1) Lilliput - Little people
Gulliver encountered a storm on his voyage. He managed to reach the shore and slept through the night. When he woke up, his legs and arms were fastened to the ground. He looks down and sees a six-inch-tall human carrying a bow and arrow. At least forty more little people climb onto his body. He is surprised and shouts loudly, frightening the little people away. Gulliver struggles to get loose and finally succeeds in breaking the strings binding his left arm. However, the little people shot arrows at him and he decided that the safest thing to do is to lie still until nightfall. At that point of time, a little man talked to him in a strange language that he does not understand.
Gulliver then indicated that he was hungry and the little people bring him baskets of meat. He devours it all and then shows that he is thirsty, so they bring him two large barrels of wine. He made signs for more, but the little people had none to give him. Gulliver was then put to sleep and was brought to the city gates by the strongest nine hundred little people.
Once the little people chain Gulliver to the building, he is finally allowed to stand up and view the entire countryside. After a few days, an inventory was made of the things he had in his pocket. The king and his subjects searched all his pockets except one, which was his inner pocket that contained his spectacle and some other items.
The king and Gulliver made an agreement that Gulliver had to follow the conditions laid out by the king in order to gain his freedom. Gulliver agrees and his chains are removed from him. Soon, after a few weeks, Gulliver is asked to help defend Lilliput against its enemies. Gulliver does not feel that it is appropriate to intervene, but he nonetheless offers his services to the emperor.
Gulliver spies on the empire of Blefuscu and devises a plan. He asks for cables and bars of iron, out of which he makes hooks with cables attached. He then wades and swims the channel to Blefuscu and catches their ships at port. The people are so frightened that they leap out of their ships and swim to shore. Gulliver attaches a hook to each ship and ties them together. The Blefuscu soldiers fire arrows at him, but he keeps working, protecting his eyes by putting on the spectacles he keeps in his coat pocket. He tries to pull the ships away, but they are anchored too tightly, so he cuts them away with his pocketknife and pulls the ships back to Lilliput.
When Gulliver returns to Lilliput, he was treated as a hero and was rewarded as a Nardac. On one night, Gulliver was woken up to help to extinguish the fire in the queen's room. As he forgotten to bring his jacket, he urinates on the room and puts out the fire in three minutes.
A few days later, an eminent person of the court secretly informed Gulliver that some men were plotting against Gulliver. Fearing for his life, Gulliver made his way to Blefuscu. There, he found a boat of his size and with the emperor of Blefuscu's help, he was on his way back home in a month's time.
2) Brobdingnag - Giants
Gulliver set sails on a ship and arrives at an unknown land mass. There are no inhabitants about, and the landscape is barren and rocky. Gulliver is walking back to the boat when he sees that it has already left without him. He tries to chase after it, but then he sees that a giant is following the boat. Gulliver runs away, and when he stops, he is on a steep hill from which he can see the countryside. He is shocked to see that the grass is about twenty feet high.
He walks further and reaches the harvest, which was forty feet.One of the servants comes close to Gulliver with both his foot and his scythe, so Gulliver screams as loudly as he can. The giant finally notices him, and picks him up between his fingers to get a closer look.
The farmer takes Gulliver back to his wife, who is frightened of him. The servant brings in dinner, and they all sit down to eat, Gulliver sitting on the table not far from the farmer’s plate. They give him tiny bits of their food, and he pulls out his knife and fork to eat, which delights the giants.
After dinner, the farmer’s wife lets Gulliver nap in her own bed. When he wakes up he finds two rats attacking him, and he defends himself with his “hanger,” or sword. Glumdalclitch, the farmer's daughter, places a doll's cradle inside a drawer to keep Gulliver safe from the rats. She becomes Gulliver’s caretaker and guardian, sewing clothes for him and teaching him the giants’ language.
The farmer begins to talk about Gulliver in town, and a friend of the farmer’s comes to see him. He advises the farmer to take Gulliver into the market to display him. The farmer agrees and Gulliver was soon in the marketplace performing 'tricks'. Thinking that Gulliver can make him a great fortune, the farmer takes him and Glumdalclitch on a trip to the largest cities.
The strain of traveling and performing “tricks” takes its toll on Gulliver, and he begins to grow very thin. The farmer notices Gulliver’s condition and resolves to make as much money as possible before Gulliver dies. Meanwhile, an order comes from the court, commanding the farmer to bring Gulliver to the queen for her entertainment.
The queen is delighted with Gulliver’s behavior and buys him from the farmer for 1,000 gold pieces. Gulliver requests that Glumdalclitch be allowed to live in the palace as well. Gulliver enjoyed his time at the palace at first. However, the queen’s dwarf is not happy with Gulliver, since he is used to being the smallest person in the palace and a source of diversion for the royal court. He drops Gulliver into a bowl of cream, but Gulliver is able to swim to safety and the dwarf is punished. At another point, the dwarf sticks Gulliver into a marrowbone, where he is forced to remain until someone pulls him out. Gulliver also encountered some life-threatening incidents. Luckily, he was saved each time.
Gulliver is carried around the city in a special traveling-box, and people always crowd around to see him. He asks to see the largest temple in the country and is not overwhelmed by its size, since at a height of 3,000 feet it is proportionally smaller than the largest steeple in England.
One day, however, after spending two years in Brobdingnag, Gulliver went to the shore and while he was sleeping, an eagle took his special traveling-box and dropped it into the sea. Luckily for him, his fellow countrymen spotted him and rescued him.
3) Laputa - The Flying Island
Gulliver's ship was attacked by pirates and was sent out to sea in a small boat with only four days’ worth of food. He managed to find an island. He then sees a landmass dropping down from the sky and notices that it is crawling with people. He is baffled by this floating island and shouts up to its inhabitants. They lower the island and send down a chain by which he is drawn up.
Gulliver is conveyed to the king, who sits behind a table loaded with mathematical instruments. They tried to speak to each other, but it becomes clear that he and the king cannot speak any of the same languages, so Gulliver is taken to an apartment and served dinner.
A teacher is sent to instruct Gulliver in the language of the island, and he is able to learn several sentences. He discovers that the name of the island is Laputa, which in their language means “floating island.”
The island is exactly circular and consists of 10,000 acres of land. At the center there is a cave for astronomers, containing all their instruments and a lodestone six yards long. It moves the island with its magnetic force, since it has two charges that can be reversed by means of an attached control. When the king wants to punish a particular region of the country, he can keep the island above it, depriving the lands below of sun and rain.The rebellious inhabitants had stored provisions of food in advance. They planned to force the island to come so low that it would be trapped forever and to kill the king and his officials in order to take over the government. Instead, the king ordered the island to stop descending and gave in to the town’s demands. The king is not allowed to leave the floating island, nor is his family.
4) Houyhnhnms - Magical Horses
The restless Gulliver started on another voyage, as the captain of a ship called the Adventure. Many of his sailors die of illness, so he recruits more along the way. His crew members mutiny under the influence of these new sailors and become pirates. Gulliver is left on an unknown shore, after being confined to his cabin for several days. In the distance, he sees animals with long hair, goatlike beards, and sharp claws, which they use to climb trees.
Gulliver met two horses that appear to be so intelligent that Gulliver concludes that they are magicians who have transformed themselves into horses. He addresses them directly and asks to be taken to a house or village. The horses use the words “Yahoo” and “Houyhnhnm,” which Gulliver tries to pronounce.
Gulliver endeavors to learn the horses’ language, and they are impressed by his intellect and curiosity. After three months, he can answer most of their questions and tries to explain that he comes from across the sea.
Over the course of two years, Gulliver develops such a love for the Houyhnhnms that he no longer desires to return to humankind. His master describes all the flaws of the Yahoos, principally detailing their greed and selfishness. He admits that Gulliver’s humans have different systems of learning, law, government, and art but says that their natures are not different from those of the Yahoos.
A room is made for Gulliver, and he furnishes it well. He also makes new clothes for himself and settles into life with the Houyhnhnms quite easily. He begins to think of his friends and family back home as Yahoos. However, he is called by his master and told that others have taken offense at his being kept in the house as a Houyhnhnm. The master has no choice but to ask Gulliver to leave. Gulliver is very upset to hear that he is to be banished. He builds a canoe with the help of a fellow-servant and departs sadly.
Thus, that is the end of the adventure of Gullliver.
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