The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

On reaching the wood of ever-green oaks, we found the sow feeding voluptuously upon the acorns under the trees. We wished her a good appetite, and begged her to admit us to the honour of partaking her breakfast; and accordingly Fritz filled the pockets of his waistcoat with some of them. We perceived with pleasure that the lecture of the preceding day had rendered the animal more tractable: she did not now seek to avoid us; and we might even have induced her to return home, if we had had time to take the pains. As we were quietly picking up some of the acorns, we observed some birds, which occupied the wood in every direction, advancing towards us. Some of them were clothed with a plumage of exquisite beauty; and for this once, I could not refuse Fritz the pleasure of firing upon them, that we might in consequence obtain a nearer view, and inform ourselves respecting their species. He brought down three. I recognised one to be the great blue Virginia jay, and the other two were parrots. One of the two was a superb red parrot; the other was green and yellow.

While Fritz was reloading his gun, we heard a singular sort of noise which came from a distance: at one moment it resembled a muffled drum, at another, the noise made in sharpening a saw. My first idea was of music played by savages, and we retreated quickly to hide ourselves among the bushes to listen. By degrees we advanced towards the place from whence the sound appeared to come; but perceiving nothing to alarm us, we separated some of the branches with our hands, and then discovered a handsome bird about the size of the English cock; and, like it too, adorned with elegantly-formed smooth feathers round the neck, and a comb upon his head. The animal stood erect on a decayed trunk of a tree, which was lying on the ground, and at this moment exhibited some singular gestures. His tail was spread in the form of a fan, similar to that of the turkey-cock, but shorter; the feathers round his neck and head were erect and bristling. He sometimes agitated them with so quick a motion, as to make them appear like a vapour which suddenly inclosed him; sometimes he whirled himself round and round on the trunk of the tree; at others he moved his head and eyes in such a manner as to express a state of distraction, making at the same time, the singular kind of noise with his voice, which had alarmed us, and which was preceded and followed by a sort of explosion. This last was caused by a motion of his wing striking in a quick measure on the trunk, which was hollow and dry, and made the noise resemble a muffled drum. All around him, there was assembled a great number of birds of the same species, but much smaller, and of a less beautiful form. One and all fixed their eyes upon him, and seemed delighted with the pantomime. I contemplated this extraordinary spectacle, of which I had formerly read an account, with astonishment. The number of the spectators of the feathered actor, increased every moment; and the performance increased in spirit also, in proportion, presenting the idea of a perfect intoxication or delirium of the creature. At this moment, Fritz, who stood a little behind me, put an end to the scene by firing off his gun. The actor fell from the stage, and stretching himself on the sand, breathed his last, and the spectators betook themselves suddenly to flight. I must confess, the interest I took in the scene was of so lively a nature, that I could not refrain from reproaching Fritz in an angry tone. Why, said I, must we be always applying the means of death and annihilation to the creatures that fall in our way? Is not nature a thousand times more exhilarating in her animated movements, which express life and enjoyment, than in the selfish scheme of destruction you seem so fond of? Some allowance should no doubt be made for the curiosity of youth, for necessities caused by our situation, and even for the taste you have acquired for sporting; I therefore, as you well know, do not object to your killing now and then a little game, or some singular or dangerous kind of animal; but moderation is on all occasions useful, and the spectacle of this bird, employed in such earnest endeavours to draw his females around him, was at least as amusing, as to see him stretched there at length, and lifeless, who but two minutes ago exhibited such rapid and lively motions! His pretty hens too all dispersed in terror, and deprived of the possibility of ever more admiring him or being his companions.

Fritz looked down, ashamed and sorry. I observed to him that the thing being done, there was now no remedy; that the tetrix^[5] or heath-cock was much esteemed as game; and that as the mischief had occurred, he had better take it from the ground and carry it to his mother.

He did as I desired; and in spite of my lecture I saw that he was rejoiced to have acquired such a prize. Is it not a beautiful creature, father? said he: but I am most curious to be informed what all his action was intended to represent.

Father.—I imagine his gestures and his cries were intended to assemble his females, of which he has a large number, similar to the common cock of Europe. I cannot help thinking, Fritz, how cruel it was thus to interrupt the poor creature’s innocent amusements.

Fritz.—I am now extremely sorry for it, father; particularly when I recollect that we might have caught him alive, and that it is so desirable to have possessed this kind of fowl at Falcon’s Stream.

Father.—This is precisely what I was going to observe; I am not sure that it is now too late to effect such a plan;—when we see either of the hens disposed to brood, we will bring the monkey here to search about for the eggs of these animals; if we should be so lucky as to find a nest, which I think probable, we will take away the eggs, and put them under the brooding hen; by these means we shall procure some of this handsome race of fowls.

We now laid the dead cock upon the ass’s back, and proceeded on our journey. We soon arrived at the guava trees, and a little after at the spot where we had left the sledge in the wood of gourds, when we found our treasures in the best possible condition: but as the morning was not far advanced, we entered upon our intended project of penetrating beyond the wall of rocks.

We pursued our way in a straight line at the foot of these massy and solid productions of nature, every moment expecting to reach their extremity, or to find some turn, or breach, or passage through them, that should conduct us into the interior of the island, if, as I presumed, it was not terminated by these rocks. We walked on, continually looking about, that nothing might escape us worthy of notice, or to be enabled to anticipate and avoid such dangers as should threaten. Turk with his usual bravery took the lead, the ass followed with lazy steps shaking his long ears, and Fritz and I brought up the rear. We met from time to time with some small streams which afforded a most agreeable refreshment; we passed a wood of guava trees and fields of potatoes and manioc, the stalks of which perplexed our way; but we were recompensed for this inconvenience by the fine views which every where presented themselves, and which the low stature of the plants enabled us to see in perfection. To the right, on the high grounds, we saw hares and agoutis in considerable numbers, amusing themselves on the grass in the morning sun. Fritz mistook them for marmots, but not one of them made the whistling kind of sound which is customary with these animals when they see a strange object. The idea of my son seemed therefore to be unfounded: again he wished to be convinced by firing his gun; but fortunately, the rock on which they were stationed, was at too great a distance for it to take effect.

We next entered a pretty little grove, the trees of which were unknown to us; their branches were loaded with large quantities of berries of an extraordinary quality, being entirely covered with a wax which stuck to our fingers as we attempted to gather them^[6]. I knew of a sort of bush producing wax that grows in America, and named by botanists Myrica cerifera; I had no doubt that this was the plant, and the discovery gave me great pleasure. Let us stop here, said I to Fritz, for we cannot do better than collect a great quantity of these berries as a useful present to your mother.