Chapter 5.
The King and Queen Travel to Distant Frontiers.
The author joins them.
The way in which he leaves the country and returns to England.
I had a strong desire to at some time recover my freedom, but it was impossible to imagine by what means.
The ship in which I sailed was the first of its kind known within those parts.
The king had given strict orders that if another appeared, it should be taken ashore and all of its passengers should be brought in a cart to the city.
He wanted to get me a woman to start a family with.
I would rather have died than have undergone the disgrace of having my family line kept in cages like tamed canaries and perhaps, in time, sold about the kingdom.
I was treated well by the king and queen.
Still, I could never forget my own family back home.
I longed to be among them and to walk about the streets and fields without fear of being stepped on.
I had been two years in this country when Glumdalclitch and I joined the king and queen on a journey to the south coast of the kingdom.
As usual, I was carried in my traveling box.
By the time we got to the end of our journey, my nurse and I were very tired.
I had gotten a small cold, but Glumdalclitch was so ill that she had to be kept in her bedroom.
I wished to see the ocean, which was the only possible means for my escape, and pretended to be sicker than I really was.
I begged to take in the fresh air of the sea with a page of whom I was quite fond.
I shall never forget with what unwillingness my nurse agreed, nor the strict orders she gave the page to take care of me.
At the same time, she burst into a flood of tears as if she had some idea of what was to happen.
The boy took me out in my box about half an hour's walk from the palace.
I ordered him to set me down and, parting one of my curtains, cast many a sad look toward the sea.
I found myself not well and told the page that I wished to take a nap in my hammock.
He shut the window to keep out the cold and I soon fell asleep.
I found myself suddenly awoken by a violent pull upon the ring which fastened at the top of my box.
I felt the box raised up high in the air and carried quickly forward.
The first jolt nearly shook me out of my hammock, and I called out several times as loudly as I could, but to no purpose.
I looked toward my windows and could see nothing but clouds and sky.
There was a noise just over my head, like the flapping of wings, and I began to understand.
Some eagle had gotten hold of my box by his beak with the intention of letting it fall on a rock like a tortoise shell and then eating whatever was inside.
In a little time, the noise and flutter of the wings increased and I felt my box being tossed up and down like a signpost on a windy day.
I felt many bangs and bounces and then all of a sudden felt myself falling straight down at a terrible squash which sounded louder to my ears than the Niagara Falls.
After that I laid in the dark for another minute before my box rose so high that I could see light from the tops of the windows.
I now realized that I had fallen into the sea.
My box, because of my weight and the weight of my belongings, floated about five feet deep in the water.
Every joint of my box was well grooved.
The door did not move on hinges but slid up and down, which kept the seal tight, so that very little water came in.
I was able to slide open the door on the roof slightly to let in enough air to breathe.
Still a break in just one pane of glass would have meant immediate death, and I watched nervously as the water oozed in at several crannies.
How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdalclitch, from whom one single hour had divided me.
I may also say, in the midst of my bad luck, that I could not but think of the grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of the queen and the ruin of her fortune.
Being in this sad state, I was alarmed to hear some kind of grating noise at the back of my box where the staples were fastened.
Soon after I began to imagine that the box was being pulled or towed Along in the sea, I unscrewed one of my chairs and, placing it directly under the roof door, called for help in as loud a voice as I could manage.
I then fastened my handkerchief to a stick and thrust it through the hole, waving it several times in the air.
I found no effect from all of this, but I knew that I was being towed somehow and in the space of an hour felt the back of my box strike against something hard.
I heard a noise like that of a cable grating as it passed through a ring and found my box raised up by at least three feet.
At this I waved my handkerchief through the opening again and shouted until I was hoarse.
In return, I heard a great shout, repeated three times, which caused me such joy as cannot be understood by those who have not felt it.
There was a loud noise overhead, and somebody called through the hole in English.
If there be anybody below, let him speak.
I answered that I was an Englishman and begged to be delivered out of my dungeon.
The voice replied that I was safely fastened to their ship and that the carpenter would soon come and saw a hole in the cover large enough to pull me out.
After they had freed me, the sailors wanted to ask me a thousand questions, but the captain saw that I was ready to faint and took me into his cabin to rest.
Before I went to sleep, I let him know that I had some furniture in my box that was too valuable to be lost, including a fine hammock, two chairs, a table and a cabinet.
The captain thought that I was mad, but promised to do as I asked, upon which the crew found all of the objects that I had described.
I slept for many hours, but I was disturbed by dreams of the place I had left and the dangers I had escaped.
When I awoke, the captain ordered supper immediately.
He entertained me with great kindness and asked that I tell him about my travels.
He told me of his fear that my brain was disturbed or that I had been punished at the command of some prince.
I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I did faithfully from the time I left England to the moment he discovered me.
To further confirm what I said, I asked him to have my cabinet brought forth.
From this I brought forth certain rarities I had saved, including some hairs I had rescued from the king's shavings and fashioned into a comb pins and needles from a foot to half a yard long, four wasp stings and a gold ring the queen had once given to me from her own little finger.
The captain was amazed by my story, but he wondered whether the king or queen of that country were hard of hearing, which caused me to speak as loudly as I did.
It took me some time to cure myself of the habit of shouting.
The captain was on his way back to England, although we called on one or two ports along the way.
I did not leave the ship until we came back to my homeland on the third day of June, 1706.
As I rode home, seeing the smallness of the houses, the trees, the cattle and the people, I began to think myself in Lilliput.
I was afraid of crushing every traveler I met and often called aloud to have them stand out of the way, so that I nearly ended up with one or two broken heads for my arrogance.
When I came to my own house, I bent down to go in the door for fear of striking my head.
My wife ran to embrace me, but I stooped lower than her knees.
My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, but I could not see her until she stood up.
Because of my behavior, my whole family was of the opinion that I had lost my mind.
My family and I soon came to an understanding.
Although my wife made me promise that I would never go to sea again, I agreed readily, but my evil destiny ordered otherwise.
