The story about Gulliver was published in 1726 anonymously and had a big success.
As you may know Gulliver's Travels consists of 4 parts in which Gulliver discovers new countries and lands.
In 18th century people don't know even half of all countries in the world, that's why such a kind of story became so famous. Although story was named as a children fairytale where horses talk, island's flying, giants and liliputs live among us, it had such a success through the adults, from "cream the society" to nanny.
People found it so satiric, it describes government, politics, science of 18th.
Part I
Gulliver describes himself a little bit, tell us that although his father is not a rich man he had a possibility to send his son for studying in Oxford.
Afterwards our hero became a surgeon.
From this point his story begins..
He was not able to earn enough money for his family as a surgeon, so he found a place on a ship.
Ship sails to India, but it was unlucky weather and a hard storm sets up.. Their ships wasn't good enough and broke down.. All crew was drown except Gulliver who found a piece of shipwreck and kept his head above water for a long time until he was tired enough and weak and fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes he found himself laying on the beach under the sun. He was trying to move but he could not because he was fastened to the ground. Then Gulliver saw tiny people all around him, they were no more than 6 inches high, and he was trying to explain them.. But vain, he was their prisoner.
Although Gulliver was kept in a good conditions, Lilliputians fed him well, and they moved him from the beach to the airy church, the biggest building in the kingdom, he was still fastened. Only after he had learnt Lilliputians language and promise to follow the rules, e.g. do NO harm to Lilliputiants and help them if they ask, Gulliver received his freedom.
After a while it was a big fire in the king palace, so Gulliver wanted to help and could not do anything but made a water..
Although he had saved a lot of lifes his status was not so firm as it was before.
One day king of Lilliputians asked Gulliver for help in war with kingdom of Blefuscu, Lilliputians' eternal enemy. Gulliver swam to the Blefuscu, tied all their fleet and pull it to the Lilliputans. King of Lilliputans wanted more, he asked Gulliver to kill all Blefuscans aka small-endians whom he hated so much, but Gulliver refused this idea and proposed peace in two kingdom.
And that was a turning point from love to hate..Gulliver had a lot of haters in Lillipute and after his refuse they turned king onto their side. At secret meeting they decided to make him blind . Luckily, Gulliver had also a good friend among king's ministers, so he was notified in advance what would have happened if he stayed in Lillipute. As he saved Blefuscans from death he was invited to visit Blefuscu, so it was his change to escape from Lilipute..
During his stay at Blefuscu Lilliputan's king was trying to punished him but it was to late, Gulliver's boat was ready for going home.
Part II
Gulliver was happy to return home, but after several months he was filled with wishes of traveling, discovering new countries etc.
So he left his country again and took shipping in the Downs. Everything was fine except wind, it started to blow with so much violence that ship was driven to the east and after 3 days nobody knew what part of the world they were. Moreover they're run out of fresh water at all, so captain gave an order to set down on the nearest island. As our hero was curious he got ashore with crew too. He was wondering about unknown plants or animals, but had found no interesting things on the island he returned to the beach.
Suddenly Gulliver heard loud sound, it was some sort of thunder, all crew were rowing for life towards the ship.. Gulliver wanted to hail them, and that minute he saw a giant.. He was chasing after boat but couldn't do nothing because of the rocky beach.
Gulliver was so scared and decided to hide in the field. Everything there were so big, he felt like a lilliputians.
After a while he saw another 7 giants like first one with reaping hooks in their hands. Those seven monsters were not clad so well as the first so it seemed like there were servants.
They were told to rip the field where our hero lay. Gulliver was trying to hide as long as he could but in a moment when one of the reapers was too closed to cut Gulliver in two, he screamed as loud as his fear could make him, and that big creature heard him..
So Gulliver survived and was taken to the giant's village. It was absolutely amazing to live among such a big creatures. Gulliver felt himself so tiny and helpless. He was feed very well and kept in a good conditions, he ate some piece of meat and bread crumbs and master's daughter took care about him.
One day master realised how to make a lot of money by entertaining people in village and showing a Gulliver. It was the first day of the beginning Gulliver's restless life in that country. For a couple months he had 10 performances per day, and so he became ill.
Master considered Gulliver'll die soon and that's why he sold him as soon as queen wanted to own so cute little man.
Almost two weeks Gulliver was recovering and after 2 years living in giant's kingdom, our hero came back home to England by chance.
It was one sunny day when queen decided to walk along the beach and Gulliver was taken with her by servants in a little box. That box was his home for a two years and it had everything he need in it. As Gulliver loved the ocean he was excited to feel that salty smell again. Servant put box down to the sand and in that very moment big bird took the box with his claws and flew away. Gulliver heard strange noise and realised he was in the air. Moment later it seemed like other bird was trying to catch box and.. Box was falling so fast and drop into the ocean.
So Gulliver didn't know how to survive, he was just a little man closed in a box..
After several hours drifting he heard some noise, it was a ship. Gulliver was so happy when he heard English language:
"Put your finger in the ring on the top of my box and pull it out" Gulliver screamed.
"Nobody can do this, even 20 people can't pull it out!" somebody answered.
Gulliver spent too much time among giants and forgot the size of usual human being. So he was rescued out of the box and started his journey home..
Part III
A voyage to Laputa, Balnibarni, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan.
Gulliver had been at home for 10 days when Captain of Hopewell, a stout ship of three hundred tons, came and asked him to be a surgeon on his ship in two months. Our hero couldn't escape the temptation and agreed. They set out on 5th of August, 1706. When they arrived at Tonquin on 11th of April, 1707, lots of goods which captain intended to but were not ready, so he had to wait for a several months. To cover some of charges Captain bought a sloop, loaded with some goods which Tonquinese usually trade to neighbouring islands. So he put 14 men in board and made Gulliver a master of the sloop.
After 3 days sailing, big storm arising, moreover they were chased by pirates and soon their sloop was taken by pirates..
Although our hero survived from death, Captain of one of the pirates ship decided to set Gulliver adrift in a small canoe with paddles and sail, and 4 days provisions.
.. Gulliver was lucky enough and after 3 hours sailing he arrived at island. He kindle fire with seaweed and made some food. The island was rocky so next day Gulliver sailed again and found another island. It was too rocky so he decided to sail to the third one. The distance was greater than he expected and it took more than 5 hours to reach the third island. It was bigger and also rocky but with tufts of grass and sweet-smelling herbs.
Gulliver found a cave and stay there for a night thinking of how miserable his ends must be..
Early in the morning Gulliver was walking among the rocks, the sky was perfectly clear and the sun was shining so bright but suddenly it became obscure and it was something different from cloud. Big vast opaque body between Gulliver and the sun was moving forwards towards the island.
As soon as that flying island became closer, Gulliver recognised people on it. He was desperately trying to survive, so he made all to be observed..
People in Laputa were looking differently, their heads were all reclined, either to the right or the left, one of their eyes turned inwards, and the other directly up to the zenith.
Also there were many servants with a blown bladder which they carried in their hands. In each bladder was a small quantity of dried peas or little pebbles. And the reason why these people need servants was that they can't speak or attend to the discourses of others without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearings. That's why servants now and then flapped the mouth and ears of those who stood near them.
People in Laputa were very obsessed with geometry and music, these two things they can do unstoppable: thinking about mathematics and play music. So, no wonder that first Gulliver's dinner consisted of shoulder of mutton cut into an equilateral triangle, a piece of beef into a rhomboides, and a pudding into a cycloid. And the second courses was two ducks trussed up in the form of fiddles, sausages and puddings resemblings flutes and hauthboys, and a breast of veal in the shape of a harp.
The same day Gulliver started to learn laputans language and after a while he was able to understand and speak not too bad.
The capital of Balnibarni was Lagado, that city was situated just under the floating island - Laputa, so our hero asked king for a little favour - journey to the capital of his country, because Gulliver was so curious about country and people, their customs and developing in science..
The city of Lagado was about half the bigness of London, but houses were mostly destroyed, people were generally in rags, and a soil was so unhappily cultivated.. The reason was that 40 years ago a royal patent was procured for erecting academy of projectors in Lagado. In these colleges the professors contrived new rules and methods of agriculture and buildings, new tools and instruments, to build palace in a week, to have all fruits in seasons whatever they want, to make one man be able to do the work of ten and etc.
And the only inconvenience was that no one of these projects were yet brought to perfection, so the houses in ruins, and people without food and clothes.
Gulliver was interested in projectors, so he went to see what they were exactly working at.
One man had been trying to extract sunbeams out of cucumber for 8! years, another one was trying to reduce human excrement to its original food. There was an ingenious architect who contrived a new method of building houses from the roof downward to the foundation.
In mathematical school master taught his pupils in different manner. The proposition and demonstration all were written in wafer, with ink composed of a cephalic tincture. The students had to swallow it and not to eat for a three days except bread and water. As wafer digested all knowledge had to go up to their brain, but there was no success at all..
Saw nothing in Balnibarni to stay longer, Gulliver started to think of returning home to England.
There was an island Luggnagg with a good port, situated nearly Japan, so that island was Gulliver's course in order to his return to Europe.
His journey was without any accident or adventure, and when Gulliver arrived at the port of Maldonada there was no ship for Luggnagg. The town was as large as Portsmouth and soon he fell into some acquaintance. The gentleman said that ships to Luggnagg would be ready in a month and offered a trip to the nearest little island of Glubbdubdrib. The name of island means island of sorcerers and magicians. It is about one third as large as the Isle of Wight.
Gulliver was very hospitably received, the governor was served by domestics of a kind somewhat unusual. Because of his skill in necromancy he had a power of calling whom he pleased from the dead for 24 hours. And one day his highness the governor asked Gulliver to call up whatever person he would choose by name among the dead from the beginning of the world till present time and ask them any questions.
So Gulliver revealed lots of secrets that day, for example Alexander the Great was not poisoned, but died of a bad fever by excessive drinking. Our hero saw Homer, Aristotle, Caesar with Brutus and spend 5 days in conversing with many others ancient learned.
The day of departure came, so Gulliver returned to Maldonada where a ship was ready to sail for Luggnagg.
When the ship arrived to Luggnagg, crew were checked for nationality, one of the sailor told officer that Gulliver was not originally from Balnibarni. Although Gulliver talked with officer on Balnibarni language he had to pass over in silence that he was originally from England and introduced himself as a Hollander, because as he knew Dutch were the only Europeans allowed to enter into Japan.
Officer reported about Gulliver to the king of Luggnagg and our hero was very hospitable received. He stayed 3 months in that country and one day he was ask whether he had ever seen a struldbrugs or immortal. For the first time Gulliver was happy to know that nature made so peculiar creature who can live forever. He even imagined himself being a struldbrugs, but after a while it was described that these immortal person could not live their full life because of restriction. After became 80 years old they forgot almost everything, problems with visions appeared, they lost their teeth and hair and all their property carried over to descendants, because even they were still alive they were already dead in law.
Gulliver was ready to depart to Japan on the 6th of May, 1709. He arrived at Nangasac, Japan, after a very long journey and soon found a Dutch ship ready to depart towards Amsterdam. Gulliver had been living in Holland for a long time because of his studying, so he knew Dutch very well and it was easy for him to pretend as a Hollander. After they arrived at Amsterdam our hero soon after set a sail to England. After an absence of 5 years and six months Gulliver saw his native country again and found his wife and family in good health.
Part IV
It was not the end of the story, Gulliver had had one more journey before he became who he is now.
He've changed so much since that journey that you can barely recognise a human creature in him.
So let me begin..
After almost 15 years of travelling Gulliver was ready for settled life with his family, but he was offered a job on a ship again. His wife was trying to stop Gulliver but vain. Thirst for adventures was calling him so bad.
You are not gonna believe me but it was storm during the voyage, and our hero got ashore on unknown land. The most peculiar thing about that land was that it was horse country. I meant horse, you heard it wright, no people, only horses. That country called Hounmhnm or The Horse Land. The horses were not usual horses like you can imagine in your mind, they could talk, they had a government, rules, they lived in houses. Moreover strange creatures similar to human beings inhabited that land too, and they called it Yahoo. Yahoos were absolutely stupid and evil creatures, they didn't have their own language, and could make only some sort of sounds.
Gulliver was living in one of the horses house and had a very good relationship with him. They were discussing so interesting and important things and Gulliver realised how nice that species was. They didn't have any problems with lies or robbery, they didn't even have such a words...
During his stay at Hounmhnm, Gulliver figured out he didn't want to come back home, he wanted to look like them, live with no worries, no betrayals, no evil, no problems at all.
Unfortunately the government of that land decided that Gulliver was too similar to Yahoo, who were uncontrolled, and saw in him the cleverest yahoo who can cause lots of problems. That is why they made him go away.
Gulliver was disappointed and depressed, he didn't see himself among people anymore. He had been living with horses for too long, so he was acting like a horse and seemed like he was mad.
After returning home he didn't allow anyone to touch him. People seemed to him so ugly and dirty, he didn't allow even his wife have a food with him. After several years he adapted and sometimes had a conversations with his wife and children but till his last day on the Earth he wanted to return to the horse land, the land of perfect creatures and perfect life.
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