Brobdingnag

This is the fourth chapter of the parts expunged from the published Gulliver’s Travels.

Chapter Four

Griselda anoints me again. The fate of traitors discussed. Griselda kisses me. I am precipitated into a delicate position. My attendance at the trial arranged.

I may inadvertently have given the impression at the end of the previous chapter that the day was far advanced because I fell asleep. The events described had occurred in the forenoon. I was still enfeebled by my bruising and required more repose than is normal.

In the middle of the afternoon Griselda returned, woke me up and applied another coating of her ointment. She informed me that the Lady Petrova was closeted with her Majesty the Queen and they were probably deciding the fate of the discovered rebels. During the following discussion between us she sat me between her breasts so that she could hear me clearly without the necessity for me to raise my voice beyond a loud tone. I admit that being naked in a lady’s cleavage was a pleasant sensation.

I enquired whether there would be a trial before sentence was passed. Griselda told me that the rebels could request a trial but if they were found guilty after a formal arraignment they would be sentenced to the standard fate for failed rebellion. All those found guilty would be executed in a terrible manner.

I made bold as to enquire of the fate to which they would be doomed. Griselda asked what the custom was in my country. I explained the ancient punishment of hanging, drawing and quartering and that this was now generally superseded by the headsman’s axe or the hangman’s rope.

The punishment in Brobdingnag for treason was set as follows. The miscreants would have their limbs broken by heavy hammers. Their still living bodies would be lowered into a deeper than normal grave and the executioner would pour liquid pig excrement into the grave until the victim died from drowning. The executioner was paid according to the length of time that the victim survived. An average executioner would take several hours. A skilled executioner would take a whole day. The injuries to the victim’s limbs prevented them from rising except by flexion of the body and neck, which caused intense pain in the shattered limbs. The rebel’s family was required to stand around the grave until the victim was completely immersed in the liquid excrement.

It had been several generations since this punishment had been inflicted yet it was the only penalty available on conviction. It was usual for rebels and traitors to confess their guilt and to throw themselves on their Majesties’ mercy. Their Majesties were esteemed for devising appropriate punishments that were not invariably fatal but extremely unpleasant.

The Lady Petrova was the Queen’s closest advisor and except for her sex would have been regarded as equivalent to our Prime Minister. A noble gentleman nominally held that office but probably had less influence on their Majesties. As the Lady was also the King’s cousin she was able to advise him as well.

I wondered aloud whether her husband’s treachery had not compromised the Lady Petrova’s status. Griselda found the idea amusing. The Lady had been married to her husband to moderate his influence and to prevent him from becoming a successful rebel. His plot had failed partly through the Lady’s agency in recruiting, through intermediaries, her husband’s mistresses to the Queen’s secret service, and partly because of the network of informers that were employed by the Lady.

Griselda expected that as part of the punishment the Lady Petrova would be divorced from her husband but would retain his whole fortune and estates. The Lady could then choose a husband more to her own liking or set up a harem of suitable males if she did not wish to remarry although the remarriage would not be a bar to the creation of the harem. I have to use the word ‘harem’, unsuitable though it may be, from failure to discover a convenient word in the English tongue to describe a stable of males kept for a Lady’s exclusive use.

I asked how the morrow’s proceedings would be conducted. Griselda replied that they would be held in the great hall of parliament. The King and Queen would be seated in state. The rebels would be brought in. If, as expected, they admitted their guilt, the King would pass sentence. The whole proceedings would be completed within an hour. If the rebels, or some of them, sought a trial then that trial would commence in the afternoon and would be completed by the evening. Sentence in either case would be executed on the following day.

The Lady Petrova would be seated at the Queen’s left hand. She wished that I should be present to see the proceedings but it would not be appropriate for me to be with the Lady as my presence might detract from the solemnity of the occasion and her formal attire did not include an apron with a pocket in which I could be concealed. She had arranged with Griselda that I should be conveyed in a pocket in Griselda’s formal apron but that I would have to be concealed as I had been during the entertainment of the messenger.

I agreed that I would appreciate being present and thanked Griselda for her consideration. This also seemed to amuse her. She announced her intention of kissing me. I did not understand how this could be done, given our comparative sizes, but she grasped me around the waist and bore me to her lips. They opened as I was brought close. Griselda turned my body so that I was parallel to the ground and her lips closed over my whole body. They pressed gently against me before she opened them again and inserted me feet first into her mouth. Her lips closed briefly around my head as I was prostrate on her tongue. She then withdrew me from her mouth and replaced me in her cleavage.

She enquired whether I had found her kiss pleasant. I dissembled and replied that it was an interesting experience. She found my reply unsatisfactory and repeated the whole process. She then repeated her enquiry. I replied that her lips and mouth were soft and sweet scented. She laughed which shook her breasts so much that I was precipitated through her cleavage down until her breast support garment caught my descent. Her cleavage closed above me trapping me in the central triangular space below her breasts. It was fortunate for me that Griselda’s breasts were so firmly shaped. In a similar position on the Lady Griselda I would have been crushed by her slightly downward declining bosom.

Griselda inclined her body forward and introduced a thumb and forefinger to return me to my previous position in her cleavage but with my head and shoulders free.

She took a notion to show me the apron that she would wear to the trial. She walked from my chamber to her bedchamber. I found the ride to be a delight, comfortably cushioned as I was by yielding warm breasts. The apron was kept in a cupboard and sheathed in tissue. Griselda spread it across the bed. It was in dazzling white and would cover her from neck to ankle. The wide spreading skirt was pin tucked and embroidered in whitework. The shoulders were trimmed with frills, as were the crossties at the back, which passed through loops on the waistband and tied in a formal bow in the centre of the back. High on the breast of the apron was a square pocket at approximately the position I now occupied on Griselda.

She put me into the apron pocket to demonstrate that I would be easily accommodated. The top edge of the pocket was a strip of lace. If I stood upright this lace would conceal my face yet I could see through it. The rest of the pocket and indeed the whole apron were in a stiff fabric that would conceal me. If I had the lace finger on my head I would be invisible even to someone standing close to Griselda. I indicated my approval of this arrangement.

Griselda replaced me in my soft nest and returned to my chamber. She placed me back in my travelling cabinet and carefully tucked me into my cot before making her farewells. I fell asleep unaccountably dreaming of massive lips swallowing me.

End of Chapter Four.