[00:00.51] Chapter three, war and treachery.
[00:05.97] The island of Blefuscu lay about half a mile from Lilliput.
[00:12.24] I crawled through the sandy hills so I could have a good look at the Blefuscan warships without being seen.
[00:21.31] Then I went back and asked the king for some cables and some iron bars which I bent into hooks.
[00:32.88] It took me about half an hour to swim across the channel to the Blefuscan warships.
[00:39.92] Luckily, the Blefuscans were so terrified at the sight of me that they all jumped overboard and swam away to shore.
[00:51.09] I had to work fast because the Blefuscans started firing thousands of arrows.
[00:58.52] They hurt like anything, and if I hadn't had glasses on, I'd probably have been blinded.
[01:07.60] As it was, I had more than a hundred arrows in my skin before all the warships were hooked onto my cables.
[01:17.76] Then I started swimming back to Lilliput, towing them behind me.
[01:25.88] There were crowds of Lilliputians waiting anxiously on the beach.
[01:31.74] At first, they were terrified because they thought the Blefuscans were invading, but I put my head up out of the water and shouted, "Long live the king of Lilliput!"
[01:46.76] And then everyone cheered, and the king made me a Nadak, which is the same as a duke.
[01:54.93] I was very pleased to have saved Lilliput, and when the king came to see me, I thought he'd come to say thank you.
[02:04.11] Far from it.
[02:07.85] He wanted me to go back and steal all the Blefuscan's boats so he could make himself king of Blefuscu.
[02:17.25] And then, of course, he could make them open all their eggs at the small ends.
[02:25.56] Well, saving Lilliput was one thing, but making the Blefuscans do something they thought was wicked was quite unfair.
[02:35.74] So I told the king I wouldn't do it.
[02:39.99] He was very angry, and looking back, I think that was when he began to wonder if I was more trouble than I was worth.
[02:52.05] Not long after that though, I was able to help the king with something very important.
[03:00.60] One night, I was woken up by shouts of "Burglum," which means fire.
[03:08.52] I hurried towards the noise as fast as I could.
[03:12.26] Luckily, there was a moon, so I could see well enough not to tread on people, and found the queen's rooms in the palace ablaze.
[03:22.89] People were running about with buckets of water, but these were so tiny that they weren't doing much good.
[03:30.64] I'm sure the whole palace would have burned down if I hadn't had an idea.
[03:37.57] There was an iron tank nearby into which all the palace sewers emptied.
[03:44.12] It was a bit smelly, but I snapped off the pipes leading into it, heaved it up, and threw the contents on the flames.
[03:55.65] In this way, I was able to put out the whole fire in three minutes and save the palace.
[04:05.68] I think the king was grateful.
[04:09.58] The queen, however, was furious at the way I'd done it and refused to live in her rooms ever again.
[04:21.38] I met some Blefuscans soon after that.
[04:25.43] They were very friendly, especially after I explained that I didn't want any more wars.
[04:33.25] They invited me to visit their country, and I began looking forward very much to going.
[04:40.48] But then a friend came secretly to see me with terrible news.
[04:48.42] Admiral Skyresh was jealous that I defeated the Blefuscan fleet without him, and he had accused me of planning to fight for the Blefuscans.
[04:59.49] Skyresh wanted me killed, and the queen and most of the king's council agreed with him.
[05:08.09] I would be put on trial, and when I'd been found guilty, they'd put powder on my clothes that would make me tear myself to pieces.
[05:20.54] The council had almost agreed to this when someone suggested I should be blinded instead of killed, so I could still do useful work for the country.
[05:32.68] In the end, they decided I should be blinded and then starved to death.
[05:39.35] That way, by the time I died, I'd be thin enough to cut up easily, though they thought they'd keep my skeleton as a souvenir.
[05:50.13] I felt very angry and sad when I heard all this.
[05:56.91] In some ways, I wanted to stay and explain everything at my trial, but I knew I was certain to be found guilty, whatever I said.
[06:09.13] I was so angry that it was only my promise not to harm the Lilliputians that stopped me knocking the whole country to pieces.
[06:19.94] I went to the harbor, borrowed a warship to carry my things, and swam over to Blefuscu.
[06:29.43] A few days after I reached Blefuscu, I was walking along the northeast coast when I spotted a capsized boat in the sea.
[06:39.84] It looked big enough to carry me.
[06:43.58] I got it back to shore with the help of several ships and about 3,000 sailors.
[06:53.84] The king of Blefuscu wanted me to stay with him forever, but I'd had enough of kings, so I told him I'd rather go away than cause any more trouble between Blefuscu and Lilliput.
[07:12.40] I patched up the boat I'd found, greased it with the fat from 300 cattle, and made a sail out of 13 thicknesses of linen.
[07:28.26] I took some live cattle and sheep too to breed when I got home.
[07:34.46] Some of the little people wanted to come with me, but the king strictly forbade it.
[07:43.37] I left Blefuscu on 24th September, 1701, and three days later, I saw a big sail.
[07:54.31] The captain of that ship was Mr. Biddle.
[07:58.34] And when I told him my story, he thought I was quite mad until I got my sheep and cattle out of my pocket.
[08:08.89] I reached home on 13th April, 1702.
[08:16.98] I made quite a lot of money showing people my little animals, but I was still eager to see the world.
[08:26.07] I had no idea then that my next voyage was going to take me to a place even more extraordinary and dangerous than Lilliput.
[08:38.02] So I sold my animals and got a job on board the ship Adventure.