Chapter-3
Now, the farmer took out his handkerchief from his pocket and folded it many a time. He then spread the handkerchief on his palm and placed it on the ground. He made a sign, which I understood that he wanted me to step on to it. Immediately, I moved onto his hand which was about a foot in thickness. He folded his palm for my security, sent his men to work and carried me to his house. On reaching home, he called out to his wife and showed me to her. As she saw me, she screamed so loudly just as children shout after seeing a cockroach or any such insect. It took her some time to come back to her senses.
The farmer’s family consisted of his wife, three children and an old grandmother. The whole family seated itself for lunch. The farmer placed me at some distance from him on the table which was thirty feet high from the floor. I kept myself carefully away from the edge of the table lest I should fall down. His wife minced a bit of meat and bread, and gave it to me. I bowed and then started eating. The whole family was thrilled. The wife then sent her maid-servant to bring a drink for me in a small cup. Their small cup contained about two gallons of drink. With great difficulty I picked it up with both my hands and hardly could finish it.
After finishing the lunch, the farmer made me a sign which meant that he wanted me to come to his side. As I walked towards him, I stumbled against a piece of bread and fell down. The whole family got worried. Immediately, I got up, took off my hat, waved it over my head and made three hurrahs to show that I was not hurt. They felt relieved. As I passed by the youngest boy, he took me up by the legs and held me high in the air. I started trembling and got angry, but soon his father took me from him and boxed his son. He ordered the boy to leave the table.
I was afraid that the boy might start hating me and do me some harm in future. So, I knelt down before the farmer and begged him to pardon the boy. The farmer could understand me. He then allowed the boy to sit there. I went close to the boy and kissed his hand. His father gave me a gentle pat with his hand.
Just then, a cat jumped into the lap of the farmer’s wife. I was shocked; it was three times larger than an ox. Although I was on the other side of the table, almost fifty feet away from her, yet was terribly afraid. The farmer’s wife stroked the cat and it started to purr which sounded like thunder to my ears. She held the cat so that it might not catch me in its claws. The farmer put me on the table close to the cat. Then I started to walk backwards and afterwards in front of it. It put its back up against the farmer’s wife and its ears down flat. Probably, it was afraid of me which made me quite exited.
After a short while, the maid brought their one-year-old baby. On seeing me, the child made such a great noise that it could be heard miles and miles away. The baby thought that I was a new toy which his father had brought for him and wanted to take me immediately. The wife picked me up and held me for her baby to see. Suddenly, the baby reached out and took hold of me in his huge, fat fingers. He held me around my middle and put my head in his mouth. I shouted very loudly. The baby was surprised and dropped me. Quickly, the wife held out her apron and caught me as I fell.
After some time, the farmer decided to go back to his fields. Before leaving, as I could understand by his voice and gestures, he gave strict instructions to his wife to take care of me. I was very much tired and wanted to sleep. The farmer’s wife noticed at thing and put me on her own bed. She covered me with a clean, white handkerchief.
I must have slept for about two hours. I dreamt that I was at home with my wife and children. But to my sorrow, when I woke up, I found myself alone in a huge room, which was about two to three hundred feet wide and nearly two hundred feet high. The bed on which I lay was about sixty feet wide and twenty-four feet high from the floor. The farmer’s wife had locked the room from outside.
Suddenly, I saw two rats which had somehow managed to enter my room. They ran backwards and forwards on the bed. I was so frightened that I rose up and drew my sword out to defend myself. The horrible animals attacked me on both sides. I swung my sword so forcefully that one of the rats fell down at my feet. Seeing at, the other rat ran away, but I managed to give a big wound on the back. Each of the rats as big as a large hunting dog. Had I not defended myself with the sword, they would certainly have torn me to pieces. I measured the tail of the dead rat; it was six feet long. The entire bed was covered with blood. On hearing the noise, the farmer’s wife came in. she was shocked to see the bed covered in blood. She wondered what had happened. Her eyes moved in every corner of the room. Then she saw the dead rats. Instantly, she looked all over me to make sure I was not hurt. Then she was happy.
The farmer and his wife had a nine-year-old daughter. She and her mother made a bed for me from a doll’s bed. At night, they put it inside a drawer so that no one might harm me. I slept in that bed all the time; I was with the farmer’s family. The little girl made clothes for me and liked to dress and undress me. She also became my teacher and taught me many words. I used to point at the things and she would tell me the words in her language. She spent much of her time with me and cared a lot for me. I began calling her Glumdalclitch, which meant ‘little nurse’ in her language. She called me Grildrig, which meant ‘tiny man’. It was through her that I came to know that the name of her country was Brobdingnag.
