Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Gulliver's Travels - Into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift
page 18 of 174 (10%)
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.

DigitalOcean Referral Badge