Many other ceremonies took place at my departure . I stored the boat with meat and drink , and took six cows and two bulls alive , with as many ewes and rams , intending to carry them into my own country ; and to feed them on board , I had a good bundle of hay and a bag of corn . I would gladly have taken a dozen of the natives ; but this was a thing the Emperor would by no means permit , and besides a diligent search into my pockets , his Majesty pledged my honor not to carry away any of his subjects , though with their own consent and desire . Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able , I set sail . When I had made twenty-four leagues , by my reckoning , from the island of Blefuscu , I saw a sail steering to the northeast . I hailed her , but could get no answer ; yet I found I gained upon her , for the wind slackened ; and in half an hour she spied me , and discharged a gun . I came up with her between five and six in the evening , Sept. 26 , 1701 ; but my heart leaped within me to see her English colors . I put my cows and sheep into my coat pockets , and got on board with all my little cargo . The captain received me with kindness , and asked me to tell him what place I came from last ; but at my answer he thought I was raving . However , I took my black cattle and sheep out of my pocket , which , after great astonishment , clearly convinced him . We arrived in England on the 13th of April , 1702 . I stayed two months with my wife and family ; but my eager desire to see foreign countries would suffer me to remain no longer . However , while in England I made great profit by showing my cattle to persons of quality and others ; and before I began my second voyage I sold them for 600_l . I left 1500_l . with my wife , and fixed her in a good house ; then taking leave of her and my boy and girl , with tears on both sides , I sailed on board the `` Adventure . '' -LRB- 1 -RRB- -LRB- 1 -RRB- Swift . THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL Once upon a time there was a man who had a meadow which lay on the side of a mountain , and in the meadow there was a barn in which he stored hay . But there had not been much hay in the barn for the last two years , for every St. John 's eve , when the grass was in the height of its vigor , it was all eaten clean up , just as if a whole flock of sheep had gnawed it down to the ground during the night . This happened once , and it happened twice , but then the man got tired of losing his crop , and said to his sons -- he had three of them , and the third was called Cinderlad -- that one of them must go and sleep in the barn on St. John 's night , for it was absurd to let the grass be eaten up again , blade and stalk , as it had been the last two years , and the one who went to watch must keep a sharp look-out , the man said . The eldest was quite willing to go to the meadow ; he would watch the grass , he said , and he would do it so well that neither man , nor beast , nor even the devil himself should have any of it .
So when evening came he went to the barn , and lay down to sleep , but when night was drawing near there was such a rumbling and such an earthquake that the walls and roof shook again , and the lad jumped up and took XXXXX his heels as fast as he could , and never even looked back , and the barn remained empty that year just as it had been for the last two .
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