FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   >>  
sake of three obscure species of Podurella, and a Buddhist bat. "Well," thought Tom, "this is a very pretty quarrel, with a good deal to be said on both sides. But it is no business of mine." And no more it was, because he was a water-baby, and had the original sow by the right ear; which you will never have, unless you be a baby, whether of the water, the land, or the air, matters not, provided you can only keep on continually being a baby. So the giant ran round after the people, and the people ran round after the giant, and they are running unto this day for aught I know, or do not know; and will run till either he, or they, or both, turn into little children. And then, as Shakespeare says (and therefore it must be true)-- "_Jack shall have Gill Nought shall go ill The man shall have his mare again, and all go well._" Then Tom came to a very famous island, which was called, in the days of the great traveller Captain Gulliver, the Isle of Laputa. But Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid has named it over again the Isle of Tomtoddies, all heads and no bodies. And when Tom came near it, he heard such a grumbling and grunting and growling and wailing and weeping and whining that he thought people must be ringing little pigs, or cropping puppies' ears, or drowning kittens: but when he came nearer still, he began to hear words among the noise; which was the Tomtoddies' song which they sing morning and evening, and all night too, to their great idol Examination-- "_I can't learn my lesson: the examiner's coming!_" And that was the only song which they knew. And when Tom got on shore the first thing he saw was a great pillar, on one side of which was inscribed, "Playthings not allowed here"; at which he was so shocked that he would not stay to see what was written on the other side. Then he looked round for the people of the island: but instead of men, women, and children, he found nothing but turnips and radishes, beet and mangold wurzel, without a single green leaf among them, and half of them burst and decayed, with toadstools growing out of them. Those which were left began crying to Tom, in half a dozen different languages at once, and all of them badly spoken, "I can't learn my lesson; do come and help me!" And one cried, "Can you show me how to extract this square root?" And another, "Can you tell me the distance between [Greek: a] Lyrae and [Greek: b] Camelopardis?"
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   >>  



Top keywords:
people
 

island

 

children

 
thought
 

Tomtoddies

 

lesson

 

coming

 

allowed

 

shocked

 

Playthings


pillar

 
examiner
 

Examination

 
inscribed
 
evening
 

morning

 

single

 

spoken

 

languages

 

crying


Camelopardis

 

distance

 

extract

 

square

 

turnips

 
looked
 

written

 

radishes

 

decayed

 

toadstools


growing

 

mangold

 
wurzel
 

Laputa

 

matters

 

provided

 

continually

 

running

 

pretty

 

quarrel


Buddhist
 
Podurella
 

obscure

 

species

 

original

 
business
 

grumbling

 
grunting
 
growling
 

bodies