Capt. Gulliver’s Voyage to Borborygmus

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Here follow chapter headings from Capt. Gulliver’s Voyage to Borborygmus, a recently discovered, unpublished manuscript by Jonathan Swift.

Chapter 1
A severe storm. Driven before the wind, Captain Lemuel Gulliver finds himself cast upon a strange and violently perturbed shore.

Chapter 2
Captain Gulliver experiences constant earth tremors, eruptions. The difficulties in shaping a stable shelter in this shuddering state.

Chapter 3
Captain Gulliver meets natives. Discovers himself to be on the Island of Borborygmus. Natives appear much like middle-aged Englishmen: bow-legged, pot-bellied, eructating.

Chapter 4
Captain Gulliver is transported to Borborygmus City, the capital, in a foul-smoke-emitting conveyance. Pride of natives in this Stench Uttering Vehicle.

Chapter 5
Housed in an estaminet, Captain Gulliver is unable to rest. Gobbling, munching, retching, regurgitating, voiding and laxation taking place all night long.

Chapter 6
Exhausted by his night without rest, Captain Gulliver nevertheless impresses fellow lodgers. Eats all manner of curious foods pressed on him as local delicacies: fermented legumes, pickled allium, boiled brassica,

Chapter 7
His new-found friends obtain permission for Captain Gulliver to observe the Borborygmus Parliament. Traditional behaviour remarked upon. Pronouncements in chamber delivered with much grumbling & belching.

Captain Lemuel Gulliver from the frontispiece of the Voyage to Borborygmus. Or not.

Chapter 8
Captain Gulliver invited to address the Parliament. His flatulence and expectorating, a consequence of his breakfast consumption, much applauded.

Chapter 9
Captain Gulliver’s dramatic concluding fart before Borborygmus Parliament coincides with an earthquake that brings the house down.

Chapter 10
Honoured as High Borborygmus for his impressive performance, Captain Gulliver resolves to introduce gas and wind to the English Parliament.

Chapter 11
A sudden volcanic eruption propels Gulliver high into the sky. Carried south by winds he falls into the sea. Is rescued by a whaler.


Notes

The word of the day on Artwiculate 1st September 2011 was Borborygmus, which seemed to me a very Swiftian word.

Illustrations adapted from out-of-copyright images on-line.


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