The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Ernest.—Well, then, I would try another way. I would lie down on the ground, hold my breath, and make believe I was dead, and the bear would turn me over and over; for it is said they will not touch a dead body.

Father.—This is a great mistake; I would advise you not to trust to it. Bears are often known to devour dead animals, and that they are even a powerful attraction to them.

Ernest.—Oh, but I would be prepared with my clasp knife, with which I would settle him in a trice, or I would knock him on the head with the end of my gun.

Father.—All ineffectual means, I assure you. Do you think you would have strength enough to destroy so formidable a creature? or that you could penetrate so thick a hide with your clasp knife? Nor would you have the resource of climbing up a tree, for bears climb also. The only means you could use, and I confess it would be most cruel, would be to give up the ass to him, by keeping him before you in readiness. When the bear should begin the attack, you might try to shoot him with your pistol, or to plunge your knife into his throat. But I trust we shall have no such animal to encounter; for I should be sorry to sacrifice our poor ass, even in defence of our own lives.

Ernest.—And I too, father; but if there were no other means?

Father.—In such a case it is permitted to use the remedy, inhuman as it seems; while at the same time we should form a hope that it might be possible to save the ass also.

In this kind of conversation we reached the sea-shore, well content to have met with no bear, and at finding pieces of wood in great abundance, and to obtain which was the object of our walk. I determined to cut such pieces as I wanted, of the proper length, and to lay them cross-ways on the branches which the ass had drawn to the place, and by this means to make them serve as a kind of sledge. We lost no time in setting to work, and we added to the load a little chest, which we found half buried in the sands, quite close to the waves. We also provided ourselves with some poles which lay there, that we might use them as rollers, should we stand in need of them for passing difficult places, and then we set out on our return to Falcon’s Stream. When we were within a certain distance of our abode, we heard a loud firing, which informed us that the attack upon the ortolans was in good train; but on seeing us approach, the cries of joy which were uttered, resounded in every direction, and all ran eagerly to meet us. The chest we had brought was soon opened by a strong hatchet, for all were eager to see what was within. It contained only some sailor’s dresses and some linen, which was quite wet with the sea.

I had to account to my wife for having absented myself with one of the boys, without giving her notice, or bidding her adieu. She had been uneasy, and I confessed I had been to blame. In such a situation as ours, so many unforeseen and painful events might happen! She had discovered, however, that we had taken the ass with us, and this circumstance had consoled her. The sight of so many useful pieces of wood, and the promise of a sledge for better security in conveying her provisions for the table, soon appeased her discontent, and we sat down tranquilly to breakfast.

I next inspected the booty of the three sportsmen, who had shot, in all, no less than fifty ortolans and thrushes. As Ernest had foretold, their first fire missed; afterwards they had had various luck, now missing and now hitting, and had used so large a quantity of powder and shot, that when, by their brother’s advice, they were about to get up the tree and fire from thence, my wife and I stopped them, recommending a more frugal use of those materials, as they were our only means of defence, or of procuring food in future, or at least till we could make another visit to the vessel. I taught them how to make some snares to be suspended from the branches of the fig-tree, and advised them to use the thread of the karata, which is as strong as horse-hair, for the purpose. What is new always amuses young persons, and the boys accordingly took a great fancy to this mode of sporting. Jack succeeded in his very first attempt; I left Francis to assist him, and took Fritz and Ernest to help me in making the sledge. As we were all hard at work, for my wife had joined the youngest boys, we suddenly heard a prodigious clatter among the fowls; the cock crowed louder than all the rest together, and the hens ran to and fro, as if they were pursued by a fox. I wonder what is the matter with the creatures, said my wife, rising; every day I hear the hens clucking as if they had been laying eggs. At this moment Ernest happened to look at the monkey, and remarked that he fixed his piercing eyes on the hens; and when he saw my wife approaching, driving the hens before her, he jumped quickly into a hollow place, under one of the roots of the tree, and hid himself. Ernest ran to the place as soon as he, and was fortunate enough to seize him, seeing that he held a new-laid egg in his paw, which he was going to conceal in this place for a future regale. The monkey sprang immediately to such another hole, and Ernest followed; here also he found some eggs, and brought them in his hat to his mother, who received them with great pleasure. The monkey was so greedy of this food, that he was sure to seize the eggs as soon as the hens had laid them. We inflicted no other punishment upon him for this little piece of knavery, than that of tying him up when the hens were about to lay. By this means, my wife soon collected a considerable number of eggs, and we waited with impatience for the time when the hens would sit, in the hope of seeing their species multiplied.

In the mean while, Jack had got up into the tree, and had suspended some of the snares to the branches, to catch the little devourers of our figs; he came down again to bring us the acceptable intelligence, that our pigeons, which we brought from the vessel, had made a sort of nest there of some dry grass, and that it already contained several eggs. I therefore forbade the boys from firing any more in the tree, for fear of alarming or wounding these gentle creatures. I also directed, that the snares should be frequently examined, to see that the pigeons were not caught in them, as they might be strangled in their efforts to get loose. I should now even have forbidden the use of the snares, if I had not myself made them known to the boys, and that so very lately. It is imprudent at all times, for a tutor to contradict himself, and thus prove to his pupils that he was wrong in issuing such or such a command; a single word revoked on the part of the tutor, will occasion ten to be revoked by the pupil. We should always duly reflect before we lay a command on a child; but when once the word is pronounced, it should never be recalled, whether from caprice, from a disposition to indulge the child, or even from conviction. My sons had all murmured at my prohibition, in regard to the gunpowder; and little Francis with his innocent face came running to tell me, that we need only to sow some of it, and that he and his brothers were ready to bestow any labour, to have a large quantity of it at their own disposal. We all laughed heartily at the idea, and Professor Ernest did not overlook the advantage of the occasion, to display his science. My little sprig of wisdom, cried he, we may judge how much you know of what you are talking about; your field of gunpowder indeed! Do you think then, that gunpowder comes from seeds, like oats?