Blefuscudians

Empire Blefuscu is an island north-east from Lilliputians. Only a shallow strait seven hundred yards wide divides both of these states. Its citizens are deadly enemies of Lilliputian’s country; they are involved in a chronic war. Also, tranquility in the country of Lilliputians is violated by the strife of warring parties of high-heeled and low-heeled Lilliputians (Tory and Whig), another evil in their life is the threat of the invasion of a powerful external enemy from the empire of Blefuscu. The reason for the war is a dispute about how to break an egg: from a blunt or a sharp end. The occasion for the war was the following event. From ancient times it was decided to break boiled eggs from the blunt end. The grandfather of the present emperor of Lilliputia, being a little boy, had some boiled eggs for breakfast. By breaking them according to the generally accepted ancient method, the boy cuts his finger. Then the emperor, his father, issued a law ordering all his subjects, under pain of severe punishment, to break eggs from the sharp end. This decree so enraged the population that it was the cause of six uprisings, during which one emperor lost his life, the other — the crown. The monarchs of Blefuscu constantly started these insurrections and harbored the participants in their possessions. There are eleven thousand fanatics who went to death for refusing to break eggs from the sharp end. Hundreds of huge volumes devoted to this issue were printed. However, the books of ‘blunders’ have been banned for a long time. Outlaws ’blunders’ found themselves a haven in the Blefuscu empire. Gradually, they acquired such influence on the emperor that they induced him to declare war against the Lilliputians. The war lasts for thirty-six moons, but none of the warring parties can come to a compromise. The feud between the ‘blunters’ and the ‘sharpers’ is an allegorical depiction of the struggle between Catholics and Protestants.