The reason for the dispute between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians begins with the great debate over which side of the egg is the proper one to break. When the grandfather of the current emperor of Lilliput was a boy, he broke his egg at the larger end, and he cut his finger. Since then, everyone is supposed to break their eggs at the smaller end, but there have been a great number of rebellions as a result of the new law, and the rulers of Blefuscu have encouraged and fueled these civil skirmishes in Lilliput. Further, the Blefuscudian emperors have often "accused [the Lilliputians] of making a Schism in Religion [...]." Many Big Endians have gone into exile rather than begin to change their habit of egg breaking, and they've found refuge in Blefuscu, and the court of that country has given them assistance and encouragement to continue to foment rebellion and discord in Lilliput. As a result of this conflict, Lilliput has lost dozens of ships and thousands of seamen.
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