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Lilliput, the six-inch-high residents of that land capture Gulliver, who has washed up on their
shores. They bind him as he lies on the beach and shoot their tiny arrows in him, which do not
harm him, but are painful. The Lilliputians build a conveyance to transport him to their city,
where he becomes a sensation. Although they keep him on a chain, they feed him and give him a
large palace to sleep in. He learns their language and their customs. Some of their political
disputes and practices amuse and confuse him. For example, he learns that political leaders are
chosen not for their wisdom or negotiating skills but by how well they perform a rope dance. He
also learns of the ongoing animosity between the High-Heels and the Low-Heels (which is
reminiscent of the polarization that political parties caused in Swift's England).
When the empress's apartment catches fire, Gulliver thinks quickly and uses his full
bladder, which he has not relieved that day, as a source of water to put out the flames.
Although this saves the building, the Empress is horrified and refuses to move back into her
rooms. Gulliver is given his freedom to move around the kingdom as long as he does not harm any
Lilliputians. Eventually the emperor recruits him to assist in the war against Blefuscu, a
neighboring island. The war that rages between the two islands goes back generations and
revolves around whether one should crack a boiled egg from the big end or the little end (which
satirizes the shaky ground on which many historical wars have rested).
Gulliver assists Lilliput in the war by stealing a fleet of Blefuscu's shipswhich to
him is like playing with toy boats. But when he refuses to help Lilliput conquer the other
country, Lilliput sentences him to blinding. With the help of a Lilliputian friend, he flees to
Blefuscu, from where he is able to escape the land of the little people.
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