-Hang on, we’re sinking! This storm shall soon sink the ship!

 This is the story of Gulliver, the man who loved being at sea and was always ready for new adventures! Marooned on a distant island, Gulliver finds himself surrounded by countless little people, no larger than a palm, called Lilliputians. Following the orders of their king, the little people adopt Man Mountain, give him shelter in an old temple and feed him 1724 lilliputian meals a day. At the beginning, they’re wary, they try to keep their distance, and a thin, but strong chain prevents him from straying too far. In time, however, Gulliver starts taking part in the daily life and chores of the palace, and everyone around him starts helping him out.

– Mmmm, I wonder what the little people put in the food carts today, thought Gulliver, noticing the efforts they were making in order to feed him.

 „At first, it was hard for me to understand their language, but the king generously assigned six masters to teach me. No wonder in a few weeks we were able to communicate and we even became… friends.”

– Man-Mountain you are more than welcome to join the palace carnival: the treasurer, the Principal Secretary and the other ministers will showcase their incredible skill: walking on tight rope! Worry not, they are trained for this and, when they can’t do it anymore, there are many more who wish to take their place.

 With every passing day, Gulliver was more and more surprised of their habits. Some would wear high heels, other low heels, some would get wrapped up in intrigues and personal affairs, whereas others would blindly follow their king. For instance, one day, three thousand soldiers and one thousand horsemen passed him by, playing their drums and peeping above, at the old and worn-out trousers worn by Man-Mountain.

– You have shown great patience and kindness, Gulliver! I accept your plea to freedom! the king told him one day, noticing that the giant was no longer a danger to his people. But what I wish in return is for you to help us fight our neighbours on the Blefuscu island. These barbarians would like us to go back to a time where the egg, the egg was pealed from the big end down. Yes, you’ve heard me right, starting from the big end! This simply cannot be! My grandfather sacrificed his whole life so that we can now peal our eggs starting from the little end. I shall not dishonour him or his memory!

– I’ll help you, said Gulliver, shaking his hand, like the English did, but also abiding by the Lillliputian tradition: grabbing your right leg with your left hand, placing the middle finger of your right hand on your forehead and the thumb on your earlobe.

 Although he helped the lilliputians, by capturing the Blefuscu fifty-ship fleet, Gulliver now faced a challenge: he was meant to keep them prisoners forever.

-No, this I simply will not do!
His refusal angered the king. He signed a decree: the giant was sentenced to death!

 „So I had no choice, but got to Blefuscu, where I had been invited by the king, pretending I knew nothing of the death sentence”.

 Once there, as you can expect, he was warmly welcome and invited on a walk on the island shore, where Gulliver came across a boat, which was not in a terrible condition. He managed to fix it, with the help of the Big-enders, he took some lilliputian cows and sheep and set off to England.

 When he got to London, Gulliver met his wife, his son and his daughter. But the longing for adventures never went away.

 „So I have left my family behind yet again and set off once more. A new adventure was awaiting! This time, I ended up in the land of the giants: the Brobdingang Kingdom, the place where I was taken in by a farmer the size of a house!”

 After a while, the farmer thought about taking Gulliver village to village and city to city, show-casing him as an oddity. The poor man had to put on a show for ten hours a day, performing tricks and answering questions. Sometimes, he evend had to dodge the enormous acorns some nasty giant would throw at his head.

 „I had lost weight. I was extremely skinny. Luckily, the queen ended up buying me from the farmer and things got better once I reached the palace.”

 The king called in all the scientists in the kingdom, so they could understand where Gulliver was coming from. They could not believe that such a small creature came from a European country, with queens and kings and armies and battles, just like theirs. It all made the king laugh. It was downright ridiculous: how could a land full of such small people consider themselves the salt of the earth?

Living among the giants was not easy.

 „For instance, when I came across a molehill, I fell in, shoulder-deep. The same happened when I stepped into some cow-dung. As for the acccident with the gardner’s puddle, I’m to embarrassed to tell you. I broke my shin on a snail shell! And the flies, oh, the flies! They were dreadful, like all other insects! Once I was attacked by a swarm of wasps, which stole my bread crumbs. I managed to spear four of them and bring them home, to England. Three ended up in the natural history museum, whereas the last one is safely kept at my home.

 One day, the little box that was Gulliver’s room was snatched by a vulture and taken far, far away. Suddenly, the bird dropped the box into the sea and Gulliver was once more saved by an English ship.

 You’d think that two adventures were enough to last him a life-time, but Gulliver’s travels would not end here. He ended up on a flying island, Laputa. He event went to Japan! He talked to the ghosts of Julius Caesar, Homer, Aristotle and Descartes on Glubbdubrib Island. His last journey took him to a land with kind and intelligent horses, who ruled over some creatures not dissimilar from men, but uglier and more foolish. Gulliver loved this place so much, that he didn’t really want to leave! Unfortunately, the horses did not welcome him, so he had to go back home. But, after these experiences, he started seeing those around him as brutal and uncivilized, so Gulliver decided to lock himself up, avoiding his wife and children, speaking to nobody else but his horses.

-He’s gone mad! people all around England would say. Who could ever believe such nonsense?