CONTENTS
THE NEW GULLIVER
IN A LONDON GARDEN
ZERO
WHEN I WAS KING
THE SATYR
THE CHOICE
THE PIANO-TUNER
THE PEARLS AND THE SWINE
(The first few pages of the account of his travels by Mr LemuelGulliver, junior, have unfortunately been damaged by fire and are forthe most part illegible. They contain reference to a sea-fog and to ashipwreck. He appears to have escaped by swimming, and his record of thenumber of days he spent in the water and the distance covered vergesupon the incredible. His statement that he lived principally upon theraw flesh of those sharks which made the mistake of attacking him willalso be accepted with reserve by those who remember the latitude inwhich the Island of Thule is traditionally placed. The legible andconsecutive manuscript begins with his arrival at the island.)
I now wrung the water from my clothes as well as I might, and spreadthem on the rocks in the sun. After an hour, perhaps, I was so farrecovered from my exertions that I thought I might now see what mannerof island this was to which my ill-chance had brought me. Donning myclothes again I climbed up the low cliff.
The land that now lay before me appeared to be for the most part flatand bleak in character. There were long stretches of sand and coarsegrass, and here and there a group of stunted shrubs. Presently, in thefar distance, by the aid of my perspective-glass, I made out severalcultivated plots, but nowhere could I detect any building which mightserve as a human habitation. At one point, which I guessed to be abouttwo miles away, a column of smoke arose, as if from the interior of theearth. This I imagined to be of volcanic origin, but it puzzled me not alittle that the land should be under cultivation and that yet I couldfind not so much as a single house or cottage.
So intent was I upon my survey of the distance that I did not note theapproach of a human being until I heard the footsteps close beside me. Ispeak of it as a human being, but in many respects the creature differedfrom humanity as previously known to me. Particularly noticeable was itsmanner of progression. It walked very slowly and laboriously on allfours, the arms being longer and the legs shorter than in the normalman. Its body was clothed in two garments of a thick grey woollenmaterial, and loose boots with tops of a similar material, but withleather soles, were worn both on the hands and feet. The size of thehead was disproportionately large and seemed too heavy for the slenderneck. It was bald save for a fringe of scanty grey hair. Largespectacles of high magnifying power distorted the eyes, and thetoothless mouth was absurdly small. The grotesque object was more likelyto inspire laughter than fear, for the body was small and its movementsslow and feeble, but indeed it showed not the slightest sign ofhostility.
"I see," said the creature, "that you are from the old world. Who areyou?" He spoke in a gentle voice and with an accent not unlike thatwhich we call American.
"My name is Lemuel Gulliver, a shipwrecked mariner, at your service.Will you tell me what islan