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This anecdote introduces the symbol of excrement and is the first of many examples of Gulliver’s dedication to honesty: he doesn’t edit out details, even for the sake of politeness or propriety. These interactions confirm Gulliver’s choice to exert moral rather than physical power. He converses peacefully with the Lilliputian emperor (even though they can’t understand one another) and lets the arrow-shooters free without any bodily punishment. Though the Lilliputian state exerts its physical power to hold Gulliver prisoner, it otherwise treats him very humanely. Through persistent rational discussion and a willingness to give up his own weapons of physical power, Gulliver is able to convince Lilliput to consider relaxing its own physical power over him. The Lilliputians’ account of Gulliver’s possessions highlights their difference in perspective: to Lilliputians’ a human is mountain-sized, a human handkerchief is carpet-sized, etc.