The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)

by Daniel Defoe

discourse began to relish with me very well; andfrom this time I entertained some hopes, that one time or other I mightfind an opportunity to make my escape from this place, and that thispoor savage might be a means to help me to do it.

  During the long time that Friday had now been with me, and that he beganto speak to me, and understand me, I was not wanting to lay a foundationof religious knowledge in his mind; particularly I asked him one time,Who made him? The poor creature did not understand me at all, butthought I had asked who was his father: but I took it by another handle,and asked him, Who made the sea, the ground he walked on, and the hillsand woods? He told me, it was one old Benamuckee that lived beyond all:he could describe nothing of this great person, but that he was veryold; much older, he said, than the sea or the land, than the moon or thestars. I asked him then, if this old person had made all things, why didnot all things worship him? He looked very grave, and with a perfectlook of innocence said, All things said O! to him. I asked him, if thepeople who die in his country, went away any where? He said, Yes, theyall went to Benamuckee. Then I asked him, whether those they ate up,went thither too? he said, Yes.

  From these things I began to instruct him in the knowledge of the trueGod. I told him, that the great Maker of all things lived there,pointing up towards heaven; that he governs the world by the same powerand providence by which he made it; that he was omnipotent, could doevery thing for us, give every thing to us, take every thing from us:and thus, by degrees, I opened his eyes. He listened with greatattention, and received with pleasure the notion of Jesus Christ beingsent to redeem us, and of the manner of making our prayers to God, andhis being able to hear us, even into heaven: he told me one day, that ifour God could hear us up beyond the sun, he must needs be a greater Godthan their Benamuckee, who lived but a little way off, and yet could nothear, till they went up to the great mountains, where he dwelt, to speakto him. I asked him, if ever he went thither to speak to him? He said,No, they never went that were young men; none went thither but the oldmen; whom he called their Oowookakee, that is, as I made him explain itto me, their religious, or clergy; and that they went to say O! (so hecalled saying prayers,) and then came back, and told them whatBenamuckee said. By this I observed, that there is priestcraft evenamongst the most blinded ignorant Pagans in the world; and the policy ofmaking a secret religion, in order to preserve the veneration of thepeople to the clergy, is not only to be found in the Roman, but perhapsamong all religious in the world, even among the most brutish andbarbarous savages.

  I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man Friday; and told him,that the pretence of their old men going up to the mountains to say O!to their god Benamuckee, was a cheat; and their bringing word fromthence what he said, was much more so; that if they met with any answer,or spoke with any one there, it must be with an evil spirit: and then Ientered into a long discourse with him about the devil, the original ofhim, his rebellion against God, his enmity to man, the reason of it, hissetting himself up in the dark parts of the world to be worshippedinstead of God, and as God, and the many stratagems he made use of, todelude mankind to their ruin; how he had a secret access to our passionsand to our affections, to adapt his snares so to our inclinations, as tocause us even to be our own tempters, and to run upon our owndestruction by our own choice.

  I found it was not so easy to imprint right notions in his mind aboutthe devil, as it was about the being of a God: nature assisted all myarguments to evidence to him even the necessity of a great First Cause,and over-ruling governing Power, a secret directing Providence, and ofthe equity and justice of paying homage to Him that made us, and thelike: but there appeared nothing of all this in the notion of an evilspirit, of his original, his being, his nature, and, above all, of hisinclination to do evil, and to draw us in to do so too: and the poorcreature puzzled me once in such a manner, by a question merely naturaland innocent, that I scarce knew what to say to him. I had been talkinga great deal to him of the power of God, his omnipotence, his dreadfulaversion to sin, his being a consuming fire to the workers of iniquity;how, as he had made as all, he could destroy us, and all the world, ina moment; and he listened with great seriousness to me all the while.

  After this, I had been telling; him how the devil was God's enemy in thehearts of men, and used all his malice and skill to defeat the gooddesigns of Providence, and to ruin the kingdom of Christ in the world,and the like: "Well," says Friday, "but you say God is so strong, sogreat, is he not much strong, much might, as the devil?"--"Yes, yes,"said I, Friday, "God is stronger than the devil, God is above the devil,and therefore we pray to God to tread him under our feet, and enable usto resist his temptations, and quench his fiery darts."--"But," says heagain, "if God much strong, much might, as the devil, why God not killthe devil, so make him no more wicked?"

  I was strangely surprised at his question; and after all, though I wasnow an old man, yet I was but a young doctor, and ill enough qualifiedfor a casuist, or a solver of difficulties: and, at first, I could nottell what to say; so I pretended not to hear him, and asked him what hesaid; but he was too earnest for an answer to forget his question; sothat he repeated it in the very same broken words, as above. By thistime I had recovered myself a little, and I said, "God will at lastpunish him severely; he is reserved for the judgment, and is to be castinto the bottomless pit, to dwell with everlasting fire." This did notsatisfy Friday; but he returns upon me, repeating my words, "Reserve atlast! me no understand: but why not kill the devil now, not kill greatago?"--"You may as well ask me," said I, "why God does not kill you andme, when we do wicked things here that offend him: we are preserved torepent and be pardoned." He muses awhile at this; "Well, well," says he,mighty affectionately, "that well; so you I, devil, all wicked, allpreserve, repent, God pardon all." Here I was run down again by him tothe last degree, and it was a testimony to me, how the mere notions ofnature, though they will guide reasonable creatures to the knowledge ofa God, and of a worship or homage due to the supreme being of God, asthe consequence of our nature; yet nothing but divine revelation canform the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of a redemption purchased forus; of a Mediator; of a new covenant; and of an Intercessor at thefootstool of God's throne; I say, nothing but a revelation from Heavencan form these in the soul; and that therefore the Gospel of our Lordand Saviour Jesus Christ, I mean the word of God, and the Spirit of God,promised for the guide and sanctifier of his people, are the absolutelynecessary instructors of the souls of men in the saving knowledge ofGod, and the means of salvation.

  I therefore diverted the present discourse between me and my man, risingup hastily, as upon some sudden occasion of going out; then sending himfor some thing a great way off, I seriously prayed to God, that he wouldenable me to instruct savingly this poor savage, assisting, by hisSpirit, the heart of the poor ignorant creature to receive the light ofthe knowledge of God in Christ, reconciling him to himself, and wouldguide me to speak so to him from the word of God, as his consciencemight be convinced, his eyes opened, and his soul saved. When he cameagain to me, I entered into a long discourse with him upon the subjectof the redemption of man by the Saviour of the world, and of thedoctrine of the Gospel preached from Heaven, viz. of the repentancetowards God, and faith in our blessed Lord Jesus: I then explained tohim, as well as I could, why our blessed Redeemer took not on him thenature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, and how, for that reason, thefallen angels had no share in the redemption; that he came only to thelost sheep of the house of Israel, and the like.

  I had, God knows, more sincerity than knowledge, in all the methods Itook for this poor creature's instruction; and must acknowledge, what Ibelieve all that act upon the same principle will find, that in layingthings open to him, I really informed and instructed myself in manythings that either I did not know, or had not fully considered before;but which occurred naturally to my mind, upon my searching into them forthe information of this poor savage; and I had more affection in myinquiry after things upon this occasion, than ever I felt before;
sothat whether this poor wild wretch was the better for me or no, I hadgreat reason to be thankful that ever he came to me: my grief satlighter upon me, my habitation grew comfortable to me beyond measure;and when I reflected, that in this solitary life, which I had beenconfined to, I had not only been moved myself to look up to Heaven, andto seek to the Hand that brought me thither, but was now to be made aninstrument, under Providence, to save the life, and for aught I knew thesoul, of a poor savage, and bring him to the true knowledge of religion,and of the Christian doctrine, that he might know Christ Jesus, to knowwhom is life eternal; I say, when I reflected upon all these things, asecret joy ran through every part of my soul, and I frequently rejoicedthat ever I was brought to this place, which I had often thought themost dreadful of all afflictions that could possibly have befallen me.

  In this thankful frame I continued all the remainder of my time; and theconversation which employed the hours between Friday and me was such, asmade the three years which we lived there together perfectly andcompletely happy, if any such thing as complete happiness can be foundin a sublunary state. The savage was now a good Christian, a much betterthan I; though I have reason to hope, and bless God for it, that we wereequally penitent, and comforted restored penitents: we had here the Wordof God to read, and no farther off from his Spirit to instruct than ifwe had been in England.

  I always applied myself to reading the Scripture, and to let him know aswell as I could the meaning of what I read; and he again, by his seriousinquiries and questions, made me, as I said before, a much betterscholar in the Scripture knowledge, than I should ever have been by myown private reading. Another thing I cannot refrain from observing here,also from experience, in this retired part of my life; viz. how infiniteand inexpressible a blessing it is, that the knowledge of God, and ofthe doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesus, is so plainly laid down inthe Word of God, so easy to be received and understood, that as the barereading the Scripture made me capable of understanding enough of my dutyto carry me directly on to the great work of sincere repentance for mysins, and laying hold of a Saviour for life and salvation, to a statedreformation in practice, and obedience to all God's commands, and thiswithout any teacher or instructor (I mean, human;) so the plaininstruction sufficiently served to the enlightening this savagecreature, and bringing him to be such a Christian, as I have known fewequal to him in my life.

  As to the disputes, wranglings, strife, and contention, which hashappened in the world about religion, whether niceties in doctrines, orschemes of church-government, they were all perfectly useless to us, as,for aught I can yet see, they have been to all the rest in the world: wehad the sure guide to heaven, viz. the Word of God; and we had, blessedbe God! comfortable views of the Spirit of God, teaching and instructingus by his Word, leading us into all truth, and making us both willingand obedient to His instruction of his Word; and I cannot see the leastuse that the greatest knowledge of the disputed points in religion,which have made such confusions in the world, would have been to us, ifwe could have obtained it. But I must go on with the historical part ofthings, and take every part in its order.

  After Friday and I became more intimately acquainted, and that he couldunderstand almost all I said to him, and speak fluently, though inbroken English, to me, I acquainted him with my own story, or at leastso much of it as related to my coming into the place, how I had livedthere, and how long: I let him into the mystery (for such it was to him)of gunpowder and bullets, and taught him how to shoot: I gave him aknife, which he was wonderfully delighted with; and I made him a beltwith a frog hanging to it, such as in England we wear hangers in; and inthe frog, instead of a hanger, I gave him a hatchet, which was not onlyas good a weapon in some cases, but much more useful upon manyoccasions.

  I described to him the countries of Europe, and particularly England,which I came from; how we lived, how we worshipped God, how we behavedto one another, and how we traded in ships to all the parts of theworld. I gave him an account of the wreck which I had been on board of,and shewed him as near as I could, the place where she lay; but she wasall beaten in pieces long before, and quite gone.

  I shewed him the ruins of our boat, which we lost when we escaped, andwhich I could not stir with my whole strength then, but was now fallenalmost all to pieces. Upon seeing this boat, Friday stood musing a greatwhile, and said nothing; I asked him what it was he studied upon? Atlast, says he, "Me see such boat like come to place at my nation."

  I did not understand him a good while; but at last, when I had examinedfurther into it, I understood by him, that a boat, such as that hadbeen, came on shore upon the country where he lived; that is, as heexplained it, was driven thither by stress of weather. I presentlyimagined, that some European ship must have been cast away upon theircoast, and the boat might get loose, and drive ashore; but was so dull,that I never once thought of men making escape from a wreck thither,much less whence they might come; so I only inquired after a descriptionof the boat.

  Friday described the boat to me well enough; but brought me better tounderstand him, when he added, with some warmth, "We save the white mansfrom drown." Then I presently asked him, if there, were white mans, ashe called them, in the boat? "Yes," he said, "the boat full of whilemans." I asked him, how many! he told upon his fingers seventeen. Iasked him then, what became of them? he told me, "They live, they dwellat my nation."

  This put new thoughts into my head again; for I presently imagined, thatthese might be the men belonging to the ship that was cast away in sightof my island, as I now call it; and who, after the ship was struck onthe rock, and they saw her inevitably lost, had saved themselves intheir boat, and were landed upon that wild shore among the savages.

  Upon this I inquired of him more critically, what was become of them? Heassured me they lived still there, that they had been there about fouryears, that the savages let them alone, and gave them victuals to live.I asked him, how it came to pass they did not kill them, and eat them?He said, "No, they make brother with them:" that is, as I understoodhim, a truce: and then he added, "They eat no mans but when make the warfight:" that is to say, they never eat any men, but such as come tofight with them, and are taken in battle.

  It was after this, some considerable time, that being on the top of thehill, at the east side of the island, from whence, as I have said, I hadin a clear day discovered the main or continent of America; Friday, theweather being very serene, looks very earnestly towards the main land,and in a kind of surprise falls a-jumping and dancing, and calls out tome, for I was at some distance from him: I asked him what was thematter? "O joy!" says he, "O glad! there see my country, theremy nation!"

  I observed an extraordinary sense of pleasure appeared in his face, andhis eyes sparkled, and his countenance discovered a strange eagerness,as if he had a mind to be in his own country again; and this observationof mine put a great many thoughts into me; which made me at first not soeasy about my new man Friday as I was before; and I made no doubt, butthat if Friday could get back to his own nation again, he would notonly forget all his religion, but all his obligations to me; and wouldbe forward enough to give his countrymen an account of me, and comeback, perhaps, with an hundred or two of them, and make a feast upon me,at which he might be as merry as he used to be with those of hisenemies, when they were taken in war.

  But I wronged the poor honest creature very much, for which I was verysorry afterwards: however, as my jealousy increased, and held me someweeks, I was a little more circumspect, and not so familiar and kind tohim as before; in which I was certainly in the wrong too, the honestgrateful creature having no thought about it, but what consisted of thebest principles, both as a religious Christian and as a grateful friend,as appeared afterwards to my full satisfaction.

  Whilst my jealousy of him lasted, you may be sure I was every daypumping him, to see if he would discover any of the new thoughts which Isuspected were in him; but I found every thing he said was so honest andso innocent, that I could find nothing to nourish my suspicion;
and, inspite of all my uneasiness, he made me at last entirely his own again;nor did he in the least perceive that I was uneasy; and therefore Icould not suspect him of deceit.

  One day, walking up the same hill, but the weather being hazy at sea, sothat we could not see the continent, I called to him, and said, "Friday,do not you wish yourself in your own country, your own nation"--"Yes,"he said, "I be much O glad to be at my own nation."--"What would you dothere?" said I: "would you turn wild again, eat men's flesh again, andbe a savage as you were before?" He looked full of concern, and shakinghis head, said, "No, no, Friday tell them to live good; tell them topray God; tell them to eat corn-bread, cattle-flesh, milk, no eat managain."--"Why, then," said I to him, "they will kill you." He lookedgrave at that, and then said, "No, they no kill me, they willing lovelearn:" he meant by this, they would be willing to learn. He added,they learnt much of the bearded mans that came in the boat. Then I askedhim, if he would go back to them? He smiled at that, and told me hecould not swim so far. I told him I would make a canoe for him. He toldme he would go, if I would so with him. "I go!" said I, "why, they willeat me if I come there."--"No, no," says he, "me make them no eat you,me make they much love you:" he meant he would tell them how I hadkilled his enemies and saved his life, and so he would make them loveme. Then he told me, as well as he could, how kind they were toseventeen white men, or bearded men, as he called them, who came onshore in distress.

  From this time, I confess, I had a mind to venture over, and see if Icould possibly join with these bearded men, who, I made no doubt, wereSpaniards or