2. When I awoke, it was just daylight. I attempted to rise but was not able to stir; for as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were fastened to the ground with my hair tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several strings across my body. The sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my eyes.

3. In a little time, I felt something alive moving on my left leg, advancing over my chest and coming almost to my chin. Bending my eyes downward as much as I could, I perceived it to be a human creature not six inches tall, with a bow and arrow in his hands. In the meantime, I felt at least forty more of the same kind following the first. I roared so loud that they all ran back in fright.

4. Struggling to get free, I managed to break the strings and pull out the pegs that held my left arm and hair to the ground. I heard one of the creatures cry,“Tolgo phonac!”and instantly felt above a hundred arrows discharged upon my left hand, which pricked me like so many needles. I now considered it wise to lie still, and when the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows.

5. So hungry was I that I could not refrain from putting my finger frequently on my mouth to signify that I wanted food. Soon, over one hundred inhabitants appeared, carrying many baskets full of meat. They watched in astonishment at my appetite as I swallowed two or three miniature legs of mutton or several tiny loaves of bread in a single gulp.

6. I was then brought some delicious wine, which I finished at one drink. They then began to dance with delight upon my chest, and though I was tempted to seize them and dash them to the ground, I refrained from harming them because of the hospitality they had shown me.

7. They rubbed an ointment upon my hands and face, which soothed me into a deep sleep. When I awoke, I found myself being carried toward Lilliput, the capital city of my captors. The Emperor of Lilliput came forth to greet me, and I was taken to a huge empty temple outside the city where I was to lodge, my legs bound with many chains.

8. The Emperor held frequent councils to debate what course should be taken with me. When he saw how gently I treated his people, he decided to provide me with sufficient food and to grant me certain liberties on condition that I swear a peace treaty with his kingdom. I agreed, and shortly afterward I was granted my freedom.

9. I now saw an opportunity to make myself useful to the Emperor by helping him to defeat the Emperor of Blefuscu. These two emperors were at war because they could not reach an agreement on whether to break their eggs at the larger or the smaller end.

10. Having learned that the enemy were preparing an invasion by sea, I proposed to seize their entire fleet, which was lying at anchor in the harbor. I obtained a strong cable, walked into the sea, and soon arrived at the harbor. The enemy sailors were so frightened when they saw me that they leaped out of their ships and swam to shore.

11. As I fastened the ships together with the cable, the sailors fired thousands of arrows, which stuck in my hands and face and would have blinded me had I not thought to put on my spectacles for protection. I cut the anchors of the ships, took up my cable, and with great ease drew fifty of the enemy's largest warships after me.

12. I returned to the Lilliputian capital and was received with great appreciation. But because I would not agree to help him make slaves of the defeated enemy, proposing instead to make peace with them, the Emperor, urged on by my enemy (who had taken a dislike to me for no particular reason), decided that I should be punished as a traitor.

13. I determined to escape arrest by fleeing to the Emperor of Blefuscu, who had warmly invited me to visit in gratitude for my efforts to make peace with them. About three days after my arrival in Blefuscu, I happened to spy an overturned boat of my own size not far out to sea.

14. With the help of the inhabitants, I was able to retrieve and outfit it, and within about a month I departed for home. On the way, I was taken in by a merchant ship returning to England.