Gulliver's Travels - Into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift
page 18 of 174 (10%)
page 18 of 174 (10%)
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wanted drink.
They found by my eating that a small quantity would not suffice me; and being a most ingenious people, they slung up with great dexterity, one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and beat out the top: I drank it off at a draught; which I might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small[9] wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner, and made signs for more; but they had none to give me. When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced upon my breast, repeating, several times, as they did at first, _Hekinah degul_. They made me a sign, that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, _Borach nevola_; and, when they saw the vessels in the air, there was an universal shout of _Hekinah degul_. I confess, I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards and forwards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of honor I made them--for so I interpreted my submissive behavior--soon drove out those imaginations. Besides, I now considered myself as bound, by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence. However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk upon my body, while one of my hands was at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so prodigious a creature, as I must appear to them. |
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