Gulliver's Travels (Swift)/Part 2/Chapter 3
from the Collection âGulliver's Travels. Part 2â
The division of this summary into sections is editorial.
In the land of giants, Gulliver had grown dangerously weak from being exhibited repeatedly by the farmer who owned him. As his health failed, the farmer became more eager to profit from him.
The Queen buys Gulliver
Believing Gulliver would soon die, the farmer was considering how to make the most of him when a court official summoned them to entertain the Queen. She was delighted by Gulliverâs manners and asked whether he would live at court.
Gulliver replied that he belonged to his master, but that he would gladly serve her if he were free. The Queen bought him for a thousand gold pieces. He then asked that the farmerâs daughter Glumdalclitch, who had cared for him and taught him the language, be allowed to remain his nurse.
The Queen agreed, and both the girl and her father welcomed her appointment at court. When the farmer took his leave, Gulliver answered him only with a slight bow. Asked why, he explained that the farmer had worked him nearly to death and sold him cheaply only because he feared losing him. Gulliver added extravagant praise of the Queen, using phrases Glumdalclitch had taught him.
The King and scholars examine him
The Queen carried Gulliver to the King, who at first mistook him for a small animal. Once he saw Gulliver walking upright, he suspected an ingenious mechanical toy; hearing him speak rationally, he wondered whether the farmer had coached him to tell a story that would raise his price.
Three scholars examined Gulliver and decided that a creature so small could not survive by the ordinary laws of nature. Unable to agree on another explanation, they called him a freak of nature. Gulliver answered that millions of people were his size in a country where animals, houses and trees were proportionate. The scholars dismissed his account as a lesson learnt from the farmer.
The King questioned the farmer privately and then confronted him with Gulliver and Glumdalclitch. Their consistent accounts made him consider that Gulliverâs story might be true. Seeing the affection between the girl and her charge, he approved her continuing care of him.
A miniature life at court
Glumdalclitch received rooms, servants and a governess at court, while retaining sole responsibility for Gulliver. A cabinet-maker built him a wooden bedroom with windows, furniture and a removable roof. Its padded walls protected him from jolts, and a lock kept out rats and mice. The Queen also ordered clothes for him, though even the finest available silk felt as thick as an English blanket.
The Queen grew so fond of Gulliver that he ate beside her at a miniature table, with Glumdalclitch attending him. His tiny silver dishes amused her, while the enormous quantities she ate and the great knives at court initially horrified him.
At the royal familyâs Wednesday dinner, Gulliver sat beside the King and discussed European religion, government, learning and customs. After Gulliver spoke at length about Englandâs trade, wars, religious divisions and political parties, the King laughed and asked whether he was a Whig or a Tory. To his minister, the King mocked the grandeur of such tiny creatures, observing that they built houses and cities and pursued honours. In Gulliverâs account, the King added that they:
they love, they fight, they dispute, they cheat, they betray.
Gulliver was indignant at the slight to England. Yet, after months among giants, he recognised that finely dressed English courtiers might look equally ridiculous to him. Seeing himself beside the Queen in a mirror, he even felt smaller than he had before.
The dwarfâs malice
The Queenâs dwarf, formerly the smallest person known in the kingdom, resented Gulliverâs presence and mocked his size. Gulliver answered with jibes of his own.
At dinner one day, angered by a remark, the dwarf dropped Gulliver into a bowl of cream. Gulliver could swim, but he swallowed a great deal before Glumdalclitch pulled him out. His clothes were ruined, though he suffered no lasting injury. The dwarf was whipped and forced to drink the cream; soon afterwards the Queen gave him to another lady, to Gulliverâs relief.
Gulliver recalled an earlier trick in which the dwarf had wedged him waist-deep in a marrowbone. His legs escaped scalding because the meat had cooled, but his clothes were spoiled. On that occasion Gulliver had persuaded the Queen not to dismiss the dwarf, who received a whipping instead.
A battle with insects
The Queen teased Gulliver for fearing the giant flies that troubled him at meals. They stung him, fouled his food and buzzed around his face; the dwarf had often released them near him for amusement. Gulliver defended himself by cutting them in the air with a knife, a skill the court admired.
One morning Glumdalclitch placed his box by a window for air. More than twenty wasps, attracted by his breakfast cake, flew inside. Some carried off pieces of cake while others threatened him. Gulliver drew his sword, killed four and shut the window after the rest escaped. He preserved their long stings, later giving three to Gresham College in England and keeping the fourth.