At last we came to ourselves, and saw him sitting in the porch,
looking at us. When he had considered us well, he advanced towards
us, and laying his hands upon me, he took me up by the nape of my
neck, and turned me round as a butcher would do a sheep’s head.
After having viewed me well, and perceiving me to be so lean that I
had nothing but skin and bone, he let me go. He took up all the
rest, one by one, viewed them in the same manner, and the captain
being the fattest, he held him with one hand, as I would do a
sparrow, and thrusting a spit through him, kindled a great fire,
roasted, and eat him in his apartment for his supper; which being
done, he returned to his porch, where he lay and fell asleep,
snoring louder than thunder. He slept thus till morning. For our
parts, it was not possible for us to enjoy any rest; so that we
passed the night in the most cruel fear that can be imagined. Day
being come, the giant awaked, got up, went out, and left us in the
palace.
When we thought him at a distance, we broke the melancholy silence
we had kept all night, and every one grieving more than another, we
made the palace resound with our complaints and groans. Though there
were a great many of us, and we had but one enemy, we had not at
first the presence of mind to think of delivering ourselves from him
by his death. This enterprise, however, though hard to put in
execution, was the only design we ought naturally to have formed.
We thought of several other things, but determined nothing; so that
submitting to what it should please God to order concerning us, we
spent the day in running about the island for fruit and herbs to
sustain our lives. When evening came, we sought for a place to lie
in, but found none; so that we were forced, whether we would or not,
to return to the palace.
The giant failed not to come back, and supped once more upon one of
our companions; after which he slept, and snored till day, and then
went out, and left us as formerly. Our condition was so very
terrible, that several of my comrades designed to throw themselves
into the sea, rather than die so strange a death; and those who were
of this mind argued with the rest to follow their example: upon
which one of the company answered, that we were forbidden to destroy
ourselves; but allowing it to be lawful, it was more reasonable to
think of a way to rid ourselves of the barbarous tyrant who designed
so cruel a death for us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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