Gulliver's Travels

The King Who Refused Gunpowder

Brobdingnag 6, Narrow Principles

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Cannons and stacked cannonballs sit in a cloud of smoke, and a small man stands beside them gesturing.
Illustration by J. J. Grandville, Voyages de Gulliver, Paris, Fournier and Furne, 1838Original

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Gulliver says he could have hidden this part of his story. He did not, he says, only because of his great love of truth.

He was angry at the king’s verdict, but his anger was always turned to ridicule. While his beloved country was so insulted, he could only be patient.

He is as sorry as any reader that it happened, he writes. But the king was so curious about every detail that refusing to answer as best he could would have been neither grateful nor polite.

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