Capture of Gulliver by the Lilliputians

The Capture of Gulliver by the Lilliputians is the foundational event of the first voyage, in which the shipwrecked Lemuel Gulliver, after falling asleep on the shore of Lilliput, is systematically immobilized by the island's six-inch-tall inhabitants, who tie him to the ground with hundreds of slender ligatures, then transport him to the capital as a prisoner. This action establishes the central power dynamic of the Lilliputian adventure: a single man of ordinary European size becomes a helpless giant at the mercy of a miniature civilization whose technological ingenuity, political calculation, and physical courage invert every expectation of strength and weakness.

Shipwreck and Exhaustion

Gulliver's arrival in Lilliput is preceded by a violent shipwreck. On the fifth of November 1699, the "Antelope," under Captain William Prichard, was driven onto a rock by a strong wind northwest of Van Diemen's Land. Six crew members, including Gulliver, escaped in a boat, but it was soon overset by a sudden flurry. Gulliver swam as fortune directed him, pushed by wind and tide, until he found himself within his depth. He walked nearly a mile to the shore, arriving about eight o'clock in the evening, but was so exhausted that he could discover no sign of houses or inhabitants. Extremely tired, and having drunk about half a pint of brandy as he left the ship, he lay down on the short, soft grass and slept soundly for about nine hours, until daylight.

The Tying and the First Sensation

When Gulliver awoke, he found himself unable to stir. He was lying on his back, and his arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground. His long, thick hair was tied down in the same manner. He felt several slender ligatures across his body, from his armpits to his thighs. He could only look upward; the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended his eyes. He heard a confused noise about him, and then felt something alive moving on his left leg, advancing gently over his breast and coming almost up to his chin. Bending his eyes downward as much as he could, he perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands and a quiver at his back. He felt at least forty more of the same kind following the first.

Astonishment and Resistance

Gulliver was in the utmost astonishment and roared so loud that all the creatures ran back in a fright; some were hurt by the falls they got leaping from his sides onto the ground. They soon returned, and one of them, venturing close to his face, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice, "Hekinah degul!" the others repeated the same words several times. Struggling to get loose, Gulliver broke the strings and wrenched out the pegs that fastened his left arm to the ground, and with a violent pull that gave him excessive pain, he loosened the strings that tied down his hair on the left side, just enough to turn his head about two inches. The creatures ran off a second time, and then he heard one of them cry aloud, "Tolgo phonac." In an instant, he felt above a hundred arrows discharged on his left hand, pricking him like so many needles. They shot another flight into the air, as Europeans do bombs, and many fell on his body and face, which he immediately covered with his left hand. When the shower of arrows was over, he fell a-groaning with grief and pain. Striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some attempted with spears to stick him in the sides, but by good luck he had on a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. He thought it most prudent to lie still, intending to wait until night, when his left hand being already loose, he could easily free himself.

The Oration and the Submission

Fortune disposed otherwise. When the people observed Gulliver was quiet, they discharged no more arrows. About four yards from him, over against his right ear, he heard a knocking for above an hour, like people at work. Turning his head as well as the pegs and strings would permit, he saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it. From this stage, one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made him a long speech, whereof he understood not one syllable. Before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, "Langro debul san." Immediately about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of his head, giving him the liberty of turning it to the right. The speaker appeared to be of middle age and taller than any of the other three who attended him; he acted every part of an orator, with many periods of threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness. Gulliver answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up his left hand and both his eyes to the sun, as calling him for a witness. Being almost famished with hunger, he put his finger frequently to his mouth to signify that he wanted food. The hurgo (a great lord) understood him very well, descended from the stage, and commanded that several ladders should be applied to his sides, on which above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted and walked towards his mouth, laden with baskets full of meat that had been sent by the king's orders. He ate the meat, which was smaller than the wings of a lark, by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time about the bigness of musket bullets. They brought him their largest hogsheads of drink, which he drank off at a draught, tasting like a small wine of Burgundy. When he had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy and danced upon his breast, repeating "Hekinah degul."

The Emperor's Decision and the Transport

It seems that upon the first moment Gulliver was discovered sleeping on the ground after his landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an express and determined in council that he should be tied in the manner described (which was done in the night while he slept), that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to him, and a machine prepared to carry him to the capital city. The emperor's resolution was extremely prudent as well as generous; for supposing these people had endeavored to kill him with their spears and arrows while he was asleep, he would certainly have awaked with the first sense of smart, which might have roused his rage and strength enough to break the strings, after which they could expect no mercy. The people are most excellent mathematicians, and the prince hath several machines fixed on wheels for the carriage of trees and other great weights. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately set to work to prepare the greatest engine they had: a frame of wood raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long and four wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. It was brought parallel to him as he lay. Eighty poles, each of one foot high, were erected, and very strong cords of the bigness of packthread were fastened by hooks to many bandages which the workmen had girt round his neck, hands, body, and legs. Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords by many pulleys fastened on the poles, and in less than three hours he was raised and slung into the engine and tied fast. All this was performed while he lay in a profound sleep, by the force of a soporiferous medicine infused into his liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses, each about four inches and a half high, were employed to draw him towards the metropolis, which was half a mile distant. About four hours after the journey began, he awaked by a ridiculous accident: two or three young natives climbed up into the engine, and one of them, an officer in the guards, put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into his left nostril, which tickled his nose like a straw and made him sneeze violently. They made a long march the remaining part of the day, and rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of him, half with torches and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot him if he should offer to stir. The next morning at sunrise they continued their march and arrived within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor and all his court came out to meet them, but his great officers would by no means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on Gulliver's body. At the place where the carriage stopped stood an ancient temple, the largest in the whole kingdom, which had been polluted by an unnatural murder and was looked upon as profane. In this edifice it was determined Gulliver should lodge. The king's smith conveyed four score and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady's watch in Europe, which were locked to his left leg with six-and-thirty padlocks. When the workmen found it was impossible for him to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound him, and he rose up with as melancholy a disposition as ever he had in his life. The chains that held his left leg were about two yards long, giving him the liberty of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle, and, being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowed him to creep in and lie at his full length in the temple.