[00:01.06] Chapter two.
[00:03.29] The land of Lilliput.
[00:10.60] Over the next few days, I was as gentle as possible with the people of Lilliput.
[00:16.71] That was the name of the island, because that seemed my best chance of them setting me free.
[00:24.97] I began to learn their language too.
[00:29.36] The children soon got up courage to play hide and seek in my hair, and the young people even held a dance on my head.
[00:39.76] Every day, I asked the king to undo my chains, and in the end, he agreed.
[00:47.81] Before I was set free, though, the king's admiral, Skyresh, made me promise not to tread on people, and to be helpful to the king.
[01:01.69] In return, the king promised to give me enough food for 1,728 of his people.
[01:14.30] I was 12 times taller, wider, and deeper than a Lilliputian, so this was exactly fair.
[01:24.50] Once I was free, I began to explore Lilliput.
[01:29.87] It was an extraordinary place, and the people carried on in some very odd ways.
[01:37.57] The children, for instance, lived in nurseries, and only saw their parents twice a year.
[01:45.66] The boys were taught to do the same jobs as their fathers, and the girls learned housework, though the girls also learned to read, so they would be good company for their husbands.
[02:01.02] The people of Lilliput seemed to find that these arrangements for the children worked all right, but I'm afraid all was not well in other ways.
[02:14.97] It was partly the king's fault.
[02:19.44] He loved being the tallest, and so he gave all the best jobs at the court to people who wore low-heeled shoes.
[02:29.65] This, of course, annoyed all the people who liked wearing high ones.
[02:37.18] His son, the prince, did his best to stop people quarreling by wearing one high heel and one low one, but this just made him fall over a lot, and everybody laughed at him.
[02:52.23] As if this wasn't bad enough, the little people of the next door island of Blefuscu were threatening to invade.
[03:03.25] Lilliput and Blefuscu had been at war for years, because the Blefuscans insisted on doing something that the Lilliputians thought was very wicked.
[03:17.62] I didn't really understand it myself, but whenever a Blefuscan ate a boiled egg, he always opened it at the big end.
[03:28.91] The Lilliputians always opened their boiled eggs at the little ends.
[03:37.39] Everyone in Lilliput seemed to think this was very important.
[03:43.90] The Lilliputians were extremely worried because the Blefuscan warships were all ready to set sail.
[03:53.74] I went to the king straight away and told him I would help defend Lilliput against the Blefuscans, even if it meant risking my life.