The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

So then, said I, Mr. Fritz intends to return quite at his ease, and without any part of our load, while his old father and his young brother carry each a heavy portion!

Your reproach is very just, father, said the excellent lad; give me, I entreat you, your live bird, and I will take the greatest care of him; only see if he does not already give me a kind look! and as for his long formidable beak, I am not the least afraid of it; he does not look as if he would bite me. That is the more generous on his part, replied I, for it was you who wounded him: but it is a known fact, that animals are often of a less revengeful nature than man, and you will see that this bird will attach itself to you very strongly: saying this, I put the flamingo carefully into his hands.

We were now returned to the spot where we had left the three bundles of bamboo-canes; and as my sons were sufficiently loaded, I took charge of them myself. Now you see, said I to Fritz, that in this instance kindness is its own reward; if you had not undertaken the care of the flamingo, you would have had to carry all these bundles, which are a much heavier load.

We were at length arrived once more at our giant trees, and were received with a thousand expressions of interest and kindness. Why, what have you there, Ernest, that is so beautiful a red?—and, Fritz, what is that in your handkerchief? All were delighted at the sight of our new conquests. My wife, with her accustomed disposition to anxiety on our account, immediately asked where we should get food enough for all the animals we brought home. You should consider, said I, that some of them feed us, instead of being fed; and the one we have now brought you, need not give you much uneasiness, if, as I hope, he proves able to find food for himself without our interference. I now began to examine his wound, and found that only one wing was injured by the ball, but that the other had also been slightly wounded by the dog’s laying hold of him. I anointed them both with an ointment I composed of a mixture of butter and wine for the purpose, and which seemed immediately to ease the pain; I next tied him by one of his legs, with a long string, to a stake I had driven into the ground, quite near to the stream, that he might go in and wash himself when he pleased.

In the mean time, my little railers had tied the two longest canes together, and were endeavouring to measure the tree with them; but when they found that they reached no further than the top of the arch formed by the roots, they all burst into immoderate fits of laughter, assuring me, that if I wished to measure the tree, I must think of some other means. I however sobered them a little, by recalling to Fritz’s memory some lessons in geometry and land-surveying, which he had received in Europe, and that by means of these useful sciences, the measure of the highest mountains, and their distance from each other, may be ascertained by the application of triangles and supposed lines. I instantly proceeded to this kind of operation, fixing my canes in the ground, and making use of some string, which Fritz guided according to my directions. I will not fatigue the reader with a minute account of the geometrical process I adopted, as a substitute for the proper instruments; it is sufficient to let him know, that the means I used, answered my purpose, and that I found that the height of our tree was forty feet: this particular of its height I was obliged scrupulously to ascertain, before I could determine the length of my ladder. I now set Fritz and Ernest to work, to measure our stock of thick ropes, of which I wanted no less than eighty feet for the two sides of the ladder; the two youngest I employed in collecting all the small string we had used for measuring, and carrying it to their mother. For my own part, I sat down on the grass, and began to make some arrows with a piece of the bamboo, and the short sharp points of the canes I had taken such pains to secure. As the arrows were hollow, I filled them with moist sand, to give them a little weight; and lastly, I tipped them with a bit of feather from the flamingo, to make them fly straight. Scarcely had I finished my work, than the boys came jumping round me, uttering a thousand demonstrations of joy: A bow, a bow, and some real arrows! cried they, addressing each other, and then running to me.—Tell us, father, continued they, what you are going to do with them; do let me shoot one;—and me; and me too, cried one and all as fast as they could speak.

Father.—Have patience, boys; I say, have patience. This once I must claim the preference for myself, in order to make trial of my work, which I undertook rather for use than for amusement; so now I will try one of them. Have you, my dear, any strong thread? said I to my wife; I want some immediately. We shall see, said she, what my enchanted bag, which has never yet refused its aid, can do for you. She then threw open its mouth. Come, said she, my pretty bag, give me what I ask you for; my husband wants some thread, and it must be very strong..... See now, did I not promise you should have your wish?..... See, here is a large ball of the very thread you want.

Ernest.—But I do not see much magic, however, mother, in taking out of a bag, exactly what we had before put into it.

Father.—If we are to discuss the matter seriously, Ernest, I cannot but allow that your observation is a just one; but in a moment of dreadful apprehension, such as we experienced on leaving the vessel, to think of a variety of little things that might be useful to one or all of us, was an act that we may truly call an enchantment; and it is a conduct, of which, only the best of wives and the best of mothers could be capable: it is, then, something like a truth, that your mother is a good fairy, who constantly provides for all our wants: but you young giddy things think little of the benefit you thus enjoy.

Just at this moment, Fritz joined us, having finished measuring the string; he brought me the welcome tidings that our stock, in all, was about five hundred fathoms, which I knew to be more than sufficient for my ladder. I now tied the end of the ball of strong thread to an arrow, and fixing it to the bow, I shot it off in such a direction, as to make the arrow pass under one of the largest branches of the tree, and fall again to the ground from the upper side of the same branch. By this method I lodged my thread across the main branch, while I had the command of the end and the ball below. It was now easy to tie a piece of rope to the end of the thread, and draw it upwards, till the knot should reach the same branch. We were thus enabled again to measure the height it was from the ground, and it again proved to be forty-feet, as had appeared by my former mode of measuring. Having now made quite sure of being able to raise my ladder by means of the string already suspended, we all set to work with increased zeal and confidence. The first thing I did was to cut a length of about a hundred feet from my parcel of ropes, an inch thick; this I divided into two equal parts, which I stretched along on the ground in two parallel lines, at the distance of a foot from each other. I then directed Fritz to cut portions of sugar cane, each two feet in length. Ernest handed them to me, one after another; and as I received them, I inserted them into my cords at the distance of twelve inches respectively; fixing them with knots in the cord, while Jack, by my order, drove into each a long nail at the two extremities, to hinder them from slipping out again. Thus in a very short time I had formed a ladder of forty rounds in length, and in point of execution firm and compact, and which we all beheld with a sort of joyful astonishment. I now proceeded to fasten it firmly to one end of the rope, which hung from the tree, and pulled it by the other, till one end of our ladder reached the branch, and seemed to rest so well upon it, that the joyous exclamations of the boys and my wife resounded from all sides. All the boys wished to be the first to ascend upon it; but I decided that it should be Jack, he being the nimblest and of the lightest figure among them. Accordingly, I and his brothers held the end of the rope with all our strength, while our young adventurer tripped up the ladder with as much ease as if he were a cat, and presently took his post upon the branch; but I observed that he had not strength enough to tie the rope firmly to the tree. Fritz now interfered, assuring me that he could ascend the ladder as safely as his brother: but, as he was much heavier, I was not altogether without apprehension. I gave him instructions how to step, in such a way as to divide his weight, by occupying four rounds of the ladder at the same time, with his feet and hands; I made him take with him some large nails and a hammer, to nail the ladder firmly to the branch. He set out courageously upon the undertaking, and was almost instantly side by side with Jack, forty-feet above our heads, and both saluting us with cries of exultation. Fritz immediately set to work to fasten the ladder, by passing the rope round and round the branch; and this he performed with so much skill and intelligence, that I felt sufficient reliance to determine me to ascend myself, and well conclude the business he had begun. But before I ascended, I tied a large pulley to the end of the rope, and carried it with me. When I was at the top, I fastened the pulley to a branch which was within my reach, that by this means I might be able the next day to draw up the planks and timbers I might want for building my aërial castle. I executed all this by the light of the moon, and felt the satisfaction of having done a good day’s work. I now gently descended my rope ladder, and joined my wife and children.

As I found an inconvenience in being three of us together on the branch, I had directed the boys to descend first. My astonishment, therefore, on reaching the ground, and finding that neither Fritz nor Jack had made their appearance, it is easier to conceive than to describe; their mother, as she assured me, having seen nothing of them since they ascended the ladder. While I was endeavouring to conjecture where they could be, we suddenly heard the sound of voices which seemed to come from the clouds, and which chanted an evening hymn. I soon recognised the trick our young rogues had played me; who seeing me busily employed in the tree, instead of descending as I had desired them, had climbed upwards from branch to branch till they reached to the very top. My heart was now lightened of my apprehensions for their safety, and I called out to them as loudly as I could, to take great care in coming down. It was almost night, and the light of the moon scarcely penetrated the extreme thickness of the foliage. They presently descended, and joined their anxious relations without any accident. I now directed them to assemble all our animals, and to get together what dry wood we should want for making fires, which I looked to as our defence against the attacks of wild beasts. I explained to them all my reasons for this, informing them that in Africa, a country remarkable for its prodigious numbers of ferocious animals, the natives secure themselves from their nocturnal visits, by lighting large fires, which all these creatures are known to dread and avoid.