Robinson Crusoe — in Words of One Syllable

by Daniel Defoe

yells and screams.

  I now made a rush out of the wood, that they might see me, with my manFriday at my heels, of course. We gave a loud shout, and ran up to thewhite man as fast as we could. There he lay on the hot sand. I cut theflag, or rush, by which he was bound, but he was too weak to stand orspeak, so I gave him some rum. He let me know by all the signs that hecould think of, how much he stood in my debt for all that I had done forhim.

  I said, "We will talk of that bye and bye; but now we must do what wecan to save our lives." Friday, who was free to go where he chose, flewhere and there, and put all the men to the rout. They fled in full hasteto their boats, and were soon out at sea; and so we got rid of our foesat last.

  The man whom we had found on the sand told us that his name was Carl,and that he came from Spain. But there was one more man to claim ourcare; for the black men had left a small boat on the sands, and in thisI saw a poor wretch who lay half dead. He could not so much as look up,so tight was he bound, neck and heels. When I cut the bonds from him hegave a deep groan, for he thought that all this was but to lead him outto die.

  Friday then came up, and I bade him speak to the old man in his owntongue, and tell him that he was free. This good news gave him strength,and he sat up in the boat. But when Friday came to hear him talk, andto look him in the face, it brought the tears to my eyes to see him kissand hug the poor old man, and dance round him with joy, then weep, wringhis hands, and beat his own face and head, and then laugh once more,sing, and leap. For a long time he could not speak to me, so as to, letme know what all this meant. But at length he told me that he was theson of this poor old man, and that his name was Jaf.

  It would be a hard task for me to tell of all the quaint, signs Fridaymade to show his joy. He went in and out of the boat five or six times,sat down by old Jaf, and held the poor old man's head close to hisbreast to warm it; then he set to work to rub his arms and feet, whichwere cold and stiff from the bonds. I told Friday to give him some rumand bread; but he said, "None! Bad dog eat all up self." He then ran offstraight to the house, and took no heed of my calls, but went as swiftas a deer.

  In an hour's time, he came back with a jug in his hand. The good soulhad gone all the way to the house, that Jaf might have a fresh draughtfrom my well; and with it he brought two cakes, one of which I bade himtake to Carl, who lay in the shade of a tree. His limbs were stiff andcold, and he was too weak to say a word.

  I set my man to rub his feet with rum, and while he did so, I saw Fridayturn his head round from time to time, to steal a look at the old man.Then we brought Carl and Jaf home from the boat on our backs, as theycould not walk. The door of my house was at the top, and the poor sickmen could not climb the steps by which I got in, so we made for them atent of old sails.

  I was now a king of these three men, as well as Lord of the isle; andI felt proud to say, "They all owe their lives to their king, and wouldlay them down for him if he bade them do so." But I did not think thatmy reign was so soon to come to an end. The next thing for us to do wasto give Carl and Jaf some food, and to kill and roast a kid, to which weall four sat down, and I did my best to cheer them.

  Carl in a few days grew quite strong, and I set him to work to dig someland for seed; for it was clear we should want more corn now that we hadtwo more mouths to fill. So we put in the ground all the stock of grainI had, and thus we all four had as much work as we could do for sometime. When the crop grew, and was ripe, we found we had a good store ofgrain.

  We made a plan that Carl and Jaf should go back to the main land, totry if they could get some of the white men who had been cast on shorethere, to come and live with us; so they got out the boat, and tookwith them two guns and food for eight days. They were to come back in aweek's time, and I bade them hang out a sign when they came in sight, sothat we might know who they were.

  One day, Friday ran up to me in great glee, and said, "They are back!They are back!" A mile from shore, there was a boat with a sail, whichstood in for the land; but I knew it could not be the one which our twofriends had gone out in, for it was on the wrong side of the isle forthat. I saw too, through my glass, a ship out at sea. There were twelvemen in the boat, three of whom were bound in chains, and four had firearms.

  Bye and bye, I saw one of the men raise his sword to those who werein chains, and I felt sure that all was not right. Then I saw that thethree men who had been bound were set free; and when they had come onshore they lay on the ground, in the shade of a tree. I was soon attheir side, for their looks, so sad and worn, brought to my mind thefirst few hours I had spent in this wild spot, where all to me was wraptin gloom.

  I went up to these men, and said:

  "Who are you, Sirs?"

  They gave a start at my voice and at my strange dress, and made a moveas if they would fly from me. I said, "Do not fear me, for it may bethat you have a friend at hand, though you do not think it." "He must besent from the sky then," said one of them with a grave look; and he tookoff his hat to me at the same time. "All help is from thence, Sir," Isaid; "but what can I do to aid you? You look as if you had some load ofgrief on your breast. I saw one of the men lift his sword as if to killyou."

  The tears ran down the poor man's face, as he said,

  "Is this a god, or is it but a man?" "Have no doubt on that score, Sir,"said I, "for a god would not have come with a dress like this. No, donot fear--nor raise your hopes too high; for you see but a man, yet onewho will do all he can to help you. Your speech shows me that you comefrom the same land as I do. I will do all I can to serve you. Tell meyour case." "Our case, Sir, is too long to you while they who would killus are so near. My name is Paul. To be short, Sir, my crew have thrustme out of my ship, which you see out there, and have left me here todie. It was as much as I could do to make them sheath their swords,which you saw were drawn to slay me. They have set me down in this islewith these two men, my friend here, and the ship's mate."

  "Where have they gone?" said I.

  "There, in the wood, close by. I fear they may have seen and heard us.If they have, they will be sure to kill us all."

  "Have they fire-arms?"

  "They have four guns, one of which is in the boat."

  "Well then, leave all to me!"

  "There are two of the men," said he, "who are worse than the rest. Allbut these I feel sure would go back to work the ship."

  I thought it was best to speak out to Paul at once, and I said, "Now ifI save your life, there are two things which you must do." But he readmy thoughts, and said, "If you save my life, you shall do as you likewith me and my ship, and take her where you please."

  I saw that the two men, in whose charge the boat had been left, had comeon shore; so the first thing I did was to send Friday to fetch from itthe oars, the sail, and the gun. And now the ship might be said to be inour hands. When the time came for the men to go back to the ship, theywere in a great rage; for, as the boat had now no sail nor oars, theyknew not how to get out to their ship.

  We heard them say that it was a strange sort of isle, for that spriteshad come to the boat, to take off the sails and oars. We could see themrun to and fro, with great rage; then go and sit in the boat to rest,and then come on shore once more. When they drew near to us, Paul andFriday would fain have had me fall on them at once. But my wish was tospare them, and kill as few as I could. I told two of my men to creepon their hands and feet close to the ground, so that they might not beseen, and when they got up to the men, not to fire till I gave the word.

  They had not stood thus long, when three of the crew came up to us. Tillnow, we had but heard their voice, but when they came so near as to beseen, Paul and Friday stood up and shot at them. Two of the men felldead, and they were the worst of the crew, and the third ran off. At thesound of the guns I came up, but it was so dark that the men could nottell if there were three of us or three score.

  It fell out just as I could wish, for I heard the men ask, "To whom mustwe yield, and where are they?" Friday told them that Paul was there wi
ththe king of the isle, who had brought with him a crowd of men! At thisone of the crew said, "If Paul will spare our lives, we will yield.""Then," said Friday, "you shall know the king's will." Then Paul said tothem, "You know my voice; if you lay down your arms the king will spareyour lives!"

  They fell on their knees to beg the same of me. I took good care thatthey did not see me, but I gave them my word that they should all live,that I should take four of them to work the ship, and that the restwould be bound hand and foot, for the good faith of the four. This wasto show them what a stern king I was.

  Of course I soon set them free, and I put them in a way to take my placeon the isle. I told them of all my ways, taught them how to mind thegoats, how to work the farm, and make the bread. I gave them a house tolive in, fire arms,