Gulliver’s Travels / Podróże Guliwera

JonathanSwiftGulliver’s Travels Podróże GuliweraCzytamy w oryginale

Gulliver’s Travels / Podróże Guliwera

Seria Czytamy w oryginale to atrakcyjna pomoc dla uczących się języka angielskiego. Śledząc losy bohaterów powieści możemy na bieżąco porównywać tekst angielski i polski, ucząc się na podstawie wielkiej literatury. Adaptacja została przygotowana z myślą o czytelnikach średniozaawansowanych, jednak dzięki wersji polskiej z książki korzystać mogą również początkujący.

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Gulliver’s TravelsChapter I  A Voyage to Lilliput

[ 1 ] All my
life I have wanted to travel. As a young man I studied to be a doctor,
but the only thing I dreamed of was to travel around the world and see
new lands.

[ 2 ] Finally the chance to travel came when
I was employed as a surgeon upon a ship that was making a voyage
to the South Seas. We left England on May 4th, 1699, and at first our
voyage was very successful.

[ 3 ] Unfortunately, however, there was
a violent storm. Our ship hit a large rock and was immediately split
in half.

[ 4 ] I don’t know what happened to the
rest of the men on the ship. I swam as far as I could, and when I was
nearly dead from tiredness, I reached land.

[ 5 ] I couldn’t see any houses or
people, and I was extremely tired, so I lay down on the grass and
fell asleep.

[ 6 ] When
I awoke it was already the next morning. I tried to stand up, but
I wasn’t able to move. I was lying on my back, and my arms and legs
were strongly tied to the ground, and my hair, which was long and thick,
was tied down in the same way. I felt several thin ropes across my
body, and I could only look upwards. The sun was beginning to grow hot,
and the light was very painful to my eyes.

[ 7 ] I heard a lot of noise around me. In
a little while, I felt something moving on my left leg, which advanced
gently over my chest and came almost up to my chin. When I bent my eyes
downwards, I saw that it was a human creature less than six inches
high, with a bow and arrow in his hands. At the same time I felt at
least forty more of the little creatures following the first. One of
them cried out in a high voice: [ 8 ] Hekinah degul!

[ 9 ] The
others repeated the same words several times, but I didn’t know what
they meant.

[ 10 ] I lay
all this time very uncomfortably, until at last I was lucky enough
to break some of the strings. At the same time, with a strong pull,
which caused me a lot of pain, I managed to loosen the strings that
tied down my hair on the left side, so I could turn my head a little
bit.

[ 11 ] The
creatures ran away before I could grab them. Then there was a great
shout, and I heard one of them cry: [ 12 ] Tolgo phonac!

[ 13 ] A moment later I felt hundreds of
arrows hit my left hand, which felt like many needles. They shot more
into the air, as we do with bombs in Europe, and some fell on my face,
which I immediately covered with my left hand.

[ 14 ] I thought it would be best to lie still
until night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily
free myself. I believed I would have no trouble fighting against the
greatest armies they could bring against me if they were all the same
size as the creatures I saw.

[ 15 ] But
things happened differently. When the people saw I was quiet, they
stopped attacking me. Near my right ear I heard a knocking sound
for about an hour. When I turned my head that way, I saw that they
had built a tiny, wooden stage, with a little ladder to climb onto
it. Soon a man went up onto it who seemed to be a very important
person. He was no taller than my middle finger. He made a long speech
directed at me. Though I could not understand it, I tried to tell him
that I wouldn’t harm the people, and that I agreed to all conditions
of peace.

[ 16 ] I was
extremely hungry and attempted to communicate this by putting my finger
on my mouth, to show that I wanted food. The man understood me very
well. He climbed down from the stage and commanded that several ladders
should be put against my body, which over a hundred of the people
climbed up. They walked towards my mouth carrying baskets full of meat
and bread. I took three loaves of bread at a time, which were about
as big as rifle bullets. The people supplied me with as much food as
they could, amazed at my size and appetite.

[ 17 ] I then made another sign that I wanted
something to drink. They brought one of their largest barrels, rolling
it towards my hand. I drank it in one mouthful, and it tasted like
delicious wine. They brought me a second barrel, which I drank in the
same way.

[ 18 ] When
I had finished, they shouted for joy and danced upon my chest. I confess
that I often wanted to grab forty or fifty of the first ones that came
in my reach and throw them onto the ground.

[ 19 ] But
the memory of the promise of peace I had made to them, sent these ideas
out of my mind. Besides, they were now treating me kindly and with great
generosity. How could I break the rules of hospitality?

[ 20 ] After
I was finished eating, a messenger from the Emperor appeared.
He climbed up my leg and walked forwards up to my face with about twelve
other people. He spoke to me for ten minutes, often pointing forwards,
which, as I afterwards found out, was towards the capital city, where it
had been agreed by the Emperor that I must be brought.

[ 21 ] I made signs with my free hand to
express that I wished to be free. It appeared that he understood me,
for he shook his head and used his hand to express that I must be carried
as a prisoner. However, he made other signs to let me know that I would
have enough to eat and very good treatment.

[ 22 ] Five
hundred carpenters and engineers began to prepare the greatest vehicle
they could make to carry me to the city. It was a frame of wood raised
three inches from the ground, about seven feet long and four feet
wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. Nine hundred of the strongest men
were brought to lift me onto it with ropes and pulleys, and in less
than three hours I was raised and placed into the machine and tied
up tightly in it. Fifteen hundred of the Emperor’s largest horses,
each about four and a half inches high, pulled me towards the city. All
this I was later told, for while the whole thing was happening I lay
in a deep sleep, caused by a sleeping drug put into the wine I had
drunk.