Gulliver is
a giant among the tiny Lilliputians. They initially see him as threat, so they tie him up and
shoot arrows at him (which have no effect). But even as he is integrated by the Lilliputians
into their society, his great size continues to cause problems. He has, for example, to
discreetly defecate only in the early morning so that there is time for two Lilliputian servants
to remove his excrement in wheelbarrows before members of the royal court come to visit him. He
needs a vast house by their standards, and providing him with a bed means sewing together six
hundred ordinary beds. Gulliver must also be fed, which requires a huge amount of food: the same
amount as consumed by 1724 Lilliputians.
Gulliver is a resource drain, but
the Lilliputians are not the type to give something for nothing. They use him to move large
stones for building, exact a promise that he will provide a survey of their lands, and expect
him to destroy the enemy fleet of the island of Blefuscu. The royal court also uses him for
entertainment.
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