After a shipwreck, Lemuel Gulliver washes ashore on an island where everything is impossibly small. Literally tied down by a thousand tiny threads, he becomes first a prisoner, then a curiosity, then a weapon of war.

The Lilliputians are six inches tall. Their capital is a city of matchboxes and needle daggers. Their navy consists of boats no bigger than a child's toy.

Gulliver, who towers over them like a giant among insects, becomes the most valuable piece in their political chess game. Both sides want him. Both sides promise him rewards. And Gulliver, who has not yet learned to distrust politicians, believes them.

"Sign this compact," the Emperor of Lilliput says, "and you shall be made a Noble of the Empire."

Gulliver signs. The compact is written in letters two inches tall, which he can read easily. He does not notice that the language is vague enough to mean anything, or that the obligations section goes on for pages.

This is how the great and the small are alike: both are fluent in the language of promises.