Rudolf Erich Raspe: Gulliver revived, London 1786 (R5)

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We sailed from Amsterdam with despatches from their High Mightinesses the States of Holland: the only circumstance which happened on our voyage worth relating, was the wonderful effects of a storm, which had torn up a great number of large trees by the root, of enormous bulk and height, i(n an island where we lay at anchor to take in wood and water;); some of these trees weighed many tons, yet, they were carried by the wind such an immense high, that they appeared like the feathers of small birds floating in the air; for they were at least five miles above the earth; however, as soon as the storm subsided they all fell perpendicularly into their respective places, and took root again, except the largest, which happened, when it was blown into the air, to have a man and his wife, a very honest old couple, upon its branches, gathering cucumbers, (for in this part of the globe, that useful vegetable grows upon trees;) the weight of this couple, as the tree descended, overbalanced the trunk, and brought it down in a horizontal position: it fell upon the chief man of the island, and killed him on the spot; he had quitted his house in the storm, under an apprehension of its falling upon him, and was returning through his own garden, when this fortunate accident happened. – The word fortunate here requires some explanation. – This chief was a man of a very avaricious and oppressive disposition, and, though he had no family, the natives of the island were half starved by complying with his infamous mandates.

The very articles which he had thus taken from them were spoiling in his stores, while the poor wretches from whom they were plundered were pining in poverty. Though the destruction of this tyrant was accidental, the people chose the cucumber-gatherers for their governors, as a mark of their gratitude.

R5, S. 3-6

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