Editing Lilliput and Blefuscu (section)

==Post-Swift descriptions==
===Early works===
In 1728, [[John Arbuthnot]] wrote ''An account of the state of learning in the empire of Lilliput: Together with the history and character of Bullum the Emperor's Library-Keeper''; this purported to be transcribed from a treatise by Gulliver on the empire of Lilliput alluded to in chapter 4 of ''Gulliver's Travels''.<ref>Swift, chapter 4 ("a greater work, which is now almost ready for the press; containing a general description of this empire, from its first erection, through a long series of princes; with a particular account of their wars and politics, laws, learning, and religion; their plants and animals; their peculiar manners and customs, with other matters very curious and useful")</ref> Arbuthnot used this work to satirise [[Richard Bentley]], master of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]<ref>{{cite book |title=The life of Richard Bentley, DD |last=Monk |first=James Henry Monk |author-link=James Henry Monk |publisher=J. G. & F. Rivington |location=London |year=1833 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbIDAAAAYAAJ |page=374}}</ref> but also described the early history of Lilliput and Blefuscu. At one time (Gulliver is told), Blefuscu was a commonwealth and had its own language and an extensive literature. Lilliput, meanwhile, was divided among several petty kingdoms. The first emperor of Blefuscu attacked and subdued Lilliput, but later the Lilliputians won their independence and set up their own emperor.<ref>{{cite book |title=An account of the state of learning in the empire of Lilliput: Together with the history and character of Bullum the Emperor's Library-Keeper |last=Arbuthnot |first=John |author-link=John Arbuthnot |publisher=J. Roberts |location=London |year=1728 |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004835997.0001.000 |pages=6–9 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628083514/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004835997.0001.000 |archive-date=28 June 2014 }}</ref>

===20th-century works===
It has been pointed out that the long and vicious war that started after a disagreement about which was the best end on which to break an egg is an example of the [[narcissism of small differences]], a term Sigmund Freud coined in the early 1900s.<ref>Fintan O’Toole [https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-pathological-narcissism-stymies-fianna-f%C3%A1il-support-for-fine-gael-1.25729 Pathological narcissism stymies Fianna Fáil support for Fine Gael], ''The Irish Times'', 16 March 2016</ref>

In 1946, [[T. H. White]] wrote ''[[Mistress Masham's Repose]]'', which describes the adventures of a girl, Maria, who discovers a group of Lilliputians on a tiny forgotten island in the lake of a ruinous estate in Northamptonshire.

A modernised Lilliput is the setting of a 1958 sequel children's novel, ''Castaways in Lilliput'', by [[Henry Winterfeld]]. This book provides more geographical detail: other cities in addition to Mildendo include Plips (a major city and cathedral town), Wiggywack (a suburb of Mildendo and seat of the Island Council),<ref>{{cite book |title=Castaways in Lilliput |last=Winterfeld |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Winterfeld |others=trans. Kyrill Schabert |year=1958 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |location=San Diego |page=94 }}</ref> Tottenham (on the west coast),<ref>Winterfeld, p. 135</ref> and Allenbeck (at the mouth of a river on the west coast).<ref>Winterfeld, p. 176</ref>
Winterfeld also provides further details of Lilliputian history. The Emperor of Gulliver's time, Mully Ully Gue, is said to have reigned 1657–1746. (This contradicts Swift's account, in which the Emperor is only 28 years old and has reigned about seven years when Gulliver arrives in 1699.<ref>Swift, chapter 2</ref>) His descendant, Alice, is the reigning Queen in the 1950s when three Australian children visit the island.<ref>Winterfeld, p. 143</ref> The monetary system has apparently also been changed, the ''sprug'' of Swift's novel replaced by the ''onze'', equal to ten ''dimelings'' or 100 ''bims''.<ref>Winterfeld, p. 150</ref> Technology has kept pace with the outside world, so the Lilliputians have trains, [[automobile]]s, [[helicopter]]s, telephones, and telegraphs.
Winterfeld describes the flag of Lilliput as having blue and white stripes with a golden crown on a red field. These symbols are also painted on the police helicopters.<ref>Winterfeld, p. 141</ref>