Finding the sleeping Hercules, they gathered all their forces against him. One phalanx attacked his left arm; against the right, stronger, they sent two phalanxes. Archers and slingers, amazed at the enormous size of his thighs, laid siege to Hercules' feet. Around his head, as if around an arsenal, they hoisted batteries, and the king himself took his place near them. They set fire to his hair, began to throw sickles into his eyes, and so that he could not breathe, they plugged his mouth and nostrils. But all this fuss could only wake him up. And when he woke up, then, contemptuously laughing at their stupidity, he grabbed them all in a lion's skin and carried them to Eurystheus.

The reader can imagine in what an uncomfortable position I lay all this time. Finally, after a great effort, I was fortunate enough to break the strings and pull out the pegs to which my left hand was tied; holding it up to my face, I realized in what way they had bound me. At the same time, pulling with all my strength and causing myself unbearable pain, I slightly loosened the laces that tied my hair to the ground on the left side, which allowed me to turn my head two inches. But the creatures fled a second time before I could catch any of them. Then there was a piercing cry, and when it died down, I heard one of them repeat loudly: "Tolgo fonak." At the same instant, I felt that hundreds of arrows were falling on my left hand, which pierced me like needles; this was followed by a second volley into the air, similar to how we shoot from mortars in Europe, and, I believe, many arrows fell on my body (although I did not feel it) and a few on my face, which I hastened to cover with my left hand. When this hail passed, I groaned from resentment and pain and again tried to free myself, but then a third volley followed, stronger than the first, and some of these creatures tried to stab me with spears in the sides, but, fortunately, I was wearing a leather jacket, which they couldn't break through. I reasoned that the most prudent thing was to lie still until nightfall, when it would be easy for me to free myself with the help of my left hand already untied; as for the natives, I had reason to hope that I could deal with whatever armies they might bring against me, if only they were made up of creatures of the same stature as the one I saw. However, fate decreed otherwise for me. When these people noticed that I was lying still, they stopped throwing arrows, but at the same time, from the increased noise, I concluded that their number had increased. At a distance of four yards from me, against my right ear, I heard a knocking that lasted for more than an hour, as if a building were being erected. Turning my head as far as the ropes and pegs that held it would allow, I saw a wooden platform, raised a foot and a half above the ground, on which four natives could fit, and two or three ladders to climb it. « ... wooden platform ...» - Here, perhaps, a sarcastic allusion to the custom that spread among the Whig aristocracy after the revolution of 1688 - to speak during election campaigns in the squares with public speeches.. From there, one of them, apparently a noble person, turned to me with a long speech, from which I did not understand a word. But I must mention that before the beginning of her speech, the high person shouted three times: "Langro de gyul san" (these words, as well as the previous ones, were later repeated and explained to me). Immediately after this, about fifty natives came up to me and cut the ropes that attached the left side of the head, which made it possible for me to turn it to the right and, thus, observe the face and gestures of the speaker. He seemed to me a middle-aged man, taller than the other three who accompanied him; one of the latter, a little larger than my middle finger, probably a page, held his train, the other two stood on the sides as his retinue. He played the role of speaker by all the rules: some periods of his speech expressed a threat, others - a promise, pity and favor. I answered in few words, but with an air of humility, raising my eyes and my left hand to the sun, as if calling the luminary to witness; and as I was almost starving to death—the last time I ate a few hours before leaving the ship—the demands of nature were so imperative that I could not restrain my once raised a finger to his mouth, wanting to show that I want to eat. Gurgo (as they call an important dignitary, as I found out later) perfectly understood me. He descended from the platform and ordered several ladders to be placed at my sides, on which more than a hundred natives climbed and went to my mouth, loaded with baskets of food, which were prepared and sent by order of the monarch, as soon as the news of my appearance reached him. These dishes included the meat of some animals, but I could not make out by taste which ones. There were shoulder blades, hams, and fillets that looked like lamb, very well cooked, but each part was barely the size of a lark's wing. I swallowed two and three pieces at a time, along with three loaves of bread no larger than a rifle bullet. The natives served me very promptly and expressed their surprise at my size and appetite in thousands of signs.

Then I began to make other signs, showing that I was thirsty. By the amount of what they ate, they concluded that I could not be satisfied with a small one, and, being a very inventive people, they extraordinarily deftly dragged one of the largest barrels onto me, and then rolled one of the largest barrels to my hand and knocked the bottom out of it; I drank it without difficulty in one breath, for it held no more than our half-pint. The wine tasted like Burgundy, but it was much more pleasant. Then they brought me another cask, which I drank in the same manner, and motioned for more, but they had no more. When I performed all the miracles described, the little men shouted for joy and danced on my chest, repeating their first exclamation many times: "Gekina degul." By signs they asked me to drop both barrels to the ground, but first they ordered those crowding below to step aside, shouting loudly: "Bora Mivola"; and when the barrels flew into the air, there was a unanimous cry: "Gekina degul." I confess that I was more than once tempted to seize the first forty or fifty little men that came to hand as they walked back and forth over my body, and hurl them to the ground. But the realization that they could cause me even more trouble than those that I had already experienced, as well as the solemn promise I made to them - for this was how I interpreted my submissive behavior - soon drove these thoughts away. On the other hand, I considered myself bound by the law of hospitality to this people, who did not spare me the cost of a magnificent meal. At the same time, I could not marvel enough at the fearlessness of the tiny creatures, who dared to climb on my body and walk around it, while one of my hands was free, and did not tremble at the sight of such a huge person as I should have appeared to them. Some time later, when they saw that I did not ask for more food, a person of high rank appeared to me on behalf of His Imperial Majesty. His Excellency, climbing on the lower part of my right leg, walked towards my face, accompanied by a dozen people in his retinue. He presented his credentials with the royal seal, bringing them close to my eyes, and made a speech that lasted about ten minutes and was delivered without the slightest sign of anger, but firmly and decisively, and he often pointed his finger forward, as it turned out later, by in the direction of the capital, which was half a mile away from us, where, by order of his majesty and the council of state, I was to be transferred. I answered in a few words which remained incomprehensible, so that I had to resort to the help of gestures: I pointed with my free hand to the other hand (but made this movement high above His Excellency's head, fearing to hurt him or his retinue), then to the head and body, making it clear in such a way that I would be released.

His Excellency probably understood me well enough, because, shaking his head negatively, he explained with gestures that I should be taken to the capital as a prisoner. Along with this, he made other signs, making it clear that I would be fed and watered there and generally treated well. Here again I had the urge to try to break my bonds; but, feeling still a burning pain on my face and hands, covered with blisters, with many arrows still sticking out of them, and noticing that the number of my enemies was constantly increasing, I made it clear by signs that they could do with me whatever they pleased. Satisfied with my consent, Gurgo and his retinue bowed graciously and retired with merry faces. Soon after this I heard a general jubilation, among which the words "the ashes of the villagers" were often repeated, and I felt that on the left side a large crowd loosened the ropes to such an extent that I could turn to the right side and urinate to my heart's content; this need was sent by me in abundance, which plunged into great amazement the little creatures, who, guessing from my movements what I was about to do, immediately parted in both directions so as not to fall into the stream that erupted from me with great noise and force. Earlier, they had anointed my face and hands with some composition of a pleasant smell, which in a few minutes soothed the burning pain caused by their arrows. All this, combined with a hearty breakfast and excellent wine, had a beneficial effect on me and inclined me to sleep. I overslept, as I was later told, about eight o'clock; there is nothing surprising in this, since the doctors, by order of the emperor, mixed sleepy drink into barrels of wine.

Apparently, as soon as the natives found me sleeping on land after the shipwreck, they immediately sent a messenger to the emperor with news of this discovery. Immediately a council of state was assembled and a decision was made to bind me in the manner described above (which was carried out at night when I was sleeping), send me food and drink in large quantities and prepare a car for transporting me to the capital. Perhaps such a decision will seem too bold and dangerous, and I am convinced that in a similar case, no European monarch would do so. However, in my opinion, this decision was as prudent as it was generous. Indeed, suppose that these people would try to kill me with their spears and arrows during my sleep. What would happen? Feeling pain, I would probably immediately wake up and in a fit of rage break the ropes with which I was bound, after which they could not resist and expect mercy from me.

These people are excellent mathematicians and have achieved great perfection in mechanics thanks to the encouragement and support of the emperor, the famous patron of sciences. This monarch has many vehicles on wheels to carry logs and other heavy loads. He often builds huge warships, sometimes reaching nine feet in length, in places where timber grows, and from there transports them in these machines three or four hundred yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were assigned immediately to make the largest cart they could ever make. It was a platform of wood raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long and four feet wide, with twenty-two wheels. The exclamations I heard were the greeting of the people on the occasion of the arrival of this cart, which was sent for me, I think, four hours after I went ashore. She was placed next to me, parallel to my torso. The main difficulty, however, was to lift me up and put me in the described cart. For this purpose, eighty piles, each one foot high, were driven in, and very strong ropes were prepared as thick as our twine; these ropes were attached with hooks to numerous bandages with which the workers wrapped around my neck, arms, torso and legs. Nine hundred elite strong men began to pull the ropes with many blocks attached to piles, and in this way in less than three hours I was lifted, put in a cart and tightly tied to it. All this was told to me later, because during this operation I slept in a deep sleep, in which I was immersed in a hypnotic mixture mixed with wine. One and a half thousand of the largest horses from the court stables, each about four and a half inches high, were needed to bring me to the capital, located, as already said, at a distance of half a mile from where I lay.

We had been on the road for about four hours when I woke up thanks to a very funny incident. The cart stopped for some repairs; taking advantage of this, two or three young men were curious to see how I am when I sleep; they climbed onto the wagon and quietly crept up to my face; then one of them, an officer of the guard, thrust the point of his pike into my left nostril; it tickled like a straw and I sneezed loudly. The frightened brave men immediately disappeared, and only after three weeks did I find out the reason for my sudden awakening. We spent the rest of the day on the road; at night they settled down to rest, and beside me five hundred guardsmen were placed on guard on both sides, half with torches, and the other half with bows at the ready, to shoot at my first attempt to move. At sunrise we set off again, and by noon we were within two hundred yards of the city gates. The emperor and his entire court came out to meet me, but the highest dignitaries resolutely opposed the intention of his majesty to climb on my body, fearing to endanger his person.

In the square where the cart stopped, there was an ancient temple, which was considered the most extensive in the whole kingdom. A few years ago, this temple was desecrated by a brutal murder, and since then the local population, distinguished by great piety, began to look at it as a place unworthy of a shrine; as a result, he was turned into a public building, all decorations and utensils were taken out of it. This building was designated for my residence. The large door, facing north, was about four feet high and nearly two feet wide, so that I could crawl through it fairly freely. On either side of the door, about six inches from the ground, were two small windows; through the left window, the court smiths passed ninety-one chains, like those that our European ladies wear with watches, and almost the same size; these chains were fastened to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks « …thirty-six padlocks.” - Swift named the same numbers in The Tale of the Barrel, which was released more than two decades before Gulliver:

I wrote 91 pamphlets during three reigns at the service of 36 factions.

The Emperor of Lilliput, accompanied by numerous nobles, comes to visit the author in his custody. Description of the appearance and clothing of the emperor. The author is assigned teachers to teach the Lilliputian language. By his meek behavior, he achieves the favor of the emperor. They search the author's pockets and take away his saber and pistols

I got to my feet and looked around. I must confess that I have never seen a more attractive landscape. The whole surrounding countryside appeared to be a continuous garden, and the enclosed fields, each of which occupied no more than forty square feet, looked like flower beds. These fields alternated with a half-stand-high forest, where the tallest trees, as far as I could judge, were no more than seven feet. To the left lay the city, which had the appearance of a theatrical scenery.

For several hours now I have been extremely disturbed by one natural need, which is not surprising, since the last time I relieved myself was almost two days ago. The feeling of shame was replaced by the most severe urges. The best thing I could think of was to crawl into my house; so I did; closing the doors behind me, I climbed as deep as the chains would allow, and freed my body from the weight that was bothering it. But this was the only case that could serve as a pretext for accusing me of uncleanliness, and I hope for the indulgence of an impartial reader, especially if he discusses the plight in which I was mature and unprejudiced. Subsequently, I sent out the said demand early in the morning in the open air, moving away from the temple as far as the chains would allow, and due care was taken that two servants appointed for this purpose carried away the foul-smelling substance in wheelbarrows before the arrival of guests to me. I would not have dwelled so long on a subject that at first glance seemed to be unimportant, if I did not consider it necessary to publicly justify myself on the part of cleanliness, which, as I know, some of my ill-wishers were pleased to, referring to this and other cases, to question.

Having finished this business, I went outside to get some fresh air. The emperor had already descended from the tower and was heading towards me on horseback. This courage almost cost him dearly. The fact is that although his horse was well trained, but with such an extraordinary spectacle - as if the mountain had moved in front of it - it reared up. However, the emperor, being an excellent rider, remained in the saddle until the servants arrived, who, grabbing the horse by the bridle, helped his majesty get off. Dismounting from his horse, he looked at me with great surprise from all sides, keeping, however, beyond the length of the chains that chained me. He ordered his cooks and butlers, who stood ready, to give me food and drink, and they wheeled provisions and wine to me in special carts at a distance that I could get them. I took them and quickly emptied them; twenty such carts contained food, and ten drinks. Each wagon of provisions was destroyed by me in two or three gulps, and as for wine, I poured the contents of ten clay flasks into one wagon and drained it at once; I did the same with the rest of the wine. The empress, the young princes and princesses of the blood, together with the ladies of the court, sat in armchairs at some distance, but after the adventure with the emperor's horse, they all got up and approached his person, whom I now want to describe. He is almost my fingernail taller than all his courtiers. « ... on my fingernail above all his courtiers ...”- By Lilliput, Swift meant England, and the Lilliputian emperor, according to his plan, had to resemble George I in some ways. But the English king was small, clumsy, and his manners were devoid of dignity. It is possible that their external difference was emphasized by Swift for reasons of caution, but it is possible that, when creating his satire, he did not strive for portrait resemblance.; this alone is quite enough to inspire respectful fear. His features are sharp and courageous, his lips are Austrian, his nose is aquiline, his complexion is olive, his body is straight, his torso, arms and legs are proportional, his movements are graceful, his posture is majestic. « ... Austrian lips ...» - The members of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty had a protruding lower lip.. He is no longer the first youth - he is twenty-eight years and nine months old, and seven of them he reigns, surrounded by prosperity, and for the most part victorious. In order to get a better view of his majesty, I lay on my side so that my face was just opposite to him, while he was standing at a distance of only three yards from me; besides, I later took him in my arms several times, and therefore I cannot be mistaken in his description. The emperor's clothes were very modest and simple, the style was something between Asian and European, but on his head he wore a light gold helmet, decorated with precious stones and a feather on top. He held a drawn sword in his hand for protection in case I broke the chain; this sword was about three inches long, its golden hilt and scabbard adorned with diamonds. His Majesty's voice is shrill, but clear and so intelligible that even standing I could clearly hear him. The ladies and courtiers were all splendidly dressed, so that the place they occupied was like a spread skirt embroidered with gold and silver patterns. His Imperial Majesty often turned to me with questions, to which I answered him, but neither he nor I understood a word of what they said to each other. There were also priests and lawyers (as I concluded from their costume), who were ordered to enter into conversation with me; I, in turn, spoke to them in various languages ​​with which I had at least some familiarity: German, Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian and the lingua franca The lingua franca is the dialect of the ports of the Mediterranean, consisting of a mixture of Italian, Spanish, Greek, Arabic and other words., but all this did not lead to anything. Two hours later, the court withdrew, and I was left under a strong guard - to guard against the daring and, perhaps, even malicious antics of the mob, which persistently strove to squeeze closer to me, as far as they had the courage; some even had the shamelessness to shoot a few arrows at me while I was sitting on the ground at the door of my house; one of them almost hit me in the left eye. However, the colonel ordered that the six instigators be seized and decided that the best punishment for them would be to tie them up and hand them over to me. The soldiers did just that, pushing the mischievous people towards me with the blunt ends of their pikes; I grabbed them all in my right hand and put five in the pocket of my camisole; as for the sixth, I pretended to want to eat him alive. The poor little man squealed desperately, and the colonel and the officers were greatly disturbed when they saw that I had taken a penknife out of my pocket. But I soon reassured them: looking kindly at my prisoner, I cut the ropes that bound him and carefully placed him on the ground; he immediately ran away. I did the same with the others, taking them one at a time from my pocket. And I saw that the soldiers and the people were very pleased with my mercy, which was reported at court in a very favorable light for me.

At nightfall I entered my house, not without difficulty, and lay down to sleep on the bare earth. In this way I passed the nights for about two weeks, during which, by order of the emperor, a bed was made for me. Six hundred ordinary-sized mattresses were brought in, and work began in my house: one hundred and fifty pieces were sewn together, and thus formed one mattress, suitable for me in length and width; four of these mattresses were laid one on top of the other, but the hard floor of smooth stone on which I slept did not become much softer. By the same calculation, sheets, blankets and bedspreads were made, tolerable enough for a person who had long been accustomed to hardship.

As soon as the news of my arrival spread throughout the kingdom, crowds of rich, leisurely and curious people began to flock to look at me from everywhere. The villages were almost deserted, which would have resulted in great damage to agriculture and the household, if the timely orders of His Majesty had not prevented disasters. He ordered those who had already seen me to return home and not come closer than fifty yards to my quarters without special permission from the court, which brought great income to the ministers.

Meanwhile, the emperor held frequent councils at which the question of what to do with me was discussed. Later, I learned from a close friend of mine, a very noble person and well-versed in state secrets, that the court was in great difficulty regarding me. On the one hand, they were afraid that I would break the chains; on the other hand, there was a fear that my content would be too expensive and could cause starvation in the country. Sometimes they stopped at the thought of killing me or, at least, covering my face and hands with poisoned arrows in order to send me to the other world as soon as possible; but then they took into account that the decomposition of such a huge corpse could cause a plague in the capital and throughout the kingdom. In the midst of these meetings, several officers gathered at the doors of the great council hall, and two of them, being admitted to the meeting, presented a detailed report on my act with the six said mischievous people. This made such a favorable impression on his majesty and the whole council of state that an imperial decree was immediately issued, obliging all villages within nine hundred yards of the capital to bring six bulls, forty rams and other provisions for my table every morning, along with an appropriate amount of bread, wine and other drinks, at a fixed rate and at the expense of sums appropriated for this purpose from his majesty's own treasury. It should be noted that this monarch lives mainly on the income from his personal estates and very rarely, in the most exceptional cases, turns to his subjects for a subsidy. « …very rarely…applies for a subsidy…”- Swift's allusion to subsidies requested by the English kings from Parliament, both for public needs and for personal expenses., who, on the other hand, are obliged, at his request, to go to war in their own weapons. In addition, a staff of six hundred servants was established under me, for which food money was allocated and comfortable tents were built on both sides of my door. In like manner an order was given for three hundred tailors to make for me a suit of the local style; that six of His Majesty's greatest scholars should be engaged in teaching me the local language; and, finally, that exercises be carried out in my presence as often as possible on horses belonging to the emperor, courtiers and guards, with the aim of accustoming them to me. All these orders were duly carried out, and after three weeks I made great progress in learning the Lilliputian language. During this time, the emperor often honored me with his visits and graciously helped my tutors to teach me. We were already able to explain ourselves to each other, and the first words that I learned expressed the desire that his majesty deign to grant me freedom; these words I repeated daily on my knees to the emperor. In response to my request, the emperor, as far as I could understand him, said that liberation was a matter of time, that it could not be granted without the consent of the state council, and that first I must "lumos kelmin pesso deemarlon emposo", that is, take an oath to preserve peace with him and his empire. However, my treatment will be the most kind; and the emperor advised by patience and modesty to earn a good attitude towards himself both from him and from his subjects. He asked me not to be offended if he ordered special officials to search me. « ...search me...» - The description of the search and confiscation from Gulliver of the completely harmless contents of his pockets is Swift’s mockery of the zeal of English state agents who were searching for weapons from persons suspected of sympathizing with the Jacobites, that is, supporters of the restoration of the Stuarts, who were overthrown in 1688 and expelled from England . One of these agents in Ireland handed over to the Dublin prison "dangerous" items taken from Swift himself: a poker, tongs and a shovel., since he believes that I have a weapon that must be very dangerous if it matches the huge size of my body. I asked his majesty to be calm on this point, declaring that I was ready to undress and turn out my pockets in his presence. All this I explained partly in words, partly in signs. The emperor answered me that, according to the laws of the empire, a search must be carried out by two of his officials; that he understands that this requirement of the law cannot be carried out without my consent and my help; that, having a high opinion of my generosity and justice, he will calmly hand over these officials into my hands; that the things they have taken away will be returned to me if I leave this country, or else I will be paid for them, as I myself appoint. I took both officials in my hands and put them first in the pockets of my camisole, and then in all the others, except for two sentries and one secret one, which I did not want to show, because it contained several trifles that no one except me needed. In the watch pockets lay: in one a silver watch, and in the other a purse with several gold ones. These gentlemen had paper, pen and ink with them, and made a detailed inventory of everything they found. « ... a detailed description of everything ..."- Swift ridicules the activities of the Secret Committee, established by the Prime Minister of the Whig government, Robert Walpole, who replaced Swift's friend Bolinbroke in this post. The spies of this committee conducted surveillance in France and England of the activities of the Jacobites and Bolinbroke associated with them, who in 1711 entered into secret negotiations with the French government. As a result of these negotiations, the Peace of Utrecht (1713) was concluded, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession.. When the inventory was completed, they asked me to land them on the ground so that they could present it to the emperor. I later translated this inventory into English. Here it is word for word:

First, in the right pocket of the coat of the great Man of the Mountain (so I render the words of Quinbus Flestrin), after careful examination, we found only a large piece of rough canvas, which, in its size, could serve as a carpet for the main state hall of Your Majesty's palace. In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest with a lid made of the same metal, which we, the examiners, could not lift. When, at our request, the chest was opened and one of us entered it, he sank up to his knees in some kind of dust, some of which, rising to our faces, made us both sneeze loudly several times. In the right pocket of the waistcoat we found a huge pile of thin white substances stacked one on top of the other; This bale, three people thick, is tied with strong ropes and covered with black signs, which, according to our modest assumption, are nothing but letters, each letter of which is equal to half of our palm. In the left vest pocket there was a tool, to the back of which twenty long poles were attached, resembling a palisade in front of Your Majesty's court; according to our assumption, the Man of Horus combs his hair with this tool, but this is only an assumption: we do not always disturb him with questions, because it was very difficult for us to communicate with him. In a large pocket on the right side of the middle cover (as I translate the word "ranfulo", by which they meant trousers) we saw a hollow iron pillar, the length of a man, attached to a strong piece of wood, larger in size than the pillar itself; on one side of the pillar stick out large pieces of iron, of a very strange shape, the purpose of which we could not determine. A similar machine was found by us in the left pocket. In a smaller pocket on the right side were several flat disks of white and red metal, of various sizes; some of the white disks, apparently silver, are so large and heavy that the two of us could hardly lift them. In the left pocket we found two irregularly shaped black columns; standing at the bottom of the pocket, we could only reach the top with great difficulty. One of the columns is enclosed in a cover and consists of a solid material, but at the upper end of the other there is some kind of round white body, twice the size of our head. Encased in each column is a huge steel plate; believing that they were dangerous weapons, we asked the Man of the Mountain to explain their use. Taking both tools out of the case, he said that in his country one of them shaves the beard, and the other cuts the meat. In addition, we found two more pockets on Man Mountain, where we could not enter. These pockets he calls sentries; they represent two wide slits cut in the upper part of its middle cover, and therefore strongly compressed by the pressure of its belly. From the right pocket descends a large silver chain with an outlandish machine lying at the bottom of the pocket. We ordered him to take out everything that was attached to this chain; the object taken out turned out to be like a ball, one half of which was made of silver, and the other of some transparent metal; when we, noticing on this side of the ball some strange signs arranged along the circumference, tried to touch them, our fingers rested against this transparent substance. The Man of Horus brought this machine close to our ears; then we heard a continuous noise, similar to the noise of the wheel of a water mill. We believe that this is either an animal unknown to us, or a deity revered by it. But we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because, according to him (if we have correctly understood the explanation of the Man of the Mountain, who speaks our language very badly), he rarely does anything without consulting him. This object he calls his oracle and says that it indicates the time of each step of his life. From the left pocket of his watch the Man of Horus took out a net almost as large as a fishing net, but arranged so that it can close and open like a purse, which it serves him; on the net we found several massive pieces of yellow metal, and if this is real gold, then it should be of great value.

Thus, in fulfillment of Your Majesty's command, having carefully examined all the pockets of the Man of the Mountain, we proceeded to further examination and opened a belt on him made of the skin of some huge animal; on this belt on the left side hangs a saber, five times longer than the average human height, and on the right - a bag or bag, divided into two compartments, of which three subjects of Your Majesty can be placed in each. We found in one compartment of the bag many balls of extremely heavy metal; each ball, being almost the size of our head, requires great strength to lift it; in another compartment lay a bunch of some black grains of not very large volume and weight: we could put up to fifty such grains on the palm of our hand.

Such is the exact description of the Man of the Mountain found by us during the search, who behaved politely and with due deference to the executors of Your Majesty's orders. Signed and sealed on the fourth day of the eighty-ninth moon of Your Majesty's prosperous reign.

Clephrin Freloc,

Marcy Frelock

When this inventory was read to the emperor, his majesty demanded, albeit in the most delicate form, that I hand over some of the items listed in it. First of all, he offered to give him a saber, which I removed along with the scabbard and everything that was with it. In the meantime, the emperor ordered three thousand selected troops (who on this day were guarding his majesty) to surround me at a certain distance and keep my bow at gunpoint, which, however, I did not notice, since my eyes were fixed on his majesty. The emperor wished me to draw my sword, which, though rusty in places from the sea water, still shone brightly. I obeyed, and at the same moment all the soldiers let out a cry of horror and surprise: the rays of the sun reflected on the steel blinded them when I swung the saber from side to side. His majesty, the bravest of monarchs, was less frightened than I could have expected. He ordered me to sheathe my weapon and throw it as carefully as possible on the ground about six feet from the end of my chain. Then he demanded to see one of the hollow iron posts, by which he meant my pocket pistols. I took out a pistol and, at the request of the emperor, explained, as best I could, its use; then, having loaded it only with gunpowder, which, thanks to the hermetically sealed powder flask, turned out to be completely dry (all prudent sailors take special precautions in this regard), I warned the emperor not to be frightened, and fired into the air. This time the surprise was much stronger than at the sight of my saber. Hundreds of people fell, as if struck to death, and even the emperor himself, although he stood on his feet, could not recover for some time. I gave away both pistols in the same way as the saber, and did the same with bullets and gunpowder, but asked His Majesty to keep the latter away from the fire, since from the slightest spark it could ignite and blow up the imperial palace into the air. Likewise I handed over the watch, which the emperor examined with great curiosity, and ordered two of the heaviest guardsmen to carry it away, putting it on a pole and resting the pole on their shoulders, as porters in England carry casks of ale. The emperor was most struck by the continuous noise of the clock mechanism and the movement of the minute hand, which he could clearly see, because the Lilliputians have sharper eyesight than we do. He invited the scientists to express their opinion on this machine, but the reader will guess for himself that the scientists did not come to any unanimous conclusion, and all their assumptions, which, however, I did not understand well, were very far from the truth; then I handed over silver and copper money, a purse with ten large and several small gold coins, a knife, a razor, a comb, a silver snuffbox, a handkerchief and a notebook. The saber, pistols and a bag of gunpowder and bullets were sent on carts to the arsenal of his majesty, the rest of the things were returned to me.

I have already said above that I had a secret pocket which my detectives did not discover; it contained spectacles (thanks to my poor eyesight, I sometimes use them), a pocket spyglass, and a few other little things. Since these things were of no interest to the emperor, I did not consider it a duty of honor to declare them, especially since I was afraid that they would not be lost or damaged if they fell into the wrong hands.

My meekness and good behavior reconciled the emperor, the court, the army, and in general the whole people with me to such an extent that I began to cherish the hope of soon obtaining freedom. I did my best to strengthen this favorable location. The population gradually got used to me and became less afraid of me. Sometimes I lay down on the ground and let five or six midgets dance on my arm. In the end, even the children dared to play hide and seek in my hair. I learned to understand and speak their language quite tolerably. Once the idea came to the emperor to entertain me with acrobatic performances, in which the Lilliputians, by their dexterity and splendor, surpass other peoples known to me. But nothing amused me more than the exercises of the rope dancers, performed on thin white threads two feet long, stretched twelve inches above the ground. On this subject, I want to dwell a little more in detail and ask the reader for a little patience.

These exercises are performed only by persons who are candidates for high positions and seek the favor of the court. They are trained in this art from a young age and are not always of noble birth or wide education. When a vacancy for a high office opens, by death or disgrace (which happens often), five or six such applicants petition the emperor to allow them to entertain his imperial majesty and court with rope dancing; and whoever jumps the highest without falling, gets the vacant position. Quite often even the first ministers are ordered to show their dexterity and testify before the emperor that they have not lost their abilities. Flimnap, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is famous for jumping a taut rope at least an inch higher than any other dignitary in the whole empire ever managed. I happened to see how he tumbled several times in a row on a small board attached to a rope no thicker than an ordinary English twine. My friend Reldresel, chief secretary of the Privy Council, in my opinion - if only my friendship for him does not blind me - can take second place in this respect after the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The rest of the dignitaries are almost on the same level in the aforementioned art. « ...exercises of rope dancers...» - Here: a satirical depiction of the clever and shameless political machinations and intrigues by which careerists achieved royal favors and government positions. Flimnap. – This image is a satire on Robert Walpole, to whom Swift was extremely hostile and repeatedly ridiculed. Walpole's unscrupulousness and careerism, depicted here by Swift as "jumping on a tightrope", were exposed both by Swift's friend, the poet and playwright John Gay (1685-1752) in his Beggar's Opera (1728), and by Henry Fielding (1707-1754) in his political comedy "The Historical Calendar for 1756" (1757). Reldresel. - Apparently, this name depicts Earl Stanhope, who briefly replaced Robert Walpole in 1717. Prime Minister Stanhope was more tolerant of Jacobites and Tories; among the latter were many of Swift's friends..

These entertainments are often accompanied by misfortunes, the memory of which is preserved by history. I myself have seen two or three applicants hurt themselves. But the danger increases even more when the ministers themselves are ordered to show their dexterity. For, striving to surpass themselves and their rivals, they show such zeal that rarely one of them does not break and fall, sometimes even twice or three times. I was assured that a year or two before my arrival, Flimnap would certainly have broken his neck if one of the royal pillows, accidentally lying on the floor, had not softened the blow from his fall. « ...Flimnap would certainly break his neck...»- After the death of Stanhope, thanks to the intrigues of the Duchess of Kendel, one of the favorites of George I, Robert Walpole was again appointed prime minister in 1721. The Duchess of Kendel is here referred to allegorically as the “royal pillow”..

In addition, on special occasions, another entertainment is arranged here, which is given in the presence of only the emperor, empress and first minister. The emperor lays on the table three thin silk threads, blue, red, and green, each six inches long. These threads are intended as a reward for persons whom the emperor wishes to distinguish with a special sign of his favor. Blue, red and green- the colors of the English orders of the Garter, the Bath and St. Andrew. The ancient Order of the Bath, founded in 1559 and defunct in 1669, was re-established by Walpole in 1725 specifically for the purpose of rewarding his henchmen. Walpole himself was awarded this order and the Order of the Garter in the same year - in 1726, that is, in the year the first edition of Gulliver was published. In the first edition of the book, out of caution, instead of the original colors of the orders, others were named: purple, yellow and white. In the second edition, Swift replaced them with the true colors of the English orders.. The ceremony takes place in His Majesty's great throne room, where the applicants are subjected to a test of dexterity very different from the previous one, and not having the slightest resemblance to those that I have seen in the countries of the Old and New Worlds. The emperor holds a stick in his hands in a horizontal position, and the applicants, approaching one after another, either jump over the stick, or crawl under it back and forth several times, depending on whether the stick is raised or lowered; sometimes one end of the stick is held by the emperor, and the other by his first minister, sometimes only the last one holds the stick. Whoever does all the exercises described with the greatest ease and agility and excels most in jumping and crawling is awarded a blue thread; red is given to the second in dexterity, and green to the third. The granted thread is worn in the form of a belt, wrapping it twice around the waist. It is rare to find a person at court who does not have such a belt.

Every day horses from the regimental and royal stables were led past me, so that they soon ceased to be afraid of me and came up to my very feet without rushing to the side. The riders forced the horses to jump over my hand laid on the ground, and once the imperial huntsman on a tall horse even jumped over my foot, shod in a shoe; it was a truly amazing jump.

Once I had the good fortune to amuse the emperor in the most extraordinary way. I asked for some sticks two feet long and as thick as an ordinary cane; his majesty ordered the chief forester to make the appropriate arrangements, and the next morning seven foresters brought what was required on seven carts, each of which was drawn by eight horses. I took nine sticks and drove them hard into the ground in the form of a square, each side of which was two and a half feet long; at a height of about two feet, I tied to the four corners of this square another four sticks parallel to the ground; then on nine stakes I pulled the handkerchief tight as a drum; four horizontal sticks, rising about five inches above the handkerchief, formed a kind of railing on each side. Having completed these preparations, I asked the emperor to detach twenty-four of the best cavalrymen for exercises on the platform I had arranged. His majesty approved my proposal, and when the cavalry arrived, I raised them in turn on horseback and fully armed, along with the officers who commanded them. Having lined up, they divided into two detachments and began maneuvers: they fired blunt arrows at each other, rushed at each other with drawn sabers, now taking flight, now pursuing, now leading an attack, now retreating - in a word, showing the best military training, which I have ever seen. Horizontal sticks prevented riders and their horses from falling off the platform. The emperor was so delighted that he forced me to repeat this entertainment for several days in a row, and one day he deigned to go up to the platform himself and personally command the maneuvers. "The Emperor was so delighted ..." - A hint of George I's predilection for military parades.. Though with great difficulty, he succeeded in persuading the Empress to allow me to hold her in a closed chair two yards from the platform, so that she could have a good view of the entire performance. Fortunately for me, all these exercises went well; once the hot horse of one of the officers made a hole in my handkerchief with his hoof and stumbled and fell and knocked over his rider, but I immediately rescued both of them and, covering the hole with one hand, lowered the whole cavalry to the ground with the other hand in the same way that I raised it . The fallen horse dislocated its left front leg, but the rider was not injured. I carefully repaired the handkerchief, but since then I have ceased to trust its strength in such dangerous exercises.

Two or three days before my release, just at the time when I was entertaining the court with my inventions, a messenger arrived to his majesty with a report that several subjects, passing near the place where I was found, saw some kind of that huge black body, of a very strange shape, with wide flat edges all around, occupying a space equal to the bedroom of his majesty, and with the middle raised above the ground to the height of human growth; that it was not some living creature, as they initially feared, for it lay motionless on the grass, and some of them circled it several times; that, standing on each other's shoulders, they climbed to the top of the mysterious body, which turned out to be a flat surface, and the body itself was hollow inside, as they were convinced by stamping their feet on it; that they humbly speculate whether it is some kind of accessory of the Man of the Mountain; and if it pleases his majesty, they undertake to deliver him with only five horses. I immediately guessed what was being discussed, and heartily rejoiced at this news. Apparently, when I got to the shore after the shipwreck, I was so upset that I did not notice how on the way to my place of lodging for the night my hat fell off, which I tied to my chin with a string when rowing in a boat, and pulled it tightly over my ears when floated on the sea. I probably did not notice how the lace broke, and decided that the hat was lost at sea. Having described the properties and purpose of this item, I begged His Majesty to order that it be delivered to me as soon as possible. The next day the hat was brought to me, but not in a brilliant condition. The carters made two holes in the fields an inch and a half from the edge, hooked them with hooks, tied the hooks with a long rope to the harness, and thus dragged my headdress for a good half a mile. But due to the fact that the soil in this country is unusually even and smooth, the hat received less damage than I expected.

Two or three days after the incident described, the emperor gave the order for the army stationed in the capital and its environs to be ready to march. His Majesty came up with a fantasy to give himself a rather strange entertainment. He wished me to take the position of the Colossus of Rhodes, spreading my legs as wide as possible. « ... in the pose of the Colossus of Rhodes ...» - Colossus - a giant bronze statue of the sun god Helios, erected in the harbor of the island of Rhodes in 280 BC. e. The statue's feet rested on the banks on both sides of the harbour. The statue was destroyed by an earthquake 56 years later.. Then he ordered the commander-in-chief (an old experienced general and my great patron) to draw up the troops in close ranks and lead them in a ceremonial march between my legs - infantry twenty-four abreast, and cavalry sixteen - with drumming, banners unfurled and lances raised. The entire corps consisted of three thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry. His Majesty ordered that the soldiers, under pain of death, behave quite decently towards my person during the ceremonial march, which, however, did not prevent some of the young officers, passing under me, from raising their eyes upwards; and to tell the truth, my pantaloons were at that time in such bad condition that they gave me some cause for laughter and astonishment.

I submitted so many petitions and memorandums to the emperor for granting me freedom, that at last his majesty put this question for discussion, first in his cabinet, and then in the council of state, where no one raised objections, with the exception of Skyresh Bolgolam, who liked it, without any reason with my hand, become my mortal enemy Skyresh Bolgolam“This refers to the Duke of Argyll, offended by Swift’s attacks on the Scots, which were contained in his pamphlet The Public Spirit of the Whigs. In one of his poems about himself, Swift mentions a proclamation in which, by order of the Duke of Argyll, a reward was promised for the extradition of the author of this pamphlet.. But, despite his opposition, the matter was decided by the whole council and approved by the emperor in my favor. Bolgolam held the post of galbet, that is, admiral of the royal fleet, enjoyed great confidence in the emperor and was a man very knowledgeable in his business, but sullen and harsh. However, he was finally persuaded to give his consent, but he insisted that he be entrusted with drawing up the conditions under which I would receive freedom, after I had taken a solemn oath to sacredly observe them. Skyresh Bolgolam delivered these conditions to me personally, accompanied by two assistant secretaries and several noble persons. When they were read, I had to swear that I would not violate them, and the rite of oath was performed first according to the customs of my homeland, and then according to the method prescribed by local laws, which consisted in the fact that I had to keep my right foot in my left hand , putting at the same time the middle finger of the right hand on the crown, and the thumb on the top of the right ear. But it may be of interest to the reader to form some idea of ​​the style and characteristic expressions of this people, and also to get acquainted with the conditions under which I received my freedom; therefore I will give here a complete literal translation of the said document, made by me with the greatest care.

Golbasto momaren evlem gerdailo shefinmolliolligu, the most powerful emperor of Lilliput, the joy and horror of the universe, whose possession, occupying five thousand brilliants (about twelve miles in circumference), extends to the extreme limits of the globe « ... to the extreme limits of the globe ...”- Here is an inaccuracy: it is further said that the Lilliputians considered the earth to be flat.; a monarch over monarchs, the greatest of the sons of men, with his feet resting on the center of the earth, and with his head touching the sun; at one wave of which the knees of earthly kings tremble; pleasant as spring, beneficent as summer, plentiful as autumn, and severe as winter. His Highest Majesty proposes to the Man of Horus, who has recently arrived in our heavenly domain, the following points, which the Man of Horus undertakes under solemn oath to fulfill:

1. The Man of Horus does not have the right to leave our state without our permit with a large seal attached.

2. He has no right to enter our capital without our special command, and the inhabitants must be warned two hours in advance in order to have time to take refuge in their homes.

3. The named Man of the Mountain must confine his walks to our main high roads and dare not walk or lie down in the meadows and fields.

4. While walking along the named roads, he must carefully look under his feet, so as not to trample on any of our kind subjects or their horses and carts; he must not take the named subjects into his hands without their consent.

5. If a speedy delivery of the messenger to his destination is required, then the Man of Horus undertakes once a moon to carry the messenger in his pocket along with the horse for a distance of six days' journey and (if necessary) deliver the named messenger safe and sound back to our imperial majesty.

6. He must be our ally against the island of Blefuscu, which is hostile to us, and make every effort to destroy the enemy fleet, which is now being equipped to attack us.

7. The said Man of the Mountain undertakes, during his leisure hours, to assist our workers by lifting especially heavy stones in the construction of the wall of our main park, as well as in the construction of our other buildings.

8. The said Man of Horus, within two moons, must accurately measure the circumference of our possessions, going around the entire coast and counting the number of steps taken.

Finally, under a solemn oath, the said Man of Horus undertakes to strictly observe the indicated conditions, and then he, the Man of Horus, will receive daily food and drink in an amount sufficient to feed our 1728 subjects, and will enjoy free access to our august person and other signs. our favor. Given at Belfaborak, in our palace, on the twelfth day of the ninety-first moon of our reign.

It was with great joy and satisfaction that I took the oath and signed these clauses, although some of them were not as honorable as I should have wished; they were dictated solely by the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam, the supreme admiral. After taking the oath, my chains were immediately removed, and I received complete freedom; the emperor himself honored me with his presence at the ceremony of my release. As a sign of gratitude, I fell prostrate at the feet of his majesty, but the emperor ordered me to get up, and after many gracious words, which I - in order to avoid reproaches of vanity - I will not repeat, added that he hoped to find in me a useful servant and a person quite worthy of those favors which he has already rendered to me and may render in the future.

Let the reader deign to pay attention to the fact that in the last paragraph of the conditions for the return of my freedom, the emperor decides to give me food and drink in an amount sufficient to feed 1728 Lilliputians. Some time later, I asked one of my courtier friends how such an exact figure was established. To this he replied that His Majesty's mathematicians, having determined the height of my growth with the help of a quadrant and finding that this height is in such a ratio to the height of a midget as twelve to one, concluded, on the basis of the similarity of our bodies, that the volume of my body is equal, at least the volume of 1728 bodies of midgets, and therefore, it requires the same amount of food. From this, the reader can form an idea of ​​both the intelligence of this people and the wise prudence of its great sovereign.

Description of mildendo, the capital of Lilliput, and the imperial palace. Conversation of the author with the first secretary about state affairs. The author offers his services to the emperor in his wars

Having obtained my freedom, I first of all asked permission to visit Mildendo, the capital of the state. The emperor gave it to me without difficulty, but strictly ordered me not to cause any harm to either the inhabitants or their homes. The population was notified of my intention to visit the city by a special proclamation. The capital is surrounded by a wall two and a half feet high and not less than eleven inches thick, so that a carriage drawn by a pair of horses can safely pass over it; This wall is covered with strong towers, rising at a distance of ten feet from one another. Stepping over the great Western Gate, I very slowly, sideways, walked along the two main streets in one vest, for fear of damaging the roofs and cornices of houses with the skirts of my caftan. I moved very carefully so as not to trample on careless passers-by who remained on the street in spite of the strict order given to the inhabitants of the capital not to leave the house for safety. The windows of the upper floors and the roofs of the houses were covered with such a multitude of spectators that, I think, in none of my travels did I happen to see a more crowded place. The city has the shape of a regular quadrangle, and each side of the city wall is five hundred feet. Two main streets, each five feet wide, intersect at right angles and divide the city into four quarters. The side streets and lanes, where I could not enter and only saw them, are from twelve to eighteen inches wide. The city can hold up to five hundred thousand souls. Three- and five-story houses. The shops and markets are full of goods.

The Imperial Palace is located in the city center at the intersection of two main streets. It is surrounded by a wall two feet high, twenty feet from the buildings. I had His Majesty's permission to step over the wall, and since the distance separating it from the palace was large enough, I could easily examine the latter from all sides. The outer court is a square with a side of forty feet and contains two other courts, of which the imperial chambers are located in the inner one. I really wanted to see them, but it was difficult to fulfill this desire, because the main gate connecting one court to another was only eighteen inches high and seven inches wide. On the other side, the buildings of the outer court reach a height of at least five feet, and therefore I could not step over them without doing much damage to the buildings, despite the fact that their walls are strong, cut stone, and four inches thick. At the same time, the emperor was very eager to show me the splendor of his palace. However, I managed to fulfill our common desire only after three days, which I used for preparatory work. In the imperial park, a hundred yards from the city, I cut down with my penknife some of the largest trees, and made of them two stools, about three feet high, and strong enough to bear my weight. Then, after a second announcement warning the inhabitants, I again went to the palace through the city with two stools in my hands. Approaching from the side of the outer court, I stood on one stool, lifted another over the roof, and placed it carefully on the platform, eight feet wide, which separated the first court from the second. Then I freely stepped over the buildings from one stool to another and lifted the first to me with a long stick with a hook. By such contrivances I reached the very inner court; there I lay down on the ground and put my face close to the windows of the middle floor, which had been purposely left open: in this way I was able to view the most luxurious chambers that you can imagine. I saw the empress and the young princes in their chambers, surrounded by their retinue. Her Imperial Majesty graciously deigned to smile at me and gracefully extended her hand through the window, which I kissed "Her Imperial Majesty ..." - This refers to Queen Anne, who ruled England in 1702-1714..

However, I will not dwell on further details, because I reserve them for a more extensive work, almost ready for printing, which will include a general description of this empire from the time of its foundation, the history of its monarchs through a long series of centuries, observations regarding their wars. and the politics, laws, sciences and religions of that country; its plants and animals; the manners and customs of its inhabitants, and other very curious and instructive matters. At the present time, my main aim is to present the events that took place in this state during my almost nine-month stay in it.

One morning, two weeks after my release, Reldresel, the chief secretary (as he is called here) for secret affairs, came to me, accompanied by only one footman. Ordering the coachman to wait aside, he asked me to give him one hour and listen to him. I willingly consented to this, out of respect for his rank and personal merit, and also taking into account the many services he rendered me at court. I volunteered to lie down on the ground so that his words could reach my ear more easily, but he preferred that I hold him in my hand during our conversation. First of all, he congratulated me on my release, noting that in this matter he also had some merit; he added, however, that if it were not for the present state of affairs at court, I would not, perhaps, have obtained freedom so soon. No matter how brilliant our situation may seem to a foreigner, the secretary said, however, two terrible evils weigh over us: the most severe discords of parties within the country and the threat of invasion by a powerful external enemy. As for the first evil, I must tell you that about seventy moons ago « …about seventy moons ago…"- Here, apparently, one must understand "seventy years ago", that is, if Gulliver's first journey took place in 1699, this is 1629, which accounts for the beginning of the conflict between Charles I and the people, which ended civil war, revolution and execution of the king. two warring parties formed in the empire, known as the Tremeksenov and Slemeksenov « ... two warring parties ... Tremeksenov and Slemeksenov ...- Tories and Whigs. The emperor's fondness for low heels is a sign of his patronage of the Whig party., from high and low heels on shoes, with which they differ from each other. It is said that high heels are most in harmony with our ancient state order, however, be that as it may, his majesty decreed that only low heels should be used in government offices, as well as in all positions handed out by the crown, to which you probably , paid attention. You must also have noticed that the heels on His Majesty's shoes are one drerr lower than those of all courtiers (drerr is equal to the fourteenth of an inch). The hatred between these two parties comes to the point that members of one will not eat, drink, or talk with members of the other. We believe that the Tremexens, or High Heels, outnumber us, although the power is entirely ours. « … the tremexenes… outnumber us, though the power is wholly ours.” - The Whigs contributed to the accession of George I and therefore during his reign they were in power, supported by the bourgeoisie and that part of the aristocracy that held parliament in their hands. Although the Tories outnumbered the Whigs, there was no unity among them, since some of them were on the side of the Jacobites, who sought to restore the Stuart dynasty to the throne.. But we fear that his Imperial Highness, the heir to the throne, has some affection for the High Heels; at least it is not difficult to notice that one of his heels is higher than the other, as a result of which his highness's gait is limping « ... his highness's gait is limping. “The hostility of the Prince of Wales to his father and to the Whigs was the talk of the town. A skilled schemer, he sought the support of Tory leaders and those Whigs who felt left out. Having become king, he deceived their hopes and left Robert Walpole at the head of the ministry.. And now, in the midst of these civil strife, we are now threatened by an invasion from the island of Blefuscu - another great empire in the universe, almost as vast and powerful as the empire of his majesty. And although you say that there are other kingdoms and states in the world, inhabited by such huge people as you, yet our philosophers strongly doubt this: they are rather ready to admit that you fell from the moon or from some star, since it is certain that a hundred mortals of your stature in the shortest time could destroy all the fruits and all the cattle of his majesty's dominions. Moreover, our records for six thousand moons do not mention any other countries, except for the two great empires - Lilliput and Blefuscu. So, these two mighty powers wage a bitter war among themselves for thirty-six moons. The following circumstances served as the reason for the war. Everyone shares the belief that boiled eggs, when eaten from time immemorial, were broken from a blunt end; but the grandfather of the present emperor, as a child, cut his finger at breakfast, breaking an egg in the aforementioned ancient way. Then the emperor, the father of the child, promulgated a decree ordering all his subjects, under pain of severe punishment, to break eggs from a sharp end. « … to break eggs from the pointy end.” - The enmity between the blunt-pointed and the pointed-pointed is an allegorical depiction of the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, which filled the history of England, France and other countries with wars, uprisings, executions.. This law so embittered the population that, according to our chronicles, it was the cause of six uprisings, during which one emperor lost his life, and another - the crown. « ... one emperor lost his life, and the other - the crown. - This refers to Charles I Stuart, who was executed in 1649, and James II Stuart, who was deposed from the throne and expelled from England after the revolution of 1688.. These rebellions were constantly kindled by the monarchs of Blefuscu, and after their suppression, the exiles always found shelter in this empire. There are up to eleven thousand fanatics who during this time went to execution in order not to break eggs from a sharp end. Hundreds of huge volumes have been printed on this controversy, but the books of the Dumb Ends have long been banned, and the entire party is deprived by law of the right to hold public office. During these troubles, the emperors of Blefuscu often warned us through their envoys, accusing us of a church schism by violating the main dogma of our great prophet Lustrog, set forth in the fifty-fourth chapter of Blundekral (which is their Alcoran). Meanwhile, this is simply a violent interpretation of the text, the true words of which are: Let all true believers break eggs from the end that is more convenient. The decision of the question: which end to recognize as more convenient, in my humble opinion, should be left to the conscience of everyone, or, in extreme cases, to the authority of the supreme judge of the empire. « ... the power of the supreme judge of the empire. - A hint at the act (law) on religious tolerance, issued in England in 1689 and stopping the persecution of the religious sect of dissenters.. The exiled Dead Ends were so powerful in the court of Emperor Blefuscu and found such support and encouragement from their like-minded people inside our country that for thirty-six moons the two emperors wage a bloody war with varying success. During this time, we have lost forty battleships and a huge number of small ships with thirty thousand of the best sailors and soldiers. « ... we lost forty ships of the line ...”- In the pamphlet “The Conduct of the Allies” (1711), Swift condemned the war with France. England suffered great losses in it, and the war was a heavy burden on the people. This war was supported by the Whigs and the commander of the English army, the Duke of Marlborough.; believe that the losses of the enemy are even greater. But, despite this, the enemy has equipped a large new fleet and is preparing to land troops on our territory. That is why his imperial majesty, fully trusting in your strength and courage, ordered me to make a real presentation of our state affairs.

I asked the secretary to testify to the emperor my humble respect and bring to his attention that, although I, as a foreigner, should not interfere in the contentions of the parties, nevertheless I am ready, not sparing my life, to protect his person and state from any foreign invasion .

The author, thanks to an extremely witty invention, prevents the invasion of the enemy. He is given a high title. The ambassadors of the Emperor Blefuscu appear and ask for peace. A fire in the chambers of the Empress due to negligence and a way invented by the author to save the rest of the palace

The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the north-northeast of Lilliput, and separated from it only by a strait eight hundred yards wide. I haven't seen this island yet; learning about the proposed invasion, I tried not to show up in that part of the coast for fear of being seen from the ships of the enemy, who had no information about my presence, since during the war any communication between the two empires was strictly prohibited under pain of death and our emperor imposed an embargo on the exit of all ships without exception from the harbors. I communicated to His Majesty the plan I had drawn up to capture the entire enemy fleet, which, as we learned from our scouts, was at anchor, ready to set sail at the first fair wind. I asked the most experienced sailors about the depth of the strait, which they often measured, and they informed me that at high water this depth in the middle part of the strait is equal to seventy glumgleffs - which is about six European feet - - in all other places it does not exceed fifty glumgleffs. I went to the north-east coast opposite Blefuscu, lay down behind the hillock and directed my spyglass at the anchored enemy fleet, in which I counted up to fifty warships and a large number of transports. Returning home, I ordered (I had the authority to do so) to bring me as much of the strongest rope and iron bars as possible. The rope turned out to be as thick as twine, and the beams were the size of our knitting needle. In order to give this rope greater strength, I twisted it three times, and for the same purpose twisted together three iron bars, bending their ends in the form of hooks. Having attached fifty such hooks to the same number of ropes, I returned to the northeast coast and, having taken off my caftan, shoes and stockings, in a leather jacket entered the water half an hour before high tide. At first I waded quickly, and at the middle I swam about thirty yards, until I again felt the bottom under me; thus, in less than half an hour I reached the fleet.

Seeing me, the enemy was so horrified that he jumped from the ships and swam to the shore, where no less than thirty thousand of them had gathered. Then, taking out my shells and hooking the prow of each ship with a hook, I tied all the ropes into one knot. During this work, the enemy showered me with a cloud of arrows, and many of them pierced my hands and face. In addition to the terrible pain, they greatly interfered with my work. Most of all I was afraid for my eyes and probably would have lost them if I had not immediately thought of a means of protection. Among other little things I needed, I kept my glasses, which I kept in a secret pocket, which, as I have already noted above, escaped the attention of the imperial examiners. I put on these glasses and tied them tightly. Armed in this way, I boldly continued my work, despite the arrows of the enemy, which, although they fell into the lenses of my glasses, did not cause them much harm. When all the hooks were fitted, I took the knot in my hand and began to drag; however, none of the ships moved, because they were all firmly anchored. Thus, it remained for me to complete the most dangerous part of my undertaking. I released the ropes and, leaving the hooks in the ships, boldly cut the anchor ropes with a knife, and more than two hundred arrows hit me in the face and hands. After that, I grabbed the knotted ropes to which my hooks were attached, and easily dragged fifty of the largest enemy warships behind me. « ... and easily dragged fifty of the largest enemy warships behind him. - Swift means the conditions of the Utrecht peace between England and France, which ensured the dominance of England on the seas..

The Blefuscuans, who did not have the slightest idea of ​​my intentions, were at first confused with amazement. When they saw me cutting the anchor lines, they thought I was going to set the ships to the wind and waves, or push them against each other; but when the whole fleet moved in order, drawn by my ropes, they fell into indescribable despair and began to resound the air with mournful cries. Once out of danger, I stopped to take the arrows out of my hands and face and rub the wounded places with the previously mentioned ointment, which the Lilliputians gave me when I arrived in the country. Then I took off my goggles and, after waiting about an hour for the water to subside, I forded the middle of the strait and safely arrived with my cargo at the imperial port of Liliput. The emperor and his entire court stood on the shore, awaiting the outcome of this great undertaking. They saw the ships approaching in a wide crescent, but they did not notice me, since I was chest-deep in water. As I passed through the middle of the strait, their anxiety increased even more, because I was submerged up to my neck in water. The emperor decided that I was drowned and that the enemy fleet was approaching with hostile intentions. But soon his fears disappeared. With every step the strait became shallower, and I could even be heard from the shore. Then, lifting up the end of the ropes to which the fleet was tied, I shouted loudly: “Long live the mightiest emperor of Lilliput!” When I stepped ashore, the great monarch showered me with all sorts of praises and immediately granted me the title of nardak, the highest in the state.

His Majesty expressed his desire that I find an opportunity to capture and bring into his harbor all the other ships of the enemy. The ambition of the monarchs is so immense that the emperor, apparently, conceived, apparently, nothing more, nothing less, how to convert the entire empire of Blefuscu into his own province and rule it through his viceroy, exterminating the Blunt-ends hiding there and forcing all the Blefuscuans to break eggs from the sharp end, as a result of which he would become the sole ruler of the universe. But I did my best to divert the emperor from this intention, citing numerous arguments prompted to me both by political considerations and a sense of justice; in conclusion, I decisively declared that I would never consent to be an instrument for the enslavement of a brave and free people. When this question came to the discussion of the State Council, the wisest ministers were on my side. « …to turn the entire empire of Blefuscu into his own province…"- The English commander the Duke of Marlborough and his supporters - the Whigs - considered it quite possible to completely conquer France. This was opposed by the Tories, who demanded the conclusion of peace. Gulliver's words hint at this: "The wisest ministers were on my side.".

My bold and frank statement was so contrary to the political plans of His Imperial Majesty that he could never forgive me for it. His majesty very skillfully made it clear in the council, where, as I learned, the wisest of its members were, apparently, my opinion, although they expressed it only in silence; others, my secret enemies, could not refrain from some remarks indirectly directed against me. Since that time, intrigues began on the part of His Majesty and a group of ministers who were spiteful against me, which, in less than two months, almost completely ruined me. Thus, the greatest services rendered to monarchs are not able to pull over to their side the scales, if the other is denied the indulgence of their passions.

Three weeks after the feat described, a solemn embassy arrived from Emperor Blefuscu with a humble offer of peace, which was soon concluded on terms highly favorable to our emperor, but I will not tire the reader's attention with them. The embassy consisted of six envoys and about five hundred retinues; the motorcade was distinguished by great splendor and fully corresponded to the greatness of the monarch and the importance of the mission. At the end of the peace negotiations, in which I, thanks to my then real or at least apparent influence at court, did many services to the embassy, ​​their excellencies, privately aware of my friendly feelings, honored me with an official visit. They began with compliments on my bravery and generosity, then, on behalf of the emperor, they invited me to visit their country, and finally they asked me to show them some examples of my amazing strength, about which they had heard so many wonderful things. I readily agreed to fulfill their desire, but I will not bore the reader with a description of the details.

Having amused their excellencies for some time, to their great pleasure and surprise, I asked the ambassadors to testify my deep respect to his majesty, their master, whose fame of virtues justly filled the whole world with admiration, and to convey my firm decision to personally visit him before returning to my fatherland. As a result, at the very first audience with our emperor, I asked his permission to visit the Blefuskuan monarch; although the emperor gave his consent, at the same time he expressed obvious coldness towards me, the reason for which I could not understand until one person told me in confidence that Flimnap and Bolgolam portrayed my relations with the embassy before the emperor as an act of disloyalty, although I can vouch that my conscience in this respect was perfectly clear. Here, for the first time, I began to have some idea of ​​​​what ministers and courts are. « ... portrayed before the emperor my relations with the embassy as an act of disloyalty ...»- Here is a hint at Bolinbrock and his secret negotiations with France on the conclusion of a separate peace (besides England, Austria and Holland participated in the war against France for the Spanish inheritance). Accused by Walpole of betraying the interests of the country for the sake of party goals, the former minister Bolinbroke fled to France without waiting for a trial..

It should be noted that the ambassadors spoke to me with the help of an interpreter. The language of the Blefuscuans is as different from the language of the Lilliputians as the languages ​​of the two European peoples differ from each other. Moreover, each of these nations is proud of the antiquity, beauty and expressiveness of its language, treating with obvious contempt the language of its neighbor. And our emperor, taking advantage of his position, created by the capture of the enemy fleet, obliged the embassy to present credentials and negotiate in the Lilliputian language. However, it should be noted that the lively trade relations between the two states, the hospitality rendered to the exiles of the neighboring state by both Lilliputia and Blefuscu, as well as the custom of sending young people from the nobility and wealthy landlords to their neighbors in order to polish themselves, looking at the world and getting acquainted with life and mores of people, lead to the fact that here you can rarely meet an educated nobleman, sailor or merchant from a seaside city who would not speak both languages. I was convinced of this a few weeks later, when I went to pay my respects to the Emperor Blefuscu. In the midst of the great misfortunes that befell me through the malice of my enemies, this visit proved to be very beneficial for me, as I will relate in its place.

The reader may remember that among the conditions on which I was granted freedom were very humiliating and unpleasant for me, and only extreme necessity forced me to accept them. But now, when I held the title of nardak, the highest in the empire, the obligations I had taken would have lowered my dignity, and, to be fair to the emperor, he never once reminded me of them. Not long before, however, I had an opportunity to render his Majesty, as, at least, it seemed to me at the time, an outstanding service. Once at midnight, at the door of my dwelling, there was a cry of a thousand people; I awoke in horror and heard the incessantly repeated word "borglum". Several courtiers, having made their way through the crowd, begged me to come immediately to the palace, since the chambers of Her Imperial Majesty were engulfed in flames due to the negligence of one maid of honor, who fell asleep while reading a novel without extinguishing the candle. In an instant, I was on my feet. According to the order given, the road was cleared for me; besides, it was a moonlit night, so I managed to get to the palace without trampling anyone along the way. Ladders were already attached to the walls of the burning chambers and many buckets were brought, but the water was far away. These buckets were the size of a large thimble, and the poor Lilliputians gave them to me with great zeal; but the flames were so strong that this zeal was of little use. I could easily put out the fire by covering the palace with my caftan, but, unfortunately, in my haste, I managed to put on only a leather jacket. The matter seemed to be in the most deplorable and hopeless position, and this magnificent palace would undoubtedly have burned to the ground, if, thanks to an unusual presence of mind for me, I had not suddenly devised a means to save it. The night before I had drunk a great deal of the most excellent wine, known as limigrim (the Blefuscuans call it flunec, but our varieties are higher), which has a strong diuretic effect. Luckily, I have never been relieved from drinking. Meanwhile the heat from the flame and the strenuous work of putting it out had an effect on me and turned the wine into urine; I released it in such abundance and so accurately that in some three minutes the fire was completely extinguished, and the rest of the magnificent building, erected by the labor of several generations, was saved from destruction.

In the meantime, it was quite light, and I returned home, not expecting gratitude from the emperor, because although I had done him a service of great importance, I did not know how his majesty would feel about the way it was done, especially if you take into account the basic laws states according to which no one, including the most senior persons, had the right to urinate in the palace fence, under pain of severe punishment. However, I was somewhat reassured by His Majesty's information that he would order the Grand Justicar to make a formal decision for my pardon, which, however, I never obtained. On the other hand, I was confidentially informed that the empress, terribly indignant at my act, moved to the most remote part of the palace, firmly deciding not to rebuild her former premises; at the same time, in the presence of her close associates, she swore to take revenge on me « … swore revenge on me.” - Queen Anne was so outraged by the "immorality" of the attacks on the church in the satirical Tale of the Barrel that, forgetting about Swift's political services to her ministry, heeded the advice of the higher clergy and refused to grant him the position of bishop. Swift here ridicules the prejudices of the queen and court ladies. In this chapter, Gulliver is no longer an inquisitive traveler in an unfamiliar country - he sets out the theories and thoughts of Swift himself. As many researchers note, this chapter is at odds with the satirical nature of the entire description of Lilliput, since it describes the reasonable institutions of this country. Noticing this discrepancy, Swift himself felt it necessary to further stipulate that such were the ancient laws of Lilliput, having nothing to do with "the modern corruption of morals, which is the result of deep degeneration.".

About the inhabitants of Lilliput; their science, laws and customs; child-rearing system. The author's lifestyle in this country. Rehabilitation by him of one noble lady

Although I intend to devote a separate study to a detailed description of this empire, nevertheless, for the satisfaction of the inquisitive reader, I will now make a few general remarks about it. The average height of the natives is a little over six inches, and the size of both animals and plants exactly corresponds to it: for example, horses and bulls do not go there more than four or five inches, and sheep more than one and a half inches; geese are equal to our sparrow, and so on down to the smallest creatures, which were almost invisible to me. But nature adapted the sight of the Lilliputians to the objects around them: they see well, but at a short distance. Here is an idea of ​​the sharpness of their vision in relation to nearby objects: it gave me great pleasure to observe a cook plucking a lark no larger than our fly, and a girl threading silk thread into the eye of an invisible needle. The tallest trees in Lilliput are no more than seven feet; I mean the trees in the great royal park, the tops of which I could hardly reach with my outstretched hand. All other vegetation has the corresponding dimensions; but I leave it to the reader to do the math.

I will now confine myself to only the most cursory remarks about their science, which for centuries has flourished among this people in all branches. I will only draw attention to the very original manner of their writing: Lilliputians write not like Europeans - from left to right, not like Arabs - from right to left, not like Chinese - from top to bottom, but like English ladies - obliquely on the page, from one of her corner to another.

Lilliputians bury the dead, laying the body head down, for they are of the opinion that after eleven thousand moons the dead will be resurrected; and since at that time the earth (which the Lilliputians consider flat) will turn upside down, the dead will, at their resurrection, stand upright on their feet. Scholars recognize the absurdity of this belief; nevertheless, for the sake of the common people, the custom is preserved to this day.

There are very peculiar laws and customs in this empire, and if they were not the exact opposite of the laws and customs of my dear fatherland, I would try to defend them. It is only desirable that they be strictly applied in practice. First of all, I will point out the law on scammers « ... the whistle-blower law.” - Espionage was widely planted in England in the reign of George I out of fear of the Jacobites who sought to overthrow the king.. All state crimes are punished here extremely strictly; but if the accused proves his innocence during the process, then the accuser is immediately subjected to a shameful execution, and four times the amount of his movable and immovable property is exacted in favor of the innocent for the loss of time, for the danger to which he was exposed, for the hardships experienced by him during prison imprisonment, and for all the expenses that the defense cost him. If these funds are insufficient, they are generously supplemented by the crown. In addition, the emperor favors the released person with some public sign of his favor, and his innocence is declared throughout the state.

Lilliputians consider fraud a more serious crime than theft, and therefore only in rare cases is it not punishable by death. With a certain caution, vigilance and a small dose of common sense, they argue, it is always possible to protect property from a thief, but an honest person has no defense against a clever swindler; and as, in buying and selling, trades based on credit and trust are always necessary, in conditions where fraud is condoned and not punished by law, the honest merchant always suffers, and the rogue will always gain. I remember that I once interceded with the monarch for a certain criminal, who was accused of stealing a large sum of money received by him on behalf of the owner, and of escaping with this money; when I presented to His Majesty as an extenuating circumstance that in this case there was only a breach of confidence, the emperor found it monstrous that I should bring an argument in defense of the accused, just aggravating his crime; to this, speaking the truth, I had nothing to object to, and I limited myself to the stereotyped remark that different peoples have different customs; I have to admit, I was very embarrassed.

Although we usually call reward and punishment two hinges on which the entire government machine rotates, nowhere, except in Lilliput, have I seen this principle applied in practice. Anyone who has presented sufficient evidence that he has observed the laws of the country exactly during the seven moons, is entitled there to certain privileges corresponding to his rank and social position, and a proportionate amount of money is determined for him from funds specially assigned to this subject; at the same time, such a person receives the title of snilpel, that is, the guardian of laws; this title is added to his surname, but does not pass to posterity. And when I told the Lilliputians that the execution of our laws is guaranteed only by the fear of punishment and nowhere is there any mention of a reward for their observance, the Lilliputians considered this a huge shortcoming of our government. That is why justice is depicted in local courts as a woman with six eyes - two in front, two behind and one on each side - which means her vigilance; in her right hand she holds an open bag of gold, and in her left hand she holds a sword in a scabbard as a sign that she is ready to reward rather than punish "... a sword in a scabbard ..." - Usually the goddess of justice was depicted with a drawn sword, threatening punishment to criminals..

In the selection of candidates for any position, more attention is paid to moral qualities than to mental gifts. Lilliputians think that since governments are necessary for mankind, then all people of average mental development are capable of holding one or another position, and that Providence never meant to create a secret from the management of public affairs, into which only a very few great geniuses can penetrate. born no more than three per century. On the contrary, they believe that truthfulness, moderation, and the like are available to all, and that the exercise of these virtues, together with experience and good intentions, makes every man fit to serve his country in one position or another, except those requiring special knowledge. In their opinion, the highest mental gifts cannot replace moral virtues, and there is nothing more dangerous than entrusting positions to gifted people, because a mistake made out of ignorance by a person full of good intentions cannot have such fatal consequences for the public good as the activity of a person with vicious inclinations, gifted with the ability to hide his vices, multiply them and indulge in them with impunity.

In the same way, disbelief in divine providence makes a person unfit for public office. « ... disbelief in divine providence ...”- Persons who were in the public service and held public positions were required in England to attend church and perform all religious rites.. And in fact, the Lilliputians think that since monarchs call themselves messengers of Providence, it would be extremely absurd to appoint people to government positions who deny the authority on the basis of which the monarch acts.

In describing both these and other laws of the empire, which will be discussed later, I want to warn the reader that my description concerns only the original institutions of the country, which have nothing to do with the modern corruption of morals, which is the result of deep degeneration. Thus, for example, the shameful custom already known to the reader of appointing to the highest state positions people who skillfully dance on a rope, and giving insignia to those who jump over a stick or crawl under it, was first introduced by the grandfather of the current reigning emperor and has reached its present development thanks to the incessant growth of parties and groups « ... the grandfather of the current reigning emperor ...”- This refers to King James I, under whom the awarding of orders and titles to persons he liked reached scandalous proportions..

Ingratitude is considered a criminal offense among them (we know from history that such a view existed among other peoples), and the Lilliputians reason about this as follows: since a person is able to pay evil to his benefactor, then he is necessarily an enemy of all other people from whom he has not received any favor, and therefore he is worthy of death.

Their views on the duties of parents and children are profoundly different from ours. Based on the fact that the relationship between male and female is based on the great law of nature, which has the goal of reproduction and continuation of the species, the Lilliputians believe that men and women converge, like other animals, guided by lust, and that the love of parents for children stems from the same natural inclinations; consequently, they do not recognize any obligation of the child either to the father for having produced him, or to the mother for giving birth to him, for, in their opinion, considering the misfortunes of man on earth, life in itself is not great good, and besides, when creating a child, parents are not at all guided by the intention to give him life, and their thoughts are directed in the other direction. Based on these and similar arguments, the Lilliputians believe that the upbringing of children can least of all be entrusted to their parents, as a result of which there are public educational institutions in every city, where everyone, except peasants and workers, is obliged to send their children of both sexes, and where they are nurtured. and are brought up from the age of twenty, that is, from the time when, according to the assumption of the Lilliputians, the first rudiments of understanding appear in the child. Educational institutions.– In Lilliput, the pedagogical ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who believed that the younger generation should be instilled with high ideas about morality and civic duty, are being implemented.. These schools are of several types, according to the social status and gender of the children. Upbringing and education are conducted by experienced teachers who prepare children for a kind of life corresponding to the position of their parents and their own inclinations and abilities. First I will say a few words about the educational institutions for boys, and then about the educational institutions for girls.

Educational institutions for boys of noble or noble origin are under the direction of respectable and educated teachers and their numerous assistants. The clothes and food of children are distinguished by modesty and simplicity. They are brought up in the rules of honor, justice, courage; they develop modesty, mercy, religious feelings and love for the fatherland. They are always busy, except for the time required for food and sleep, which is very short, and two hours of recreation, which are devoted to bodily exercises. Until the age of four, children are dressed and undressed by servants, but from this age on, they do both themselves, no matter how noble their origin. The maidservants, who are taken at least fifty years old (translating to our years), perform only the lowest work. The children are never allowed to speak to the servants, and during their rest they play in groups, always in the presence of the tutor or his assistant. Thus they are shielded from the early impressions of stupidity and vice to which our children are exposed. Parents are allowed to see their children only twice a year, each meeting lasting no more than an hour. They are allowed to kiss the child only at a meeting and parting; but the tutor, who is always present on such occasions, does not allow them to whisper in their ears, to speak affectionate words, and to bring gifts of toys, goodies, and the like.

If parents fail to pay their child's maintenance and upbringing fees in a timely manner, this fee is collected from them by government officials.

Educational institutions for the children of ordinary nobility, merchants and artisans are arranged according to the same model, with the difference that children destined to be artisans are trained in craftsmanship from the age of eleven, while children of noble persons continue their general education until the age of fifteen, which corresponds to our twenty. one year. However, the strictness of school life has been gradually relaxed in the last three years.

In women's educational institutions, girls of noble birth are brought up in almost the same way as boys, only instead of servants they are dressed and undressed by well-meaning nannies, but always in the presence of a teacher or her assistant; at the age of five, girls dress themselves. If it is noticed that the nanny allowed herself to tell the girls some terrible or absurd tale, or to amuse them with some stupid trick, which are so common with our maids, then the guilty one is subjected to a public whipping three times, is imprisoned for a year and then forever exiled. in the most deserted part of the country. Thanks to this system of education, young ladies in Lilliput are just as ashamed of cowardice and stupidity as men, and are contemptuous of all ornaments, with the exception of decency and neatness. I did not notice any difference in their upbringing due to the difference in sex; only physical exercises are easier for girls and the course of science is less extensive for them, but they are taught the rules of housekeeping. For there it is customary to think that even in the upper classes a wife should be a reasonable and sweet friend of her husband, since her youth is not eternal. When a girl turns twelve years old, that is, the time of marriage comes in the local way, her parents or guardians come to school and, having brought deep gratitude to the teachers, take her home, and the farewell of a young girl to her friends rarely goes without tears.

In educational institutions for girls of the lower classes, children are trained in all kinds of work, befitting their sex and social position. Girls intended for crafts remain in an educational institution until they are seven years old, and the rest until they are eleven.

The families of the lower classes contribute to the treasurer, besides the annual fee, an extremely small, small part of their monthly earnings; from these contributions a dowry for the daughter is formed. Thus, the expenses of the parents are here limited by law, because the Lilliputians think that it would be extremely unjust to allow a person, to please his instincts, to bring children into the world and then place the burden of their maintenance on society. As for noble persons, they give an obligation to put a certain capital on each child, according to their social position; this capital is always kept carefully and in full integrity.

Peasants and workers keep their children at home "Peasants and workers keep their children at home..." - In Swift's time, only very few of the "lower" classes were educated.; since they are engaged only in cultivating and cultivating the land, their education is of no particular importance for society. But the sick and old are kept in almshouses, for begging is an occupation unknown in the empire.

But perhaps the inquisitive reader will be interested in some details about my occupation and lifestyle in this country, where I spent nine months and thirteen days. Forced by circumstances, I found a use for my mechanical inclination, and made myself a rather comfortable table and chair from the largest trees in the king's park. Two hundred seamstresses were assigned to make for me shirts, bed and table linen, from the strongest and coarsest linen they could get; but they also had to quilt it, folding it several times, because the thickest linen there is thinner than our muslin. Pieces of this linen are usually three inches wide and three feet long. The seamstresses took my measurements as I lay on the ground; one of them stood at my neck, the other at my knee, and they stretched a rope between them, each taking its end, while the third measured the length of the rope with a ruler of one inch. Then they measured the thumb of the right hand, which they limited themselves to; by a mathematical calculation based on the fact that the circumference of the hand is twice the circumference of the finger, the circumference of the neck is twice the circumference of the hand, and the circumference of the waist is twice the circumference of the neck, and with the help of my old shirt, which I spread on the ground in front of them as a model, they sewed My underwear is just the right size for me. In the same way, three hundred tailors were commissioned to make a suit for me, but for taking measurements they resorted to a different method. I knelt down and they put a ladder against my torso; on this ladder one of them climbed up to my neck and lowered a plumb line from the collar to the floor, which was the length of my caftan; I measured the sleeves and waist myself. When the suit was ready (and it was sewn in my castle, since their largest house would not have accommodated it), it looked very much like the blankets made by English ladies from scraps of cloth, with the only difference being that it was not full of different colors.

Three hundred cooks cooked for me in comfortable little barracks built around my house, where they lived with their families, and were obliged to cook two dishes for me for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I took twenty lackeys in my hand and put them on my table; a hundred of their comrades served below on the floor: some carried food, others carried casks of wine and all kinds of drinks on their shoulders; the lackeys standing on the table, as needed, very skillfully lifted all this on special blocks, similar to how we lift buckets of water from a well in Europe. I swallowed each of their dishes in one go, each cask of wine I drank in one gulp. Their mutton tastes inferior to ours, but the beef is excellent. Once I got such a huge piece of fillet that I had to cut it into three parts, but this is an exceptional case. The servants were very astonished when they saw me eating beef with bones, as we eat larks. I usually swallowed the local geese and turkeys in one go, and, to be fair, these birds are much tastier than ours. Small birds I took on the tip of a knife twenty or thirty pieces at a time.

His Majesty, having heard of my way of life, declared one day that he would be happy (as he was pleased to put it) to dine with me, accompanied by his august wife and young princes and princesses. When they arrived, I placed them on a table across from me in the front chairs, with personal guards at my side. Among the guests was also the Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer, Flimnap, with a white baton in his hand; I often caught his unfriendly glances, but pretended not to notice them, and ate more than usual for the glory of my dear homeland and to the surprise of the court. I have some reason to think that this visit of his majesty gave Flimnap occasion to lower me in the eyes of his sovereign. The minister in question has always been my secret enemy, although outwardly he treated me much more kindly than one could expect from his sullen disposition. He exposed to the emperor the poor state of the state treasury, saying that he was forced to resort to a loan at high interest; that the exchange rate of banknotes fell nine percent below alpari; that my maintenance cost his majesty more than one and a half million sprugs (the largest gold coin among the Lilliputians, the size of a small sparkle) and, finally, that the emperor would have acted very prudently if he had taken advantage of the first favorable opportunity to send me out of the empire.

It is my duty to whitewash the honor of a respectable lady who suffered innocently because of me. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had the fancy of making his wife jealous of me, on the basis of gossip, circulated in malicious tongues, which told him that her ladyship was inflamed with an insane passion for my person; much scandalous noise was made at court by a rumor that once she secretly came to me. I solemnly declare that all this is the most dishonorable slander, the only reason for which was the innocent expression of friendly feelings on the part of her ladyship. She really often drove up to my house, but this was always done openly, and three more persons were sitting with her in the carriage: a sister, a daughter and a friend; other court ladies came to me in the same way. As witnesses, I call my numerous servants: let one of them say whether he saw a carriage at my door, not knowing who is in it. As a rule, in such cases, I immediately went to the door after the report of my servant; paying my respects to the arrivals, I carefully took in my hands a carriage with a couple of horses (if it was drawn by six, the postilion always harnessed four) and placed it on the table, which I surrounded with a mobile railing five inches high to prevent accidents. Often four drawn carriages filled with elegant ladies stood on my table at once. I myself sat in my chair and leaned towards them. While I was talking in this way to one carriage, others were quietly circling around my table. I spent many afternoons very pleasantly in such conversations, but neither the Chancellor of the Exchequer nor his two spies Clestrile and Drenlo (let them do what they like, but I will name their names) will ever be able to prove that anyone came to me incognito, except for Secretary of State Reldresel, who once visited me by special order of His Imperial Majesty, as described above. I would not dwell so long on these details if the question did not concern so closely the good name of a high-ranking lady, not to mention my own, although I had the honor of bearing the title of Nardak, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself did not have, for everyone knows that he is only a glum-glum, and this title is as inferior to mine as the title of marquis in England is lower than that of a duke; however, I agree to admit that the position he holds puts him above me. These slanders, which I later learned from an incident not worth mentioning, embittered the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Flimnap, for some time against his wife and still more against me. Although he soon reconciled with his wife, convinced of his error, however, I forever lost his respect and soon saw that my position was also shaken in the eyes of the emperor himself, who was under the strong influence of his favorite.

Before telling how I left this state, it is perhaps appropriate to devote the reader to the details of the secret intrigues that were waged against me for two months.

Due to my low position, I have lived so far away from the royal courts. It is true that I have heard and read much about the morals of great monarchs, but I never expected to meet such a terrible act of them in such a remote country, governed, as I thought, in the spirit of rules quite different from those that are governed in Europe.

Just as I was preparing to go to the Emperor Blefuscu, a person of great importance at the court (whom I rendered a very significant service at a time when she was in great disfavor with His Imperial Majesty) secretly came to me late in the evening in a closed sedan and, without naming herself, asked to be accepted. The porters were sent away, and I put the sedan chair, together with his Excellency, in the pocket of my caftan, after which, having ordered one faithful servant to tell everyone that I was not well and that I had gone to bed, I locked the door behind me, put the sedan chair on the table and sat down on a chair against him.

When we exchanged mutual greetings, I noticed great concern on the face of His Excellency and wished to know the reason for it. Then he asked me to listen to him patiently, since the matter concerned my honor and life, and turned to me with the following speech, which immediately after his departure I wrote down exactly.

I must tell you, he began, that recently several meetings of special committees have been held in terrible secrecy regarding you, and two days ago His Majesty made a final decision.

You know very well that almost from the day you arrived here, Skyresh Bolgolam (Gelbet, or Supreme Admiral) has become your mortal enemy. I do not know the original reason for this enmity, but his hatred was especially intensified after the great victory you won over Blefuscu, which greatly darkened his glory as an admiral. This dignitary, in association with Flimnap, Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose hostility towards you because of his wife is known to everyone, General Limtok, Chief Chamberlain Lelken and Chief Justice Belmaf, prepared an act accusing you of treason and other serious crimes.

This introduction excited me so much that, knowing my merits and my innocence, I almost interrupted the speaker out of impatience, but he begged me to remain silent and continued like this:

Out of deep gratitude for your services, I obtained the details of this case and a copy of the indictment, at the risk of paying with my own head. Indictment.- The indictment brought against Gulliver is a parody of the official accusation of the former Tory ministers Ormond, Bolinbroke and Oxford (Robert Harley) of treason..

Indictment

against

Quinbus Flestrin, the mountain man

II. one

Whereas, although by law issued in the reign of his imperial majesty Kelin Defar Plune, it is decreed that anyone who urinates in the fence of the royal palace is subject to punishments and punishments as an lese of majesty; however, in spite of this, the said Quinbus Flestrin, in clear violation of the said law, under the pretense of putting out the fire that engulfed the chambers of the amiable wife of his imperial majesty, having wickedly, treacherously and devilishly vomited urine, extinguished the said fire in the said chambers located in the enclosure of the said royal palace , contrary to the law existing on this subject, in violation of duty, etc., etc.

II. 2

That the aforementioned Quinbus Flestrin, having brought the fleet of the Emperor Blefuscu to the imperial port and received an order from his imperial majesty to seize all the other ships of the aforementioned Blefuscu empire, in order to turn this empire into a province under the rule of our viceroy, to destroy and execute not only all the Bluffers hiding there, but also to all the subjects of this empire who will not retreat immediately from the stupid heresy - the said Flestrin, as a treacherous traitor, petitioned his most benevolent and most illustrious Imperial Majesty to save him, Flestrin, from the execution of the said commission under the pretext of unwillingness to use violence in matters of conscience and destroy freedom of an innocent people.

II. 3

That when a certain embassy from the court of Blefuscu arrived at the court of his majesty to ask for peace, he, the said Flestrin, as a treacherous traitor, helped, encouraged, approved and amused the said ambassadors, knowing well that they were servants of the monarch, who had so recently been an open enemy of his imperial majesty and waged open war with the said majesty.

II. four

That the said Quinbus Flestrin, contrary to the duty of a loyal subject, is now going to make a journey to the court and the empire of Blefuscu, for which he received only the verbal permission of his imperial majesty, and that, under the pretext of the said permission, he intends to treacherously and treacherously make the said journey with with the aim of helping, encouraging and encouraging Emperor Blefuscu, who had so recently been an enemy of the aforementioned Imperial Majesty and who was in open war with him.

There are more paragraphs in the indictment, but those I read in the extract are the most significant.

* * *

It must be admitted that during the long debate about this charge, his majesty showed you great indulgence, very often referring to your services to him and trying to mitigate your crimes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Admiral insisted on putting you to the most painful and shameful death. They proposed to set fire to your house at night, instructing the general to withdraw an army of twenty thousand armed with poisoned arrows intended for your face and hands. The thought also arose of giving a secret order to some of your servants to saturate your shirts and sheets with poisonous juice, which would soon cause you to tear your body and cause you the most painful death. The general joined this opinion, so that for a long time the majority was against you. But his majesty, having decided to spare your life as much as possible, finally attracted the chief chamberlain to his side.

In the midst of this debate, Reldresel, the chief secretary for secret affairs, who has always shown himself to be your true friend, received a command from his imperial majesty to state his point of view, which he did, fully justifying your good opinion of him. He acknowledged that your crimes are great, but that they still leave room for mercy, that greatest virtue of monarchs, which so justly adorns his majesty. He said that the friendship that exists between him and you is known to everyone, and therefore the highly respected assembly, perhaps, will find his opinion biased; however, in obedience to the order received by his majesty, he will frankly state his thoughts; that if it pleases His Majesty, in consideration of your merits and according to his own goodness, to spare your life and be content with the command to gouge out both your eyes, then he humbly believes that such a measure, while satisfying justice to some extent, at the same time will lead to the admiration of the whole world, which will salute as much the meekness of the monarch as the nobility and magnanimity of those who have the honor of being his advisers; that the loss of your eyes will do no harm to your physical strength, by which you can still be useful to his majesty; that blindness, hiding danger from you, will only increase your courage; that the fear of losing your eyesight was your main obstacle in capturing the enemy fleet, and that it will be enough for you to look at everything through the eyes of ministers, since even the greatest monarchs are content with this.

This proposal was met with the utmost disapproval by the high assembly. Admiral Bolgolam was unable to keep his cool; jumping up in a rage, he said that he was surprised how the secretary had dared to vote for saving the life of a traitor; that the services rendered by you, for reasons of national security, further aggravate your crimes; that once you were able by simple urination (of which he spoke with disgust) to put out the fire in her Majesty's chambers, then at another time you will be able in the same way to cause a flood and flood the whole palace; that the very force that enabled you to capture the enemy fleet, at your first displeasure, will serve to bring this fleet back; that he has good reason to think that deep down you are a dumbass; and since treason is born in the heart before it manifests itself in action, he accused you on this basis of treason and insisted that you be put to death.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was of the same opinion: he showed how impoverished his Majesty's treasury had been reduced by the heavy burden on it to support you, which would soon become unbearable, and the proposal of the secretary to gouge out your eyes would not only not cure this evil, but, in all probability , will aggravate it, for, as experience shows, some poultry after blinding eat more and get fat sooner; and if his sacred majesty and the members of the council, your judges, turning to their consciences, have come to a firm conviction of your guilt, then this is a sufficient reason for condemning you to death, without being at a loss to find the formal evidence required by the letter of the law.

But his Imperial Majesty spoke out strongly against the death penalty, deigning graciously to remark that if the council finds the deprivation of your eyesight a sentence too lenient, then there will always be time to pass another, more severe one. Then your friend the secretary, respectfully asking permission to hear his objections to the remarks of the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the heavy burden that your maintenance falls on the treasury of his majesty, said: since his majesty's income is wholly at the disposal of his excellency, it will not be difficult for him to take measures against it. evil by gradually reducing the cost of your dependency; thus, due to insufficient food, you will become weak, thin, lose appetite and wither in a few months; such a measure will also have the advantage that the decomposition of your corpse will become less dangerous, since your body will decrease in volume by more than half, and immediately after your death, five or six thousand subjects of his majesty will be able to separate the meat from the bones in two or three days. , put it in carts, take it away and bury it outside the city to avoid infection, and save the skeleton as a monument, to the surprise of posterity.

Thus, thanks to the secretary's extremely friendly disposition towards you, it was possible to come to a compromise solution to your case. The plan to gradually starve you out has been strictly ordered to be kept secret; the verdict of your blinding is entered in the books by the unanimous decision of the members of the council, with the exception of Admiral Bolgolam, a creature of the Empress, who, thanks to the incessant instigations of Her Majesty, insisted on your death; the empress harbored a grudge against you because of the vile and illegal way in which you put out the fire in her chambers.

In three days your friend the secretary will be ordered to come to us and read all these points of the indictment; at the same time, he will explain how great the indulgence and favor towards you of his majesty and the council of state, thanks to which you are sentenced only to blinding, and his majesty has no doubt that you will humbly and gratefully submit to this sentence; His Majesty's twenty surgeons are appointed to oversee the proper execution of the operation with very finely pointed arrows, which will be shot into your eyeballs while you lie on the ground.

Wherefore, leaving it to your prudence to see to it that appropriate arrangements are made, I must, in order to avoid suspicion, depart immediately, as secretly as I arrived here.

With these words, His Excellency left me, and I was left alone, overcome by painful doubts and hesitation.

There is a custom among the Lilliputians, established by the present emperor and his ministers (very unlike, as I was assured, from what was practiced in former times): if, for the sake of the monarch's revenge or the malice of a favorite, the court sentences someone to a cruel punishment, then the emperor pronounces in meeting of the State Council, a speech depicting his great mercy and kindness as qualities known to all and recognized by all. The speech is immediately resounded throughout the empire; and nothing terrifies the people so much as these panegyrics to the imperial mercy « ... panegyrics to imperial mercy ...» – After the suppression of the Jacobite uprising of 1715 and the brutal reprisal against its participants in England, a proclamation was published praising the mercy of George I.; for it has been established that the more extensive and eloquent they are, the more inhuman the punishment and the more innocent the victim. However, I must confess that, not intended either by birth or upbringing to the role of a courtier, I was a bad judge in such things and could not find any signs of meekness and mercy in my sentence, but, on the contrary (although, perhaps, unfairly), considered him more severe than gentle. Sometimes it occurred to me to appear personally before the court and defend myself, because if I could not dispute the facts set forth in the indictment, I still hoped that they would allow for some mitigation of the sentence. But, on the other hand, judging by the descriptions of numerous political processes « …judging by the descriptions of numerous political processes…"- A hint at the trials in England, which were distinguished by violation of the law, intimidation of the accused, witnesses, jurors., which I have read about, all of them ended in the sense desirable for the judges, and I did not dare to entrust my fate in such critical circumstances to such powerful enemies. I was greatly tempted by the thought of resisting; I knew very well that as long as I enjoyed freedom, all the forces of this empire could not overcome me, and I could easily throw stones and reduce the entire capital to ruins; but, remembering the oath given by me to the emperor, all his favors to me and the high title of nardak, which he bestowed on me, I immediately rejected this project with disgust. I hardly assimilated court views on gratitude and could not convince myself that the present severity of His Majesty frees me from any obligations towards him.

Finally, I settled on a decision for which, probably, many, not without reason, will condemn me. After all, I must admit, I owe the preservation of my vision, and therefore my freedom, to my great recklessness and inexperience. In fact, if at that time I knew as well the temper of monarchs and ministers and their treatment of criminals, much less guilty than I was, as I learned later, observing court life in other states, I would have the greatest joy and willingly submitted to such a light punishment. But I was young and hot; Taking advantage of His Majesty's permission to visit the Emperor of Blefuscu, I sent a letter to my friend the secretary before the end of the three days, informing him of my intention to go that same morning to Blefuscu, in accordance with the permission I received. Without waiting for an answer, I headed for the seashore, where our fleet was anchored.

Having seized a large warship, I tied a rope to its prow, hoisted the anchors, undressed and put my dress in the ship (together with the blanket that I brought in my hand), then, leading the ship behind me, partly fording, partly swimming, I reached the royal the port of Blefuscu, where the population had been expecting me for a long time. I was given two guides to show the way to the capital Blefuscu, which bears the same name as the state. I carried them in my arms until I came within two hundred yards of the city gates; then I asked them to inform one of the secretaries of state of my arrival and to tell him that I awaited orders from his majesty. An hour later I received an answer that His Majesty, accompanied by the most august family and the highest court officials, had gone to meet me. I got within a hundred yards. The emperor and his retinue jumped off their horses, the empress and the ladies of the court got out of the carriages, and I did not notice the slightest fear or anxiety in them. I lay down on the ground to kiss the hand of the emperor and empress. I announced to his majesty that I had come here according to my promise and with the permission of the emperor, my lord, to have the honor to see the most powerful monarch and offer him the services that depend on me, if they do not conflict with the duties of a loyal subject of my sovereign; I made no mention of the disgrace that had befallen me, because, not yet having received official notice, I might well not have known about the plots against me. On the other hand, I had every reason to believe that the emperor would not want to publicize my disgrace if he knew that I was outside his power; however, it soon became clear that I was greatly mistaken in my assumptions.

I will not tire the reader's attention with a detailed description of the reception given to me at the court of Emperor Blefuscu, which was quite in keeping with the generosity of such a powerful monarch. I will also not speak of the inconvenience I experienced due to the lack of a suitable room and bed: I had to sleep on the bare ground, covered with my blanket.

Three days after my arrival at Blefuscu, going out of curiosity to the north-east coast of the island, I noticed at a distance of half a league on the open sea something like an overturned boat. I took off my shoes and stockings, and after wading about two or three hundred yards, I saw that the object was approaching due to the tide; there was no longer any doubt that this was a real boat, torn off by a storm from some ship. I immediately returned to the city and asked his imperial majesty to put at my disposal the twenty largest ships left after the loss of the fleet, and three thousand sailors under the command of the vice admiral. The fleet went around the island, and I returned by the shortest route to the place on the coast where I found the boat; during this time the tide drove her even further. All the sailors were equipped with ropes, which I previously rolled several times for greater strength. When the ships arrived, I undressed and went to the ford of the boat, but a hundred yards from it I was forced to swim. The sailors threw me a rope, one end of which I tied to a hole in the front of the boat, and the other to one of the warships, but all this was of little use, because, without reaching the bottom with my feet, I could not work properly. In view of this, I had to swim up to the boat and, to the best of my ability, push it forward with one hand. With the help of the tide, I finally reached a place where I could stand on my feet, immersed in water up to my chin. After resting for two or three minutes, I continued pushing the boat until the water was up to my armpits. When, thus, the most difficult part of the undertaking was completed, I took the rest of the ropes piled up on one of the ships, and tied them first to the boat, and then to the nine ships accompanying me. The wind was favorable, the sailors towed the boat, I pushed it, and we soon came within forty yards of the shore. After waiting for the tide to go out, when the boat was on land, I turned the boat over with the help of two thousand men, equipped with ropes and machines, and found that the damage was insignificant.

I will not bore the reader with a description of the difficulties that had to be overcome in order to row the boat (work on which took me ten days) to bring the boat to the imperial port of Blefuscu, where, on my arrival, an innumerable crowd of people flocked, amazed at the unprecedented spectacle of such a monstrous vessel. I told the emperor that this boat was sent to me by a lucky star, so that I could get on it to a place from where I could return to my homeland; and I asked his majesty to provide me with the necessary materials for equipping the ship, and also to give permission to leave. After some attempts to convince me to stay, the emperor deigned to give his consent.

I was very surprised that during this time, to the best of my knowledge, the court of Blefuscu did not receive any requests for me from our emperor. Later, however, I was privately informed that His Imperial Majesty, not suspecting for a moment that I knew his intentions, saw in my departure for Blefuscu the simple fulfillment of a promise, in accordance with the permission given, which was well known to all our court; he was sure that I would return in a few days, when the reception ceremony was over. But after a while my long absence began to disturb him; after consulting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and other members of the clique hostile to me, he sent a noble person to the court of Blefuscu with a copy of my indictment. This messenger was instructed to expose to the monarch of Blefuscu the great mercy of his master, who was content with imposing on me such a light punishment as blinding, and to declare that I fled from justice and if I did not return within two hours, I would be stripped of the title of nardak and declared traitor. The messenger added that, in order to maintain peace and friendship between the two empires, his master harbors the hope that his brother, Emperor Blefuscu, will give the order to send me bound hand and foot to Lilliput to be punished for treason. « ... to be punished for treason. - An allusion to the frequent representations of the English ministry to the French government about the patronage provided to the Jacobites who emigrated to France..

Emperor Blefuscu, after three days of deliberations, sent a very kind reply with many apologies. He wrote that his brother understood the impossibility of sending me to Lilliput bound hand and foot; that, although I have deprived him of his fleet, he considers himself indebted to me for the many good offices rendered by me during the peace negotiations; that, however, both monarchs will soon breathe more freely, since I have found a huge ship on the shore, in which I can go to sea; that he had given orders to equip this ship with my help and on my instructions, and hoped that in a few weeks both empires would at last be relieved of such an unbearable burden.

With this reply, the messenger returned to Lilliput, and the monarch of Blefuscu informed me of all that had happened, offering me at the same time (but in the strictest confidence) his gracious patronage, if it pleased me to remain in his service. Although I considered the emperor’s proposal sincere, I decided not to trust the monarchs any more if it was possible to do without their help, and therefore, expressing gratitude to the emperor for his gracious attention, I most respectfully asked his majesty to excuse me and said that although it was not known, fortunately or adversity, fate sent me this ship, but I decided to give myself to the will of the ocean rather than serve as a cause of contention between two so powerful monarchs. And I did not find that the emperor did not like this answer; on the contrary, I happened to learn that he was very pleased with my decision, as were most of his ministers.

These circumstances forced me to hurry and leave sooner than I expected. The court, impatiently awaiting my departure, rendered me every assistance. Five hundred men, under my direction, made two sails for my boat, quilting the strongest linen there, folded thirteen times. I took over the manufacture of tackle and ropes, twisting together ten, twenty and thirty of the thickest and strongest ropes there. A large stone, accidentally found on the shore after a long search, served as an anchor for me. They gave me the fat of three hundred cows for lubricating the boat and other needs. With incredible effort, I cut down some of the tallest timber trees for oars and masts; in making them, however, great help was given to me by His Majesty's ship's carpenters, who leveled and cleaned what I had done in rough.

After a month, when everything was ready, I went to the capital to receive orders from his majesty and say goodbye to him. The emperor with his august family left the palace; I fell on my face to kiss his hand, which he very graciously extended to me; so did the empress and all the princes of the blood. His Majesty presented me with fifty purses, each containing two hundred sprugs, a full-length portrait of himself, which I immediately hid in my glove for greater safety. But the whole ceremonial of my departure was so complicated that now I will not bore the reader with a description of it.

I loaded into the boat one hundred ox carcasses and three hundred mutton carcasses, an appropriate amount of bread and drink, and as much roasted meat as four hundred cooks could prepare. In addition, I took with me six live cows, two bulls and the same number of sheep with rams in order to bring them to my homeland and breed them. To feed these cattle on the way, I took with me a large bundle of hay and a sack of grain. I really wanted to take a dozen natives with me, but the emperor would never agree to this; not content with the most careful examination of my pockets, his Majesty obliged me on my word of honor not to take with me any of his subjects, even with their consent and at their request.

Having thus prepared myself as well as possible for the voyage, I set sail on September 24, 1701, at six o'clock in the morning. Having passed with a southeast wind about four leagues towards the north, at six o'clock in the evening I noticed in the northwest, at a distance of half a league, a small island. I continued on my way and dropped anchor on the lee side of the island, which was apparently uninhabited. After refreshing myself a bit, I lay down to rest. I slept well and, according to my assumptions, at least six hours, because I woke up about two hours before the onset of the day. The night was bright. After breakfast before sunrise, I weighed anchor and, with a fair wind, took the same course with a pocket compass as the day before. My intention was to reach, as far as possible, one of the islands, which, according to my calculations, lie to the northeast of Van Diemen's Land. I did not discover anything that day, but about three o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, being, according to my calculations, twenty-four miles from Blefuscu, I noticed a sail moving to the south-east; I myself was heading straight east. I called out to him, but received no answer. However, the wind soon weakened, and I saw that I could overtake the ship. I set all the sails, and half an hour later the ship noticed me, threw out the flag and fired from the cannon. It is difficult to describe the feeling of joy that swept over me when the hope suddenly arose to see again my dear fatherland and the people dear to my heart who had been abandoned there. The ship lowered her sails, and I landed at her at six o'clock in the evening on September 26th. My heart fluttered with delight when I saw the English flag. After stuffing the cows and sheep into my pockets, I boarded the ship with all my little cargo. It was an English merchant ship returning from Japan by the northern and southern seas; his captain, Mr. John Bill of Deptford, was a most amiable man and an excellent sailor. We were at that time under 50° south latitude. The crew of the ship consisted of fifty men, and among them I met one of my old comrades, Peter Williams, who gave the captain the most favorable opinion of me. The captain gave me a gracious welcome and asked me to tell where I was coming from and where I was going. When I briefly told him this, he thought that I was talking and that the misfortunes I had endured had clouded my mind. Then I took out cows and sheep from my pocket; this made him extremely astonished and convinced him of my veracity. Then I showed him the gold received from the Emperor Blefuscu, the portrait of his Majesty, and other curiosities. I gave the captain two purses with two hundred octopuses in each, and promised to give him, on arrival in England, a pregnant cow and a sheep.

But I will not bore the reader with a detailed description of this journey, which turned out to be very prosperous. We arrived at the Downs on April 15, 1702. On the way, I had only one trouble: the ship's rats dragged off one of my sheep, and I found its gnawed bones in the crack. All the rest of the cattle I brought safely ashore, and at Greenwich put them on the lawn to play bowls; thin and tender grass, beyond my expectation, served as excellent food for them. I would not have been able to keep these animals during such a long journey if the captain had not given me his best crackers, which I ground into powder, soaked in water and gave them in this form. During my short sojourn in England, I collected a considerable amount of money by showing these animals to many nobles and others, and before starting my second journey, I sold them for six hundred pounds. Returning to England from my last journey, I found a fairly large herd; sheep have especially bred, and I hope that they will be of great benefit to the cloth industry due to the unusual fineness of their wool. « ... the benefit of the cloth industry ...» - In order to protect the English wool-spinning industry from competition with the Irish, the British government issued a series of acts that undermined the economy of Ireland. Incurring the wrath of the ruling party, Swift boldly denounced England's predatory policy towards Ireland in the pamphlets A Proposal for the General Use of Irish Manufactories (1720) and in the now famous Clothmaker's Letters (1724)..

I stayed with my wife and children for no more than two months, because my insatiable desire to see foreign countries did not give me peace and I could not sit at home. I left my wife fifteen hundred pounds and installed her in a nice house in Redrif. « …in Redrif.” So in the 17th and early 18th centuries. called Rosergeis.. The rest of my property, partly in money, partly in goods, I took away with me in the hope of increasing my fortune. My elder uncle John bequeathed to me an estate near Epping, which brought in an income of up to thirty pounds a year; I got the same amount of income from my long-term lease of the Black Bull inn on Fetter Lane. Thus, I was not afraid that I would leave my family in the care of the parish. « …in the care of the parish.” – Care for the poor was the responsibility of those parishes in which the poor lived. Help from the amounts collected through donations was meager.. My son Johnny, named after his uncle, attended grammar school and was a good student. My daughter Betty (who is now married and has children) studied sewing. I said goodbye to my wife, daughter, and son, and the matter was not without tears on both sides, and boarded the merchant ship Adventure, with a capacity of three hundred tons; his destination was Surat Surat is an important seaport and trading city in India; The English East India Company built the first factory in India., captain - John Nicholas from Liverpool. But the account of this journey will form the second part of my wanderings.

English Jonathan Swift. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships· 1727

“Gulliver's Travels” is a work written at the intersection of genres: it is also a fascinating, purely novelistic narrative, a travel novel (by no means, however, “sentimental”, which Lawrence Sterne would describe in 1768); it is a pamphlet novel and at the same time a novel that bears distinct features of a dystopia - a genre that we are accustomed to believing belongs exclusively to the literature of the 20th century; this is a novel with equally pronounced elements of fantasy, and the rampage of Swift's imagination truly knows no limits. Being a dystopian novel, it is a novel in the full sense of the word utopian too, especially its last part. And finally, undoubtedly, one should pay attention to the most important thing - this is a prophetic novel, because, reading and rereading it today, perfectly aware of the undoubted specificity of the addressees of Swift's merciless, caustic, murderous satire, you think about this specificity last. Because everything that his hero encounters in the course of his wanderings, his kind of Odysseus, all manifestations of human, let's say, oddities - those that grow into "oddities" that have both a national and supranational character, a global character - all this not only did not die along with those against whom Swift addressed his pamphlet, did not go into oblivion, but, alas, is striking in its relevance. And therefore - the amazing prophetic gift of the author, his ability to capture and recreate what belongs to human nature, and therefore has a character, so to speak, enduring.

There are four parts in Swift's book: his hero makes four journeys, the total duration of which in time is sixteen years and seven months. Leaving, or rather, sailing, each time from a very specific port city that really exists on any map, he suddenly finds himself in some outlandish countries, getting acquainted with those customs, lifestyle, way of life, laws and traditions that are in use there, and talking about his country, about England. And the first such "stop" for Swift's hero is the land of Lilliput. But first, two words about the hero himself. In Gulliver, some features of his creator, his thoughts, his ideas, a kind of “self-portrait” merged together, but the wisdom of the Swift hero (or, more precisely, his sanity in that fantastically absurd world that he describes every time with an inimitably serious, imperturbable mine) combined with the "simplicity" of Voltaire's Huron. It is this innocence, this strange naivety that allows Gulliver to grasp so acutely (that is, so inquisitively, so accurately) every time he finds himself in a wild and foreign country, the most important thing. At the same time, a certain detachment is always felt in the very intonation of his narration, a calm, unhurried, unfussy irony. As if he is not talking about his own "going through the torments", but looks at everything that happens, as it were, from a temporary distance, and quite a considerable one at that. In a word, sometimes there is such a feeling that this is our contemporary, some genius writer unknown to us is leading his story. Laughing at us, at himself, at human nature and human mores, which he sees as invariable. Swift is also therefore contemporary writer that the novel he wrote seems to belong to literature, which in the 20th century, and in its second half, was called “the literature of the absurd”, but in fact its true roots, its beginning are here, in Swift, and sometimes in this sense a writer who lived two and a half centuries ago can give a hundred points ahead of modern classics - precisely as a writer who subtly masters all the techniques of absurdist writing.

So, the first "stop" for Swift's hero is the country of Lilliput, where very small people live. Already in this first part of the novel, as well as in all subsequent ones, the author’s ability to convey, from a psychological point of view, absolutely accurately and reliably, the feeling of a person who is among people (or creatures) who are not like him, to convey his feeling of loneliness, abandonment and inner lack of freedom, constraint precisely by what is around - all the others and everything else.

In that detailed, unhurried tone with which Gulliver tells about all the absurdities, absurdities that he encounters when he gets to the country of Lilliput, an amazing, exquisitely hidden humor is evident.

At first, these strange, incredibly small people (respectively, just as miniature and everything that surrounds them) meet the Mountain Man (as they call Gulliver) quite friendly: they provide him with housing, special laws are adopted that somehow streamline his communication with the locals. residents, in order for it to proceed equally harmoniously and safely for both sides, provide it with food, which is not easy, because the diet of an intruder is grandiose in comparison with their own (it is equal to the diet of 1728 Lilliputians!). The emperor himself talks affably with him, after the assistance rendered by Gulliver to him and his entire state (he walks out into the strait that separates Lilliputia from the neighboring and hostile state of Blefuscu, and drags the entire Blefuskan fleet on a rope), he is granted the title of nardak, the highest title in state. Gulliver is introduced to the customs of the country: what, for example, are the exercises of rope dancers, which serve as a way to get a vacant position at court (is it not from here that the most inventive Tom Stoppard borrowed the idea of ​​​​his play "Jumpers", or, in other words, "Acrobats"?). Description of the "ceremonial march" ... between Gulliver's legs (another "entertainment"), the rite of oath that he takes allegiance to the state of Lilliput; its text, which draws special attention to the first part, which lists the titles of "the most powerful emperor, joy and horror of the universe" - all this is inimitable! Especially when you consider the disproportion of this midget - and all those epithets that accompany his name. Further, Gulliver is initiated into the political system of the country: it turns out that in Lilliput there are two “warring parties known as Tremeksenov and Slemeksenov”, differing from each other only in that the supporters of one are adherents of ... low heels, and the other - high, and between them “the most severe strife” occurs on this, undoubtedly very significant, soil: “they say that high heels are most consistent with ... the ancient state system” of Lilliput, but the emperor “decided that in government offices ... only low heels were used ... ". Well, why not the reforms of Peter the Great, disputes regarding the impact of which on the further “Russian path” do not subside to this day! Even more significant circumstances brought to life a "fierce war" waged between "two great empires" - Lilliputia and Blefuscu: from which side to break eggs - from a blunt end or quite the opposite, from a sharp one. Well, of course, Swift is talking about contemporary England, divided into Tory and Whig supporters - but their opposition has sunk into oblivion, becoming part of history, but the wonderful allegory-allegory invented by Swift is alive. For it is not a matter of Whigs and Tories: no matter how specific parties are called in a specific country in a specific historical era, Swift's allegory turns out to be "for all time." And it's not about allusions - the writer guessed the principle on which everything has been built, is being built and will be built from time immemorial.

Although, by the way, Swift's allegories, of course, belonged to the country and the era in which he lived and the political underside of which he had the opportunity to learn first-hand from his own experience. And therefore, behind Lilliputia and Blefusku, which the emperor of Lilliputia, after the withdrawal of the ships of the Blefuscans by Gulliver, “conceived ... to turn it into his own province and rule it through his governor,” the relations between England and Ireland are read without much difficulty, which also by no means receded into the realm of legends, to this day day painful and disastrous for both countries.

I must say that not only the situations described by Swift, human weaknesses and state foundations amaze with their today's sound, but even many purely textual passages. You can quote them endlessly. Well, for example: “The language of the Blefuskans is as different from the language of the Lilliputians as the languages ​​of the two European peoples differ from each other. At the same time, each of the nations is proud of the antiquity, beauty and expressiveness of its language. And our emperor, taking advantage of his position created by the capture of the enemy fleet, obliged the embassy [of the Blefuscans] to present credentials and negotiate in the Lilliputian language. Associations - clearly unplanned by Swift (however, who knows?) - arise by themselves ...

Although, where Gulliver proceeds to present the foundations of the legislation of Lilliput, we already hear the voice of Swift - a utopian and idealist; these Lilliputian laws that put morality above mental virtues; laws that consider denunciation and fraud as crimes much more serious than theft, and many others are clearly dear to the author of the novel. As well as the law, which makes ingratitude a criminal offence; this latter was especially affected by the utopian dreams of Swift, who knew well the price of ingratitude - both on a personal and state scale.

However, not all of the emperor's advisers share his enthusiasm for the Man of the Mountain, and many do not like the exaltation (both figuratively and literally). The indictment that these people organize turns all the good deeds granted by Gulliver into crimes. "Enemies" demand death, and methods are offered one more terrible than the other. And only the chief secretary for secret affairs, Reldresel, known as Gulliver's "true friend", turns out to be truly humane: his proposal boils down to the fact that it is enough for Gulliver to gouge out both eyes; "Such a measure, while satisfying to some extent justice, at the same time will delight the whole world, which will welcome as much the meekness of the monarch as the nobility and magnanimity of those who have the honor to be his advisers." In reality, (state interests are, after all, above all else!) "The loss of eyes will not cause any damage to [Gulliver's] physical strength, thanks to which [he] can still be useful to His Majesty." Swift's sarcasm is inimitable - but hyperbole, exaggeration, allegory are absolutely at the same time correlated with reality. Such "fantastic realism" of the beginning of the 18th century...

Or here is another example of Swift's providences: “Lilliputians have a custom established by the current emperor and his ministers (very different ... from what was practiced in former times): if, for the sake of the monarch's vindictiveness or the malice of a favorite, the court sentences someone to a cruel punishment, then the emperor delivers a speech in a meeting of the state council, depicting his great mercy and kindness as qualities known to all and recognized by all. The speech is immediately resounded throughout the empire; and nothing terrifies the people so much as these panegyrics to imperial mercy; for it has been established that the more extensive and eloquent they are, the more inhuman the punishment and the more innocent the victim. That's right, but what does Lilliput have to do with it? - any reader will ask. And in fact - what's the point?..

After fleeing to Blefuscu (where history repeats itself with depressing uniformity, that is, everyone is happy for the Man of Grief, but no less happy to get rid of him as soon as possible), Gulliver sets sail on the boat he built and ... accidentally meeting an English merchant ship, safely returns to his native land. He brings with him miniature lambs, which after a few years have bred so much that, as Gulliver says, “I hope that they will bring significant benefits to the cloth industry” (Swift’s undoubted “reference” to his own “Letters of the Clothmaker” - his pamphlet, published in light in 1724).

The second strange state, where the restless Gulliver finds himself, is Brobdingnag - the state of giants, where Gulliver already turns out to be a kind of midget. Every time Swift's hero seems to fall into a different reality, as if into a kind of "through the looking glass", and this transition takes place in a matter of days and hours: reality and unreality are located very close, you just need to want to ...

Gulliver and the local population, in comparison with the previous story, seem to change roles, and the treatment of local residents with Gulliver this time exactly corresponds to how Gulliver himself behaved with the Lilliputians, in all the details and details that are so masterful, one might say, lovingly describes, even subscribes to Swift. On the example of his hero, he demonstrates an amazing property of human nature: the ability to adapt (in the best, "Robinsonian" sense of the word) to any circumstances, to any life situation, the most fantastic, the most incredible - a property that all those mythological, fictional creatures, a guest, are deprived of. which turns out to be Gulliver.

And one more comprehends Gulliver, knowing his fantastic world: the relativity of all our ideas about it. Swift's hero is characterized by the ability to accept "proposed circumstances", the very "tolerance" that another great educator, Voltaire, stood up for several decades earlier.

In this country, where Gulliver turns out to be even more (or rather, less) than just a dwarf, he undergoes many adventures, eventually getting back to the royal court, becoming the favorite companion of the king himself. In one of the conversations with His Majesty, Gulliver tells him about his country - these stories will be repeated more than once on the pages of the novel, and every time Gulliver's interlocutors will again and again be amazed at what he will tell them about, presenting the laws and customs of his own country as something quite familiar and normal. And for his inexperienced interlocutors (Swift brilliantly portrays this "innocent naivety of misunderstanding" of them!) All Gulliver's stories will seem boundless absurdity, nonsense, sometimes just fiction, lies. At the end of the conversation, Gulliver (or Swift) drew a line: “My brief historical outline of our country over the past century plunged the king into extreme amazement. He announced that, in his opinion, this story is nothing but a bunch of conspiracies, troubles, murders, beatings, revolutions and deportations, which are the worst results of greed, partisanship, hypocrisy, perfidy, cruelty, rabies, madness, hatred, envy voluptuousness, malice and ambition." Shine!

Even more sarcasm sounds in the words of Gulliver himself: “... I had to calmly and patiently listen to this insulting treatment of my noble and dearly beloved fatherland ... But you can’t be too demanding of the king, who is completely cut off from the rest of the world and, as a result, is in complete ignorance of morals and customs of other peoples. Such ignorance always gives rise to a certain narrowness of thought and a lot of prejudices, which we, like other enlightened Europeans, are completely alien to. And in fact - alien, completely alien! Swift's mockery is so obvious, the allegory is so transparent, and our naturally occurring thoughts on this matter today are so understandable that it's not even worth the trouble to comment on them.

Just as remarkable is the “naive” judgment of the king about politics: the poor king, it turns out, did not know its basic and fundamental principle: “everything is permitted” - due to his “excessive unnecessary scrupulousness”. Bad politician!

And yet, Gulliver, being in the company of such an enlightened monarch, could not help but feel all the humiliation of his position - a midget among the giants - and his, ultimately, lack of freedom. And he again rushes home, to his relatives, to his country, so unfairly and imperfectly arranged. And when he gets home, he cannot adapt for a long time: his own seems ... too small. Used to!

In part of the third book, Gulliver first finds himself on the flying island of Laputa. And again, everything that he observes and describes is the height of absurdity, while the author's intonation of Gulliver-Swift is still imperturbably meaningful, full of undisguised irony and sarcasm. And again, everything is recognizable: both trifles of a purely everyday nature, such as the “addiction to news and politics” inherent in the Laputians, and the fear that always lives in their minds, as a result of which “the Laputians are constantly in such anxiety that they cannot sleep peacefully in their beds nor enjoy the ordinary pleasures and pleasures of life." The visible embodiment of absurdity as the basis of life on the island is flappers, whose purpose is to force listeners (interlocutors) to focus their attention on what they are currently being told about. But there are allegories of a larger nature in this part of Swift's book: concerning rulers and power, and how to influence "recalcitrant subjects", and much more. And when Gulliver descends from the island to the "continent" and gets into its capital, the city of Lagado, he will be shocked by the combination of boundless ruin and poverty, which will catch the eye everywhere, and peculiar oases of order and prosperity: it turns out that these oases are all that is left of past, normal life. And then some “projectors” appeared who, having visited the island (that is, in our opinion, abroad) and “returning to earth ... were imbued with contempt for all ... institutions and began to draw up projects for the re-creation of science, art, laws, language and technology in a new way." First, the Academy of projectors appeared in the capital, and then in all cities of the country of any significance. The description of Gulliver's visit to the Academy, his conversations with pundits knows no equal in terms of the degree of sarcasm, combined with contempt - contempt, first of all, for those who allow themselves to be fooled and led by the nose like that ... And linguistic improvements! And the school of political projectors!

Tired of all these miracles, Gulliver decided to sail to England, but for some reason, on his way home, first the island of Glubbdobdrib, and then the kingdom of Luggnagg, turned out to be. I must say that as Gulliver moves from one outlandish country to another, Swift's fantasy becomes more and more violent, and his contemptuous poisonousness becomes more and more merciless. This is how he describes the manners at the court of King Luggnagg.

And in the fourth, final part of the novel, Gulliver finds himself in the country of the Houyhnhnms. Houigngnms are horses, but it is in them that Gulliver finally finds quite human features - that is, those features that Swift would probably like to observe in people. And in the service of the Houyhnhnms live evil and vile creatures - Yahoo, like two drops of water similar to a person, only deprived of the cover of civility (both figuratively and literally), and therefore appearing to be disgusting creatures, real savages next to well-bred, highly moral, respectable horses-Huyhnhnms, where honor, and nobility, and dignity, and modesty, and the habit of abstinence are alive ...

Once again, Gulliver tells about his country, about its customs, mores, political system, traditions - and once again, more precisely, more than ever, his story is met by his listener-interlocutor, first with distrust, then - bewilderment, then - indignation: how can one live so inconsistently with the laws of nature? So unnatural to human nature - this is the pathos of misunderstanding on the part of the horse-guyhnhnma. The structure of their community is the version of utopia that Swift allowed himself in the finale of his pamphlet novel: the old writer, who has lost faith in human nature, with unexpected naivety almost sings of primitive joys, a return to nature - something very reminiscent of Voltaire's "Innocent" . But Swift was not "simple-hearted," and that is why his utopia looks utopian even to himself. And this is manifested primarily in the fact that it is these pretty and respectable Houyhnhnms who expel from their "herd" the "stranger" who has crept into it - Gulliver. For he is too similar to Yahoo, and they don’t care that Gulliver’s resemblance to these creatures is only in the structure of the body and nothing more. No, they decide, as soon as he is a Yahoo, then he should live next to the Yahoo, and not among "decent people", that is, horses. The utopia did not work out, and Gulliver dreamed in vain of spending the rest of his days among these kind animals he liked. The idea of ​​tolerance turns out to be alien even to them. And therefore, the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, in Swift's description reminiscent of his scholarship, well, almost the Platonic Academy, accepts the "admonition" - to expel Gulliver as belonging to the Yahoo breed. And our hero completes his wanderings, once again returning home, "retiring to his garden in Redrif to enjoy reflections, to put into practice the excellent lessons of virtue ...".

retold

JOURNEY TO LILIPUTI

1
The three-masted brig "Antelope" sailed for the Southern Ocean.

The ship's doctor Gulliver stood at the stern and looked through a telescope at the pier. His wife and two children remained there: son Johnny and daughter Betty.
Not the first time Gulliver went to sea. He loved to travel. Even at school, he spent almost all the money that his father sent him on nautical charts and on books about foreign countries. He diligently studied geography and mathematics, because these sciences are most needed by a sailor.
His father gave Gulliver an apprenticeship to a famous London doctor at that time. Gulliver studied with him for several years, but did not stop thinking about the sea.
The medical profession was useful to him: after finishing his studies, he joined the ship's doctor on the ship "Swallow" and sailed on it for three and a half years. And then, having lived for two years in London, he made several trips to East and West India.
During the voyage, Gulliver never got bored. In his cabin, he read books taken from home, and on the shore he looked at how other peoples live, studied their language and customs.
On the way back, he wrote down the road adventures in detail.
And this time, going to sea, Gulliver took with him a thick notebook.
On the first page of this book it was written: "May 4, 1699, we weighed anchor in Bristol."

2
For many weeks and months the Antelope sailed across the Southern Ocean. Tailwinds blew. The trip was successful.
But one day, when crossing to East India, the ship was overtaken by a storm. Wind and waves drove him to no one knows where.
And the hold was already running out of food and fresh water. Twelve sailors died of fatigue and hunger. The rest barely moved their feet. The ship tossed from side to side like a nutshell.
One dark, stormy night, the wind carried the Antelope right onto a sharp rock. The sailors noticed it too late. The ship hit a cliff and shattered into pieces.
Only Gulliver and five sailors managed to escape in the boat.
For a long time they rushed along the sea and finally completely exhausted. And the waves got bigger and bigger, and then the highest wave tossed and capsized the boat. Water covered Gulliver with his head.
When he surfaced, there was no one near him. All his companions drowned.
Gulliver swam alone wherever his eyes looked, driven by the wind and the tide. Every now and then he tried to find the bottom, but there was still no bottom. And he could no longer swim further: a wet caftan and heavy, swollen shoes pulled him down. He choked and gasped.
And suddenly his feet touched solid ground. It was a shallow. Gulliver carefully stepped on the sandy bottom once or twice - and slowly walked forward, trying not to stumble.

The going got easier and easier. At first the water reached his shoulders, then to his waist, then only to his knees. He already thought that the shore was very close, but the bottom in this place was very shallow, and Gulliver had to wade knee-deep in water for a long time.
At last the water and sand were left behind. Gulliver went out onto a lawn covered with very soft and very low grass. He sank to the ground, put his hand under his cheek and fell sound asleep.

3
When Gulliver woke up, it was already quite light. He lay on his back, and the sun shone directly in his face.
He wanted to rub his eyes, but he could not raise his hand; I wanted to sit up, but I couldn't move.
Thin ropes entangled his entire body from armpits to knees; arms and legs were tightly tied with a rope net; ropes wrapped around each finger. Even Gulliver's long thick hair was tightly wound around small pegs driven into the ground and entwined with ropes.
Gulliver was like a fish caught in a net.

"Yes, I'm still sleeping," he thought.
Suddenly, something living quickly climbed onto his leg, reached his chest and stopped at his chin.
Gulliver squinted one eye.
What a miracle! Almost under his nose is a little man - a tiny, but a real little man! In his hands is a bow and arrow, behind his back is a quiver. And he's only three fingers tall.
Following the first little man, another four dozen of the same small shooters climbed Gulliver.
In surprise, Gulliver cried out loudly.

The little men rushed about and rushed in all directions.
As they ran, they stumbled and fell, then jumped up and jumped to the ground one by one.
For two or three minutes no one else approached Gulliver. Only under his ear all the time there was a noise similar to the chirping of grasshoppers.
But soon the little men again took courage and again began to climb up his legs, arms and shoulders, and the bravest of them crept up to Gulliver's face, touched his chin with a spear and shouted in a thin but distinct voice:
- Gekina degul!
- Gekina degul! Gekina degul! snarled voices from all sides.
But what these words meant, Gulliver did not understand, although he knew a lot foreign languages.
Gulliver lay on his back for a long time. His arms and legs were completely numb.

He mustered his strength and tried to lift his left arm off the ground.
Finally he succeeded.
He pulled out the pegs, around which were wrapped hundreds of thin, strong ropes, and raised his hand.
At that very moment someone squeaked loudly:
- Only a flashlight!
Hundreds of arrows pierced Gulliver's hand, face, neck at once. The men's arrows were thin and sharp, like needles.

Gulliver closed his eyes and decided to lie still until nightfall.
It will be easier to break free in the dark, he thought.
But he did not have to wait for the night on the lawn.
Not far from his right ear he heard a frequent, fractional knock, as if someone nearby were hammering cloves into the board.
The hammers banged for an hour.
Gulliver turned his head slightly - the ropes and pegs no longer allowed him to turn it - and near his very head he saw a newly built wooden platform. Several men were fitting a ladder to him.

Then they ran away, and a little man in a long cloak slowly climbed the steps to the platform. Behind him walked another, almost half his height, and carried the edge of his cloak. It must have been a page boy. He was no bigger than Gulliver's little finger. The last to ascend the platform were two archers with drawn bows in their hands.
— Langro degyul san! the little man in the cloak shouted three times and unfolded the scroll as long and as wide as a birch leaf.
Now fifty men ran up to Gulliver and cut the ropes tied to his hair.
Gulliver turned his head and began to listen to what the man in the raincoat was reading. The little man read and talked for a long, long time. Gulliver did not understand anything, but just in case he nodded his head and put his free hand to his heart.
He guessed that in front of him was some important person, most likely the royal ambassador.

First of all, Gulliver decided to ask the ambassador to feed him.
He hasn't had a crumb in his mouth since he left the ship. He raised his finger and brought it to his lips several times.
The man in the cloak must have understood this sign. He stepped off the platform, and immediately several long ladders were placed at Gulliver's sides.
In less than a quarter of an hour, hundreds of hunched porters were dragging baskets of food up these stairs.
The baskets contained thousands of loaves the size of a pea, whole hams the size of a walnut, fried chickens smaller than our fly.

Gulliver swallowed two hams at once along with three loaves of bread. He ate five roast oxen, eight dried rams, nineteen smoked pigs, and two hundred chickens and geese.
Soon the baskets were empty.
Then the little men rolled two barrels of wine to Gulliver's hand. The barrels were huge - each with a glass.
Gulliver knocked the bottom out of one barrel, knocked it out of the other, and drained both barrels in a few sips.
The little people threw up their hands in surprise. Then they made signs to him to dump the empty barrels on the ground.
Gulliver threw both at once. The barrels tumbled in the air and rolled with a crash in different directions.
The crowd on the lawn parted, shouting loudly:
- Bora mewola! Bora mewola!
After wine, Gulliver immediately wanted to sleep. Through a dream, he felt how the little men were running all over his body up and down, rolling down from the sides, as if from a mountain, tickling him with sticks and spears, jumping from finger to finger.
He really wanted to throw off a dozen or two of these little jumpers that prevented him from sleeping, but he took pity on them. After all, the little men had just hospitably fed him a delicious, hearty dinner, and it would be ignoble to break their arms and legs for this. In addition, Gulliver could not help but be surprised at the extraordinary courage of these tiny people, who ran back and forth across the giant’s chest, who would have had no trouble destroying them all with one click. He decided not to pay attention to them and, intoxicated with strong wine, soon fell asleep.
The people were just waiting for this. They deliberately poured sleeping powder into barrels of wine in order to put their huge guest to sleep.

4
The country in which the storm brought Gulliver was called Lilliputia. Lilliputians lived in this country.
The tallest trees in Lilliput were no taller than our currant bush, the largest houses were lower than the table. No one has ever seen such a giant as Gulliver in Lilliput.
The emperor ordered to bring him to the capital. For this, Gulliver was put to sleep.
Five hundred carpenters built, by order of the emperor, a huge cart with twenty-two wheels.
The cart was ready in a few hours, but putting Gulliver on it was not so easy.
That's what Lilliputian engineers came up with for this.
They put the cart next to the sleeping giant, at his very side. Then eighty posts were driven into the ground with blocks at the top and thick ropes with hooks at one end were put on these blocks. The ropes were no thicker than ordinary twine.
When everything was ready, the Lilliputians set to work. They grabbed the torso, both legs and both arms of Gulliver with strong bandages and, hooking these bandages with hooks, began to pull the ropes through the blocks.
Nine hundred selected strong men were gathered for this work from all parts of Lilliput.
They planted their feet on the ground and, sweating, pulled the ropes with all their might with both hands.
An hour later, they managed to lift Gulliver from the ground by half a finger, two hours later - by a finger, after three - they put him on a cart.

One and a half thousand of the largest horses from the court stables, each the size of a newborn kitten, were harnessed to a cart ten abreast. The coachmen waved their whips, and the cart slowly rolled along the road to the main city of Liliput - Mildendo.
Gulliver was still sleeping. He probably would not have woken up until the end of the journey if one of the officers of the imperial guard had not accidentally woken him up.
It happened like this.
The wheel of the cart bounced off. I had to stop to fix it.
During this stop, several young people took it into their heads to see what face Gulliver has when he sleeps. Two climbed onto the wagon and crept quietly up to his very face. And the third - a guards officer - without leaving his horse, rose in the stirrups and tickled his left nostril with the tip of his pike.
Gulliver involuntarily wrinkled his nose and sneezed loudly.
- Apchi! echo repeated.
The brave ones were blown away by the wind.
And Gulliver woke up, heard the drivers cracking their whips, and realized that he was being taken somewhere.
The whole day, the soaring horses dragged the bound Gulliver along the roads of Lilliput.
It was only late at night that the cart stopped, and the horses were unharnessed to be fed and watered.
All night, a thousand guardsmen stood guard on both sides of the cart: five hundred with torches, five hundred with bows at the ready.
The shooters were ordered to fire five hundred arrows at Gulliver, if only he decides to move.
When morning came, the cart moved on.

5
Not far from the city gates on the square stood an old abandoned castle with two corner towers. No one has lived in the castle for a long time.
The Lilliputians brought Gulliver to this empty castle.
It was the largest building in all of Lilliput. Its towers were almost human height. Even such a giant as Gulliver could freely crawl on all fours through its door, and in the front hall he would probably manage to stretch out to his full height.

The emperor of Lilliput was going to settle Gulliver here. But Gulliver did not know this yet. He was lying on his cart, and crowds of midgets were running towards him from all sides.
The horse guards drove away the curious, but still a good ten thousand little men managed to walk along Gulliver's legs, over his chest, shoulders and knees, while he was lying tied up.
Suddenly, something hit him on the leg. He slightly raised his head and saw several midgets with rolled up sleeves and black aprons. Tiny hammers glittered in their hands. It was the court blacksmiths who put Gulliver in chains.
From the wall of the castle to his foot they stretched ninety-one chains as thick as they usually do for watches, and locked them around his ankle with thirty-six padlocks. The chains were so long that Gulliver could walk around the area in front of the castle and freely crawl into his house.
The blacksmiths finished their work and withdrew. The guard cut the ropes, and Gulliver got to his feet.

"Ah," shouted the Lilliputians. — Quinbus Flestrin! Quinbus Flestrin!
In Lilliputian, this means: “Man-Mountain! Mountain Man!
Gulliver carefully stepped from foot to foot so as not to crush one of the locals, and looked around.
Never before had he seen such a beautiful country. The gardens and meadows here looked like colorful flower beds. The rivers ran in fast, clear streams, and the city looked like a toy in the distance.
Gulliver stared so hard that he did not notice how almost the entire population of the capital had gathered around him.
Lilliputians swarmed at his feet, felt the buckles of his shoes, and lifted their heads so that their hats fell to the ground.

The boys argued which of them would throw a stone to the very nose of Gulliver.
Scientists have been arguing among themselves where Quinbus Flestrin came from.
- It is written in our old books, - said one scientist, - that a thousand years ago the sea threw a terrible monster ashore to us. I think that Quinbus Flestrin also emerged from the bottom of the sea.
“No,” answered another scientist, “a sea monster must have gills and a tail. Quinbus Flestrin fell off the moon.
The Lilliputian sages did not know that there were other countries in the world, and they thought that only Lilliputians live everywhere.
Scientists walked around Gulliver for a long time and shook their heads, but did not have time to decide where Quinbus Flestrin came from.
Riders on black horses with spears at the ready dispersed the crowd.
- Ashes of the villagers! Ashes of the villagers! shouted the riders.
Gulliver saw a golden box on wheels. The box was carried by six white horses. Nearby, also on a white horse, galloped a little man in a golden helmet with a plume.
The man in the helmet galloped straight to Gulliver's shoe and reined in his horse. The horse snored and reared up.
Now several officers ran up to the rider from two sides, grabbed his horse by the bridle and carefully led him away from Gulliver's leg.
The rider on the white horse was the emperor of Lilliput. And in the golden carriage sat the empress.
Four pages spread a piece of velvet on the lawn, placed a small gilded armchair, and flung open the doors of the carriage.
The Empress came out and sat down in a chair, straightening her dress.
Around her, her court ladies sat down on golden benches.
They were so magnificently dressed that the whole lawn became like a spread skirt, embroidered with gold, silver and multi-colored silks.
The emperor jumped off his horse and walked around Gulliver several times. His retinue followed him.
In order to better examine the emperor, Gulliver lay on his side.

His Majesty was at least a full nail taller than his courtiers. He was more than three fingers tall and was probably considered a very tall man in Lilliput.
In his hand, the emperor held a naked sword a little shorter than a knitting needle. Diamonds glittered on its golden hilt and scabbard.
His Imperial Majesty threw his head back and asked Gulliver about something.
Gulliver did not understand his question, but just in case, he told the emperor who he was and where he came from.
The emperor just shrugged.
Then Gulliver told the same thing in Dutch, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and Turkish.
But the emperor of Lilliput, apparently, did not know these languages. He nodded his head to Gulliver, jumped on his horse and rushed back to Mildendo. Following him, the Empress left with her ladies.
And Gulliver remained sitting in front of the castle, like a chained dog in front of a booth.
By evening, at least three hundred thousand midgets crowded around Gulliver - all city dwellers and all peasants from neighboring villages.
Everyone wanted to see what Quinbus Flestrin, the Mountain Man, was.

Gulliver was guarded by guards armed with spears, bows and swords. The guards were ordered not to let anyone near Gulliver and to make sure that he did not break the chain and run away.
Two thousand soldiers lined up in front of the castle, but still a handful of citizens broke through the line.
Some examined Gulliver's heels, others threw stones at him or aimed bows at his vest buttons.
A well-aimed arrow scratched Gulliver's neck, the second arrow almost hit him in the left eye.
The head of the guard ordered that the mischievous people be caught, tied up and handed over to Quinbus Flestrin.
It was worse than any other punishment.
The soldiers tied up six midgets and, pushing the lance with the blunt ends, drove Gulliver to his feet.
Gulliver bent down, grabbed everyone with one hand and put them in the pocket of his camisole.
He left only one little man in his hand, carefully took it with two fingers and began to examine it.
The little man grabbed Gulliver's finger with both hands and screamed piercingly.
Gulliver felt sorry for the little man. He smiled kindly at him and took out a penknife from his vest pocket to cut the ropes that bound the midget's hands and feet.
Lilliput saw Gulliver's shiny teeth, saw a huge knife and screamed even louder. The crowd below was completely silent with horror.
And Gulliver quietly cut one rope, cut another and put the little man on the ground.
Then, one by one, he released those Lilliputians who were rushing about in his pocket.
— Glum glaff Quinbus Flestrin! the whole crowd shouted.
In Lilliputian, this means: "Long live the Mountain Man!"

And the head of the guard sent two of his officers to the palace to report everything that had happened to the emperor himself.

6
Meanwhile, in the palace of Belfaborak, in the farthest hall, the emperor gathered a secret council to decide what to do with Gulliver.
Ministers and councilors argued among themselves for nine hours.
Some said that Gulliver should be killed as soon as possible. If the Mountain Man breaks his chain and runs away, he can trample all of Lilliput. And if he does not run away, then the empire is threatened with a terrible famine, because every day he will eat more bread and meat than is necessary to feed one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight midgets. This was calculated by a scholar who was invited to the secret council, because he was very good at counting.
Others argued that it was just as dangerous to kill Quinbus Flestrin as it was to keep him alive. From the decomposition of such a huge corpse, a plague can begin not only in the capital; but throughout the empire.
Secretary of State Reldressel asked the emperor for a word and said that Gulliver should not be killed, at least until a new fortress wall was built around Meldendo. The Man-Mountain eats more bread and meat than one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight Lilliputians, but on the other hand, he, it is true, will work for at least two thousand Lilliputians. In addition, in case of war, he can protect the country better than five fortresses.
The emperor sat on his canopied throne and listened to what the ministers were saying.
When Reldressel finished, he nodded his head. Everyone understood that he liked the words of the Secretary of State.
But at this time, Admiral Skyresh Bolgolam, the commander of the entire fleet of Lilliput, got up from his seat.
“Mountain Man,” he said, “the most powerful of all people in the world, it’s true. But that is why he should be executed as soon as possible. After all, if during the war he decides to join the enemies of Lilliput, then ten regiments of the imperial guard will not be able to cope with him. Now he is still in the hands of the Lilliputians, and we must act before it is too late.

Treasurer Flimnap, General Limtok and Judge Belmaf agreed with the admiral.
The emperor smiled and nodded his head at the admiral - not even once, like Reldressel, but twice. It was evident that he liked this speech even more.
Gulliver's fate was sealed.
But at that moment the door opened, and two officers, who had been sent to the emperor by the head of the guard, ran into the chamber of the secret council. They knelt before the emperor and reported what had happened in the square.
When the officers told how graciously Gulliver treated his captives, Secretary of State Reldressel again asked for the floor.

He delivered another long speech in which he argued that one should not be afraid of Gulliver and that he would be much more useful to the emperor alive than dead.
The emperor decided to pardon Gulliver, but ordered to take away from him a huge knife, which the officers of the guard had just told about, and at the same time any other weapon if it was found during the search.

7
Two officials were assigned to search Gulliver.
With signs, they explained to Gulliver what the emperor requires of him.
Gulliver did not argue with them. He took both officials in his hands and lowered them first into one pocket of the caftan, then into the other, and then transferred them to the pockets of his trousers and vest.
Only in one secret pocket Gulliver did not let officials in. He had hidden his spectacles, spyglass and compass there.
The officials brought with them a lantern, paper, pens and ink. For three whole hours they fumbled in Gulliver's pockets, examined things and made an inventory.
Having finished their work, they asked the Man-Mountain to take them out of the last pocket and lower them to the ground.
After that, they bowed to Gulliver and carried the inventory they had compiled to the palace. Here it is, word for word:
"Description of items,
found in the pockets of the Mountain Man:
1. In the right pocket of the caftan, we found a large piece of coarse canvas, which, due to its size, could serve as a carpet for the front hall of the Belfaborak Palace.
2. In the left pocket they found a huge silver chest with a lid. This lid is so heavy that we ourselves could not lift it. When, at our request, Quinbus Flestrin lifted the lid of his chest, one of us climbed inside and immediately sank above the knees into some kind of yellow dust. A whole cloud of this dust rose up and made us sneeze to tears.
3. There is a huge knife in the right pants pocket. If you put him upright, he will be taller than human growth.
4. In the left pocket of the trousers, a machine made of iron and wood, unprecedented in our area, was found. It is so large and heavy that, despite our best efforts, we could not move it. This prevented us from inspecting the car from all sides.
5. In the upper right pocket of the vest was a whole pile of rectangular, completely identical sheets, made of some white and smooth material unknown to us. This whole bale - half the height of a man's height and three girths thick - is stitched with thick ropes. We carefully examined several top sheets and noticed rows of black mysterious signs on them. We believe that these are letters of an alphabet unknown to us. Each letter is the size of our palm.
6. In the upper left pocket of the vest, we found a net no less than a fishing net, but arranged so that it can close and open like a wallet. It contains several heavy objects made of red, white and yellow metal. They are of different sizes, but the same shape - round and flat. The red ones are probably copper. They are so heavy that the two of us could hardly lift such a disc. White - obviously, silver - smaller. They look like the shields of our warriors. Yellow must be gold. They are slightly larger than our plates, but very heavy. If only it is real gold, then they must be very expensive.
7. A thick metal chain, apparently silver, hangs from the lower right pocket of the vest. This chain is attached to a large round object in the pocket, made of the same metal. What this item is is unknown. One of its walls is transparent as ice, and twelve black signs arranged in a circle and two long arrows are clearly visible through it.
Inside this round object, apparently, some mysterious creature is sitting, which incessantly knocks either with its teeth or with its tail. The Mountain Man explained to us, partly by words and partly by hand movements, that without this round metal box he would not know when to get up in the morning and when to go to bed in the evening, when to start work and when to finish it.
8. In the lower left pocket of the vest, we saw a thing similar to the lattice of the palace garden. With the sharp rods of this lattice, the Mountain-Man combs his hair.
9. Having finished the examination of the camisole and vest, we examined the belt of the Man-Mountain. It is made from the skin of some huge animal. On the left side of it hangs a sword five times longer than the average human height, and on the right - a bag divided into two compartments. Each of them can easily accommodate three adult midgets.
In one of the compartments we found many heavy and smooth metal balls the size of a human head; the other is full to the brim with some kind of black grains, quite light and not too large. We could put several dozen of these grains in our palms.
This is the exact description of the things found during the search at the Man-Mountain.
During the search, the aforementioned Mountain Man behaved politely and calmly.
Under the inventory, the officials put a seal and signed:
Clephrin Freloc. Marcy Frelock.

Title of the work: Gulliver's Travels

Year of writing: 1727

Genre of work: novel

Main characters: Lemuel Gulliver- the son of a landowner, a surgeon on a ship, a traveler.

Plot

Lemuel Gulliver is a good surgeon. Works on a ship. But one day a tragedy happened - because of the fog, the ship crashed against the stones. The surviving hero finds himself on land in the country of Lilliput, where very small people live. There he begins to learn the local language, makes friends with the emperor. The hero learns about the enmity with the neighbors of Blefuscu. But in the end, on various charges, he faces death or torture, so he runs away. The next point of the trip is Brobdingnag. This land is inhabited by giants. The farmer shows the guest for money. Lumuel meets the royal family, but there are dangers too. Then he visits the flying island of Laputa, where the inhabitants are interested in mathematics and music. Immortal people live in Luggnagg, but they suffer from this, get sick and sad. The last trip was to the country of the Houyhnhnms, which is inhabited by horses. Gulliver traveled for over 16 years.

Conclusion (my opinion)

In the novel, Swift denounces pride and arrogance. He was worried about the decline of morality in society. He also condemns the illogical laws of England, the hard life. Having delved into deep images, you can see the surrounding people in the fantastic characters.

Travels to some distant countries of the world by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then the captain of several ships.

“Gulliver's Travels” is a work written at the intersection of genres: it is also a fascinating, purely novelistic narrative, a travel novel (by no means, however, “sentimental”, which Lawrence Sterne would describe in 1768); it is a pamphlet novel and at the same time a novel that bears distinct features of a dystopia - a genre that we used to believe belongs exclusively to the literature of the 20th century; this is a novel with equally pronounced elements of fantasy, and the rampage of Swift's imagination truly knows no limits.

Being a dystopian novel, it is a novel in the full sense of the word utopian too, especially its last part. And finally, undoubtedly, one should pay attention to the most important thing - this is a prophetic novel, because, reading and re-reading it today, perfectly aware of the undoubted specificity of the addressees of Swift's merciless, caustic, murderous satire, you think about this specificity last. Because everything that his hero encounters in the course of his wanderings, his kind of Odysseus, all manifestations of human, let's say, oddities - those that grow into "oddities" that have both a national and supranational character, a global character - all this not only did not die along with those against whom Swift addressed his pamphlet, did not go into oblivion, but, alas, is striking in its relevance. And therefore - the amazing prophetic gift of the author, his ability to capture and recreate what belongs to human nature, and therefore has a character, so to speak, enduring.

There are four parts in Swift's book: his hero makes four journeys, the total duration of which in time is sixteen years and seven months. Leaving, or rather, sailing, each time from a very specific port city that really exists on any map, he suddenly finds himself in some outlandish countries, getting acquainted with those customs, lifestyle, way of life, laws and traditions that are in use there, and talking about his country, about England. And the first such "stop" for Swift's hero is the land of Lilliput. But first, two words about the hero himself. In Gulliver, some of the features of his creator, his thoughts, his ideas, a kind of “self-portrait” merged together, but the wisdom of the Swift hero (or, more precisely, his sanity in that fantastically absurd world that he describes every time with an inimitably serious, imperturbable mine) combined with the "simplicity" of Voltaire's Huron. It is this innocence, this strange naivety that allows Gulliver to grasp so sharply (that is, so inquisitively, so accurately) every time he finds himself in a wild and foreign country, the most important thing. At the same time, a certain detachment is always felt in the very intonation of his narration, a calm, unhurried, unfussy irony. As if he is not talking about his own “going through the torment”, but looks at everything that happens, as it were, from a temporary distance, and quite a considerable one at that. In a word, sometimes there is a feeling that this is our contemporary, some genius writer unknown to us is leading his story. Laughing at us, at himself, at human nature and human mores, which he sees as invariable. Swift is also a modern writer because the novel he wrote seems to belong to literature, which in the 20th century, and in the second half of it, was called “absurd literature”, but in fact its true roots, its beginning are here, at Swift, and sometimes in this sense a writer who lived two and a half centuries ago, can give a hundred points ahead of modern classics - precisely as a writer who subtly owns all the techniques of absurd writing.

So, the first "stop" for Swift's hero is the country of Lilliput, where very small people live. Already in this first part of the novel, as well as in all subsequent ones, the author’s ability to convey, from a psychological point of view, absolutely accurately and reliably, the feeling of a person who is among people (or creatures) who are not like him, to convey his feeling of loneliness, abandonment and inner lack of freedom, constraint precisely by what is around - all the others and everything else.

In that detailed, unhurried tone with which Gulliver tells about all the absurdities, absurdities that he encounters when he gets to the country of Lilliput, an amazing, exquisitely hidden humor is evident.

At first, these strange, incredibly small people (respectively, just as miniature and everything that surrounds them) meet the Mountain Man (as they call Gulliver) quite friendly: they provide him with housing, special laws are adopted that somehow streamline his communication with the locals. residents, in order for it to proceed equally harmoniously and safely for both sides, provide it with food, which is not easy, because the diet of an intruder is grandiose in comparison with their own (it is equal to the diet of 1728 Lilliputians!). The emperor himself talks affably with him, after Gulliver provided him and his entire state with help (he walks out into the strait that separates Lilliputia from the neighboring and hostile state of Blefuscu, and drags the entire Blefuskan fleet on a rope), he is granted the title of backgammon, the highest title in state. Gulliver is introduced to the customs of the country: what, for example, are the exercises of rope dancers, which serve as a way to get a vacant position at court (is it not from here that the most inventive Tom Stoppard borrowed the idea of ​​​​his play "Jumpers", or, in other words, "Acrobats"?). Description of the "ceremonial march" ... between the legs of Gulliver (another "entertainment"), the rite of passage, which he takes an oath of allegiance to the state of Lilliput; its text, which draws special attention to the first part, which lists the titles of "the most powerful emperor, joy and horror of the universe" - all this is inimitable! Especially when you consider the disproportion of this midget - and all those epithets that accompany his name.

Further, Gulliver is initiated into the political system of the country: it turns out that in Lilliput there are two “warring parties known as the Tremeksenov and Slemeksenov”, differing from each other only in that the supporters of one are adherents of ... low heels, and the other - high, and between them, on this, undoubtedly very significant, ground, “the most severe strife” takes place: “they say that high heels are most consistent with ... the ancient state system” of Lilliput, but the emperor “decided that in government institutions ... only low heels..." Well, why not the reforms of Peter the Great, disputes regarding the impact of which on the further “Russian path” do not subside to this day! Even more significant circumstances brought to life a "fierce war" waged between "two great empires" - Lilliputia and Blefuscu: from which side to break eggs - from a blunt end or quite the opposite, from a sharp one. Well, of course, Swift is talking about contemporary England, divided into Tory and Whig supporters - but their opposition has sunk into oblivion, becoming part of history, but the wonderful allegory-allegory invented by Swift is alive. For it is not a matter of Whigs and Tories: no matter how specific parties are called in a specific country in a specific historical era, Swift's allegory turns out to be "for all time." And it's not about allusions - the writer guessed the principle on which everything has been built, is being built and will be built from time immemorial.

Although, by the way, Swift's allegories, of course, belonged to the country and the era in which he lived and the political underside of which he had the opportunity to learn first-hand from his own experience. And therefore, behind Liliputia and Blefusku, which the emperor of Liliputia, after the withdrawal of the ships of the Blefuscans by Gulliver, “conceived ... to turn it into his own province and rule it through his governor”, ​​the relations between England and Ireland, which also by no means departed into the realm of legends, are read without much difficulty, to this day, painful and disastrous for both countries.

I must say that not only the situations described by Swift, human weaknesses and state foundations amaze with their today's sound, but even many purely textual passages. You can quote them endlessly. Well, for example: “The language of the Blefuskans is as different from the language of the Lilliputians as the languages ​​of the two European peoples differ from each other. At the same time, each of the nations is proud of the antiquity, beauty and expressiveness of its language. And our emperor, taking advantage of his position created by the capture of the enemy fleet, obliged the embassy [of the Blefuscans] to present credentials and negotiate in the Lilliputian language. Associations - clearly unplanned by Swift (however, who knows?) - arise by themselves ...

Although, where Gulliver proceeds to present the foundations of the legislation of Lilliput, we already hear the voice of Swift - a utopian and idealist; these Lilliputian laws that put morality above mental virtues; laws that consider denunciation and fraud as crimes much more serious than theft, and many others are clearly dear to the author of the novel. As well as the law, which makes ingratitude a criminal offence; this latter was especially affected by the utopian dreams of Swift, who knew well the price of ingratitude - both on a personal and state scale.

However, not all of the emperor's advisers share his enthusiasm for the Man of the Mountain, and many do not like the exaltation (both figuratively and literally). The indictment that these people organize turns all the good deeds granted by Gulliver into crimes. "Enemies" demand death, and methods are offered one more terrible than the other. And only the chief secretary for secret affairs, Reldresel, known as Gulliver's "true friend", turns out to be truly humane: his proposal boils down to the fact that it is enough for Gulliver to gouge out both eyes; “Such a measure, while satisfying to some extent justice, at the same time will delight the whole world, which will welcome as much the meekness of the monarch as the nobility and generosity of those who have the honor to be his advisers.” In reality, (state interests are, after all, above all!) "The loss of eyes will not cause any damage to [Gulliver's] physical strength, thanks to which [he] can still be useful to His Majesty." Swift's sarcasm is inimitable - but hyperbole, exaggeration, allegory are absolutely at the same time correlated with reality. Such "fantastic realism" of the beginning of the 18th century...

Or here’s another example of Swift’s providences: “Lilliputians have a custom established by the current emperor and his ministers (very different ... from what was practiced in former times): if, for the sake of the monarch’s vindictiveness or the malice of a favorite, the court sentences someone to cruel punishment, then the emperor delivers a speech in a meeting of the state council, depicting his great mercy and kindness as qualities known to all and recognized by all. The speech is immediately resounded throughout the empire; and nothing terrifies the people so much as these panegyrics to imperial mercy; for it has been established that the more extensive and eloquent they are, the more inhuman the punishment and the more innocent the victim. That's right, but what does Lilliput have to do with it? - any reader will ask. And in fact - what's the point?..

After fleeing to Blefuscu (where history repeats itself with depressing uniformity, that is, everyone is happy for the Man of Grief, but no less happy to get rid of him as soon as possible) Gulliver sets sail on the boat he built and ... accidentally meeting an English merchant ship, safely returns to his native land . He brings with him miniature lambs, which after a few years have bred so much that, as Gulliver says, “I hope that they will bring significant benefits to the cloth industry” (Swift’s undoubted “reference” to his own “Letters of the Clothmaker” - his pamphlet, published in light in 1724).

The second strange state, where the restless Gulliver finds himself, is Brobdingnag - the state of giants, where Gulliver already turns out to be a kind of midget. Every time Swift's hero seems to fall into a different reality, as if into a kind of "through the looking glass", and this transition takes place in a matter of days and hours: reality and unreality are located very close, you just need to want to...

Gulliver and the local population, in comparison with the previous story, seem to change roles, and the treatment of local residents with Gulliver this time exactly corresponds to how Gulliver himself behaved with the Lilliputians, in all the details and details that are so masterful, one might say, lovingly describes, even subscribes to Swift. On the example of his hero, he demonstrates an amazing property of human nature: the ability to adapt (in the best, "Robinsonian" sense of the word) to any circumstances, to any life situation, the most fantastic, the most incredible - a property that all those mythological, fictional creatures, a guest, are deprived of. which turns out to be Gulliver.

And Gulliver comprehends one more thing, knowing his fantastic world: the relativity of all our ideas about it. Swift's hero is characterized by the ability to accept "proposed circumstances", the very "tolerance" that another great educator, Voltaire, stood up for several decades earlier.

In this country, where Gulliver turns out to be even more (or rather, less) than just a dwarf, he undergoes many adventures, eventually getting back to the royal court, becoming the favorite companion of the king himself. In one of the conversations with His Majesty, Gulliver tells him about his country - these stories will be repeated more than once on the pages of the novel, and every time Gulliver's interlocutors will again and again be amazed at what he will tell them about, presenting the laws and customs of his own country as something quite familiar and normal. And for his inexperienced interlocutors (Swift brilliantly portrays this "innocent naivety of misunderstanding" of them!) All Gulliver's stories will seem boundless absurdity, nonsense, sometimes just fiction, lies. At the end of the conversation, Gulliver (or Swift) drew a line: “My brief historical outline of our country over the past century plunged the king into extreme amazement. He announced that, in his opinion, this story is nothing but a bunch of conspiracies, troubles, murders, beatings, revolutions and deportations, which are the worst results of greed, partisanship, hypocrisy, perfidy, cruelty, rabies, madness, hatred, envy voluptuousness, malice and ambition." Shine!

Even greater sarcasm sounds in the words of Gulliver himself: “... I had to calmly and patiently listen to this insulting treatment of my noble and dearly beloved fatherland ... But you can’t be too demanding of the king, who is completely cut off from the rest of the world and, as a result, is in complete ignorance of the mores and customs of other peoples. Such ignorance always gives rise to a certain narrowness of thought and a lot of prejudices, which we, like other enlightened Europeans, are completely alien to. And in fact - alien, completely alien! Swift's mockery is so obvious, the allegory is so transparent, and our naturally occurring thoughts on this matter today are so understandable that it is not even worth commenting on them.

Just as remarkable is the “naive” judgment of the king about politics: the poor king, it turns out, did not know its basic and fundamental principle: “everything is permitted” - due to his “excessive unnecessary scrupulousness”. Bad politician!

And yet, Gulliver, being in the company of such an enlightened monarch, could not help but feel all the humiliation of his position - a midget among the giants - and his, ultimately, lack of freedom. And he again rushes home, to his relatives, to his country, so unfairly and imperfectly arranged. And when he gets home, he cannot adapt for a long time: his own seems ... too small. Used to!

In part of the third book, Gulliver first finds himself on the flying island of Laputa. And again, everything that he observes and describes is the height of absurdity, while the author's intonation of Gulliver-Swift is still imperturbably meaningful, full of undisguised irony and sarcasm. And again, everything is recognizable: both trifles of a purely everyday nature, such as the “addiction to news and politics” inherent in the Laputians, and the fear that always lives in their minds, as a result of which “the Laputians are constantly in such anxiety that they cannot sleep peacefully in their beds nor enjoy the ordinary pleasures and pleasures of life." The visible embodiment of absurdity as the basis of life on the island is flappers, whose purpose is to force listeners (interlocutors) to focus their attention on what they are currently being told about. But there are allegories of a larger nature in this part of Swift's book: concerning rulers and power, and how to influence "recalcitrant subjects", and much more. And when Gulliver descends from the island to the “continent” and gets into its capital, the city of Lagado, he will be shocked by the combination of boundless ruin and poverty, which will catch the eye everywhere, and peculiar oases of order and prosperity: it turns out that these oases are all that is left of past, normal life. And then some “projectors” appeared who, having visited the island (that is, in our opinion, abroad) and “returning to earth ... were imbued with contempt for all ... institutions and began to draw up projects for the re-creation of science, art, laws , language and technology in a new way". First, the Academy of projectors appeared in the capital, and then in all cities of the country of any significance. The description of Gulliver's visit to the Academy, his conversations with pundits knows no equal in terms of the degree of sarcasm, combined with contempt - contempt, first of all, for those who allow themselves to be fooled and led by the nose like that ... And linguistic improvements! And the school of political projectors!

Tired of all these miracles, Gulliver decided to sail to England, but for some reason, on his way home, first the island of Glubbdobdrib, and then the kingdom of Luggnagg, turned out to be. I must say that as Gulliver moves from one outlandish country to another, Swift's fantasy becomes more and more violent, and his contemptuous poisonousness becomes more and more merciless. This is how he describes the manners at the court of King Luggnagg.

And in the fourth, final part of the novel, Gulliver finds himself in the country of the Houyhnhnms. Houigngnms are horses, but it is in them that Gulliver finally finds quite human features - that is, those features that Swift would probably like to observe in people. And in the service of the Houyhnhnms live evil and vile creatures - Yahoo, like two drops of water similar to a person, only deprived of the cover of civility (both figuratively and literally), and therefore appearing to be disgusting creatures, real savages next to well-bred, highly moral, respectable horses-Huyhnhnms, where both honor, and nobility, and dignity, and modesty, and the habit of abstinence are alive ...

Once again, Gulliver tells about his country, about its customs, mores, political system, traditions - and once again, more precisely, more than ever, his story is met by his listener-interlocutor, first with distrust, then - bewilderment, then - indignation: how can one live so inconsistently with the laws of nature? So unnatural to human nature - this is the pathos of misunderstanding on the part of the horse-guyhnhnma. The structure of their community is the version of utopia that Swift allowed himself in the finale of his pamphlet novel: the old writer, who has lost faith in human nature, with unexpected naivety almost sings of primitive joys, a return to nature - something very reminiscent of Voltaire's "Innocent" . But Swift was not "simple-hearted," and that is why his utopia looks utopian even to himself. And this is manifested primarily in the fact that it is these pretty and respectable Houyhnhnms who expel from their "herd" the "stranger" who has crept into it - Gulliver. For he is too similar to Yahoo, and they don’t care that Gulliver’s resemblance to these creatures is only in the structure of the body and nothing more. No, they decide, as soon as he is a Yahoo, then he should live next to the Yahoo, and not among "decent people", that is, horses. The utopia did not work out, and Gulliver dreamed in vain of spending the rest of his days among these kind animals he liked. The idea of ​​tolerance turns out to be alien even to them. And therefore, the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, in Swift's description reminiscent of his scholarship, well, almost the Platonic Academy, accepts the "admonition" - to expel Gulliver as belonging to the Yahoo breed. And our hero completes his wanderings, once again returning home, "retiring to his garden in Redrif to enjoy reflections, to put into practice the excellent lessons of virtue ...".