The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Fritz proposed to fire his gun from time to time, suggesting that, should they be any where concealed near us, they might thus be led to know of our pursuit.

This would be vastly well, answered I, if you could contrive for our friends to hear the report of the gun, and not the savages, who are most likely not far distant, and who would be induced by the alarm, to watch and surprise us. I am thinking, father, interrupted Fritz, that there is no good reason why we should give ourselves so much trouble and uneasiness about persons who abandoned us so cruelly, and thought only of their own safety.

There is not only one good reason, but many, replied I: first, we should not return evil for evil; next, it may be in their power to be of use and to assist us; and lastly, that they are most likely at this moment in the greatest want of our exertions. It was their lot to escape with nothing but their persons from the ship, if indeed they are still alive while we had the good fortune to secure provisions enough for present subsistence to a share of which they are as fully entitled as ourselves.

But, father, while we are wandering here and losing our time almost without a hope of benefit to them, might we not better employ ourselves in returning to the vessel and saving the lives of the animals on board?

When a variety of duties present themselves for our choice, we should always give the preference to that which can confer the most solid advantage. The saving of the life of a man, is a more exalted action than to be employed in contributing to the further comfort of some quadrupeds, whom we have already supplied with food for several days longer, particularly as the sea is in so calm a state, that we need entertain no apprehension that the ship will be sunk or go entirely to pieces just at present.

My son made no reply to what I said, and we each seemed by mutual silent consent to take a few moments for reflection.

When we had gone about two leagues, we entered a wood situated a little further from the sea: here we threw ourselves on the ground, and under the shade of a tree, by the side of a clear running stream, took out some provisions and refreshed ourselves. We heard on every side around us, the chirping, singing, and the motion of unknown birds among the leaves, and which in reality were more attractive by their splendid plumage than by any charm of note. Fritz assured me that between the branches of the bushes he saw some animals resembling apes: this indeed was further confirmed by the restless movements we had observed in Turk, who began to smell about him, and to bark so loud that the wood resounded with the noise. Fritz stole softly about to be sure, and raising his head to spy into the branches above his height, he stumbled on a small round body which lay on the ground: he took it up and brought it to me, observing that he thought it must be the nest of some bird. What makes you of that opinion? said I. It is, I think, much more like a cocoa-nut.

But I have read that there are some kinds of birds who build their nests quite round; and look, father, how the outside is crossed and twined!

That is true, Fritz; but it is wrong from a single view to be so positive. Do you not perceive that what you take for straws crossed and twined by the beak of a bird, is in fact a coat of fibres formed by the hand of nature? Do you not remember to have read that the nut of a cocoa shell is inclosed within a round fibrous covering, which again is surrounded by a skin of a thin and fragile texture? I see that in the one you hold in your hand, this skin has been destroyed by time, and this is the reason why the twisted fibres (or inner covering) are so apparent; but now let us break the shell, and you will see the nut inside.

We soon accomplished this; but the nut, alas, from lying on the ground had perished, and appeared but little different from a bit of dried skin, and not the least inviting to the palate.