Starboard! Port! Whiskey!

So I have finally been fortunate enough to receive my copy of Gulliver's Travels after many incidents of large flocks of ostriches, rabid hyenas, and a very large newt, here I am! Anyway, enough excuses (I'll save those for later), to the book!

Lemuel Gulliver, a man of no acclaim or fortune looking for adventure around every corner, is a well educated man, under his main study of becoming a surgeon, he takes navigation, physics, and other skills required for navigating the open seas. After the failure of his many practices in the London area, and also the inability to decide whether to settle down with his family or go out to sea (Brett Favre!), Lemuel chooses, admirably (after many of his jobs on ships in the past had not proved very successful), to follow his dream one last time. He received an opportune offer from Captain William Prichard, captain of the Antelope, on May 4th, 1699. The voyage was interrupted by a disasterous storm which drove the vessel to the north-west. Two thirds of the crew was dead, and the other six were on the eve of loss. The boat which Lemuel had sailed on was cast into a large boulder and soon found itself underneath the ocean waves. But where Lemuel Gulliver found himself was quite astounding, and a little surprising.

When he awoke, what a sight he must have been! For his hair was tied up in tiny little bundles of string, and his body lay inanimate, tied in rope, against the beach of the unknown island he was attending.

The experience I would have if I ever would have come upon this mysterious land of Liliput, as little sensations of movement moved up my body to my torso and eventually head and neck, would have been bewildering. What could this be? Hermit crabs? Insects? Nematoads? Then a little man, not 6 inches tall!, pops his head up in sight. Not only would I question my sanity, but also I would feel inclined to ask the question, "How many would fit in my stomach?".

Lemuel had too felt the need to ponder these theories, but did what every great explorer could do, and decided to ask for nourishment! "After all! These were the beaches I was shipwrecked onto! I deserve some right for delicious meat! No matter how small! And do not forget the wine!", I imagine he would have spoke this if English was the common language.

The fair little people of Liliput understood he was parched and starved, so they brought to him draughts of wine (quite ingenious fellows, crafting food and drink for a creature so many times larger than themselves) and pebble sized pieces of meat. The mysterious people had to explain this to Gulliver after, but, they treated his wine with a sleeping potion, and while he was sedated the Liliputians crafted up the most magnificent contrapition to move him to their capital city (if only America could find a contraption to move Sarah Palin away!).