The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Little blockhead! replied Jack, you think then it is enough to be like; what I want is glue, and not soup.

Father.—Not so much of a blockhead as you think, Jack, interrupted I. The truth often comes from the lips of children, and you will do well to follow his advice. I am of opinion, that one of the cakes, dissolved in a little water, and afterwards thickened upon the fire, would produce what would be an excellent substitute for glue; give yourself therefore the trouble of making the experiment. Put a soup cake over the fire in one of our cocoa-shells, and you will soon know the event.

While Jack was preparing his glue, and Francis, proud of being the inventor, was busied in assisting his brother, blowing the fire &c., Fritz came to me for my advice about the making of his case. Run, said I, and fetch your skin, and we will work at it together. I sat down on the grass, took out my knife, and with the remains of a bamboo cane, began to make a bow for Francis. I was well satisfied to observe them one and all, take a fancy to shooting with an arrow, having been desirous to accustom them to this exercise, which constituted the principal defence of the warriors of old, and might possibly become our only means of protection and subsistence: our provision of powder must at last be exhausted; we might even, from moment to moment, be deprived of it by accident; it therefore was of the utmost importance to us, to acquire some other means of killing animals, or attacking our enemies. The Caribees, I recollected, were taught at a very tender age, to strike an object at the distance of thirty or forty steps; they hit the smallest birds perched on the top of the tallest trees. Why then should it not be possible for my boys to learn to do the same? I will at least, said I, provide them with bows and arrows, and try what can be done.

While I was silently reflecting on the subject, employed in finishing a bow for Francis, Ernest, who had been observing me for some time, slipped suddenly away; and Fritz coming up at the same moment, with the wetted skin of the tiger-cat in his hand, I paid no attention to the circumstance. I began my instructions to my eldest boy, respecting the trade of a tanner. I told him the method of getting rid of the fat of the skin, by rubbing it over with sand, and placing it in running water till it had no longer any appearance of flesh, or any smell; next to rub it with soft butter, to make it supple, and then to stretch the skin in different directions; and also to make use of some eggs in the operation, if his mother could spare them. You will not at first produce such excellent workmanship as I have seen of this kind from England; but with a little patience, regretting neither your time, nor your labour, you will have completed some decent-looking cases, which will give you the more pleasure, from being made from an animal of your own taking, and by the work of your own hands. When your skin shall have thus been prepared, cut certain small cylinders of wood of the size and length required; scoop these cylinders hollow, so as to form a convenient case for a knife, a fork, or a spoon; then stretch your softened skin upon the surface of the cylinders, in such a manner, that the skin may stretch a little beyond the extremity of the wood, and close at the top; you have then nothing more to do, than to let the skin cling to, and dry upon these moulds. Your work will then be finished, and will turn out a neat and masterly production.

Fritz.—I understand perfectly, and I hope I shall succeed; but if I were to take some cork for my moulds, the cases would be lighter, and more convenient for carrying.

Father.—No doubt they would, but where can you get any cork? and how would you be able to cut it and scoop it out? It is a wood singularly impracticable, and would resist the knife.

Fritz.—If you would let me take one of the cork jackets we keep for swimming, I could try, by means of heating it, to render it fit for my purpose.

Father.—To this I have no objection; I like to see you inventive, and casting about for the means of success. In reality, we have a pretty considerable number of those jackets; and I am in hopes we shall not want them any more. You may get one of them, but take care not to hold it too long to the fire. What is the matter, wife, that you shake your head? You seem dissatisfied with your boy’s undertaking?

My Wife.—No, I am not dissatisfied with his work, provided he can accomplish it, but with the use for which it is intended. Do you imagine that I shall let you have our silver table utensils to be dragged about, at the risk of losing them, in your expeditions? In the first place, I do not consider them as our own; and what account should we have to give the captain, should we ever meet again?

Jack.—Oh, we should have accounts enough for him. We would tell him, that but for the pains we took to preserve them, they would all have gone to the bottom; that the last thing our friends the sharks would have thought of, would be to restore his silver spoons; and that, as we had all the trouble, they ought to be considered of our own earning.