Chapter-2
After some time, I heard some noise but could not understand what it was. Immediately, I felt something moving on my left leg. Gradually and gently, it reached close to my chest. I bent my eyes downwards as much as I could. To my utter surprise, I saw a tiny man. He was only about six inches high carrying a bow and arrow in his hands. I felt at least forty-one little men walking over me. I shouted with surprise. All the little men ran away. Some of them were so frightened with my loud roar that they jumped down from my sides and fell off. When I was quiet, they came back again. One walked very close and tried to look at my face.
I was feeling great uneasiness and tried hard to free myself. With all my strength I tried to free myself. Finally, I was successful in freeing my left hand. I pulled on my hair and some of it came out of my head. Now, I could turn my head a little. I heard the little men shout. Then, my left hand was hurt. It was like thousands of pins in my skin. I looked at my hand. It had tiny arrows in it. I was now in a position to tilt my head slightly. I tried to catch a few of them but they ran away quickly. Immediately, a hundred more arrows struck my left hand. Soon, some more were shot and some struck into my face. I was afraid. I decided to lie still and wait for the night.
I heard a knocking sound for more than an hour. With great effort I tilted my head and saw them raising a kind of stage about four yards away from me. Then, some little men climbed up and stood on the top of it. They could now look down at me. Another man climbed up to the wooden platform. He looked important. He began talking to me.
Although I knew many languages yet I could not understand a word.
He spoke for a long time and waved his arms around. I was very hungry. I put my free hand to my mouth to show him that I wanted food. The man understood. He climbed off the platform. Soon, many little people walked along my body. They carried food. They gave me cooked animals. These were so small that I could eat all of them in one bite. The little people gave me loaves of bread. Each loaf was the size of a pea. I put these loaves in my mouth together. Then they brought me something to drink. It tasted very good. I wanted more but they didn’t have enough to give me. All the little people watched me eat. It was a lot of food for them and they watched with big eyes and open mouths.
Having seen me eating and drinking like a giant they started dancing with joy on my chest. At first, I had a mind to get hold of forty or fifty of them and dash them against the ground. But then, I remembered the pricks of their arrows and also the obligation of their having fed me.
After some time, a person of some position from the Royal Palace came. With the help of a ladder he climbed up my chest and walked close to my face. He spoke to me and made signs continuously pointing towards one direction. After some time, I understood that he was pointing towards the capital-city where they wanted to take me. Then, I made signs with my hands. I wanted them to take off the ropes. But the man shook his head to say ‘no’. He showed to me that I was to be carried to the capital as a prisoner. Anyway, he assured me that I would get food and drink only if I behaved properly. I was helpless, so I agreed and promised to let them do as they pleased.
The capital-city was half a mile away from that place. It was very difficult for them to carry me. But these people were perfect in mechanics and had prepared machines fixed on wheels to carry me.
The engine was brought parallel to my body. Then they bound my whole body with many bandages. A large number of hooks were attached to these bandages. Eight poles which were a foot each in height were fixed on my side. Nine hundred strong men pulled the thread with the help of pulleys fixed on poles. It took three hours for them to put me on the cart. When I was on the cart, 1,500 of the king’s strongest horses pulled it along the road.
The journey continued the whole day. We rested at night. Five hundred guards, half of them carrying torches and the other half carrying bows and arrows, kept a watch on either side of me. At noon, the cart stopped at a place about two hundred yards from the main gate of the city. There was an old temple. They showed it to me with signs that it was my new home. The door of the temple was four feet tall and two feet wide, and I could get inside on my hands and knees. On both sides of the door, there were windows six inches from the ground. Soon, some men came and put chains around my left leg, through the door and a window of the temple. The chains were very thin but they used ninety-one of them. They were very strong together. The king and all the people from the city came to watch me. Not less than ten thousand of them mounted upon me with the help of ladders. When the workmen were satisfied that I could not break the chains, they cut the ropes on my arms and legs, and I stood up. But I could not walk far. The chains on my left leg were only six feet long.
