The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-08


as his chains would permit him, which
was about two yards, great shout of
wonder arose.
The Emperor, having viewed CULVER,
descended from his tower and, advanc-
ing toward him, but. still keeping-at
the cntreaties of his family and his
ministers-beyond the length of his
chain, ordered the cooks and tenders to
give the huge being before him meat
and drink which had been prepared.
This they did, pushing it toward the
captive in some sort of vehicles on
wheels. Twenty of these vehicles were
| filled with meat and ten with liquor.
Each of the former afforded two or
three good mouthfuls, and emptying
the liquor which was contained in ten
walls into one vehicle, CULVER drank
it off at a draught. In order to get
better view of the Emperor CULVER
now laid down on his side, which
brought his face on line with that of
His Majesty at a distance of about
| three yards.
The Emperor was taller than his
subjects by the breadth of Gulliver's
|
strike awe to all beholders. His fea
lures were strong and masculine. and
he had reigned for about seven years
in great felicity and had been general
ly victorious in his wars. He was
plainly dressed, but had on his head
a light helmet of gold incrusted with
gems and decorated with a plume. He
was then 2S years old, which, for a
Lilliputian, is past the prime of life
and was most august and sage prince.
Several of the Emperor's suite, whom,
from their dress, CULVER connected to
be priests and lawyers, addressed the
man mountain" in various tongues
but CULVER understood not word of
what they said although he was an ac
Icomplished linguist' in all the European
and most of the Asiatic languages.
In about two hours the court retired,
leaving a strong guard about the tenn
pie to protect CULVER from the i'm
pertinent curiosity and malice of the
rabble. Some of the latter having had
the audacity to shoot their arrows at
him, whereby they narrowly missed
putting out his right eye, the colonel
commanding the guard ordered the Of
tenders to be bound and delivered into
Gulliver's hands. He put them into his
pocket and then, taking them out one
by one, made as If he would eat them,
but instead he cut their bonds with his
penknife and set them free; where
upon they ran off with great precipita-
ton The news of Gulliver's arrival
spread through the empire and brought
people to see him in such numbers that
agriculture was abandoned and busi-
ness was at standstill. The Emperor
thereupon ordered that all who had
once viewed the mon mo untain"
should return to their homes and their
occupations and not approach his
dwelling again under pain of death.
Meantime the Emperor held daily
councils to consider what sh ould be
done with the strange guest. Some of
the counselors declared that II he
broke loose he would work great de-
struction In the empire and others
argued that the cost of feeding such
an enormous creature would be so great
as to strain the Emperor's revenues.
They urged that he be shot with
poisoned arrows or starved to death.
Then, again. they considered that the
stencil of SO large a carcass would
breed a pestilence. 1t was while these
matters were being considered that
some army officers came to the door
Of the council chamber and told of Gull
liver's behavior with regard to the
criminals who had been delivered into
his hands. This made so favorable
an impression on the monarch and his
counselors that it was resolved to let
him live, and it was ordered that all
the villages for nine hundred yards
around the city should deliver every
morning for Gullivers subsistence six
beeves, forty sheep and other victuals,
together with a proportional amount of
bread and wine and other liquors. For
these supplies the Emperor gave or
ders upon his treasury An establish
ment of six hundred persons was as
signed as Gulliver's servants. Tailors
to the number of three hundred were
ordered to make him a suit of clothes
after the fashion OF the country and
a corps Of professors was assigned to
instruct him in the Lilliputian lam
guage.
These Lilliputians are most expert
and ingenious mathematicians, and
CULVER was afterward informed that
in deciding upon how much food he
should be allowed the Emperor had ar.
ranged in this way: The imperial
mathematician having taken the
height of Gulliver'G body by the quad
rant and finding that 1t exceeded tn eirs
in proportion of twelve to one, con-
cluded, from the similarity of his body
to theirs, that It must contain at least
1928 Of theirs and allowed for food ac-
cordingly sufficient for u
1928 Lilliputians. Before CULVER had
been many days In captivity the En-
! perez ssl ordered that his pockets should