Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 1 - I leave home 

 

My name is Robinson Crusoe. A lot of people know my name, but they only know about some of my adventures. They do not know my life story, and that is why I am writing it now.

I was born in England, in the city of York, in 1632. We were not rich, and we were not poor. We were somewhere in the middle. No one in my family sailed or liked the sea, but I was only interested in sailing. My father did not like the idea. 
"Father, I want to go to sea. I want to see the world and live a life of adventure." 
"It's better to stay here where there are no dangers." 
"But everything is dangerous. I can get hurt here, too." 
"Son, the men who go to sea have hard lives. They think it's going to be an adventure, and it becomes something worse. If you go to sea, you will be unhappy." 
I did not want my father to be angry. My mother understood, so I talked to her about my ideas. 
"Mother, I'm eighteen years old! If I don't like my life at sea, I can come back. I don't understand why father doesn't want me to go." 
"Your father believes you will be happy here. He can help you find a job. You can make money." 
"I can make money at sea. I don't understand his ideas. I might become rich and famous, but I won't if I stay here and do the same things everyone else is doing. Mother, can you  
talk to father? Can you make him understand?" 
My mother talked to my father, but he only became more angry. 
"Robinson, I told you, ifyou leave this house and become a sailor, you will be the most unhappy person on earth. I will not help you, and you cannot live on your own." 
"Your father's right, dear." 
"He's not! I'll do what I want, and you will see! I'll be rich. I'll see the world!" 
I went to sea and left my parents. I remembered my father's words, and some of the things he said began to come true. 

 

 
Chapter 2 - The Storm 

 

My father was right. I never had any luck at sea. The first ship I sailed on sank in a storm. Pirates attacked the next one, and I became a slave. I escaped from the pirates' ship, and a friendly captain from Portugal took me with him to Brazil. In Brazil, I made money and I bought some land. But something made me go back to sea. Friends wanted me to sail to Guinea to help them find slaves. I said yes, but only because I loved sailing so much.  
The day we left Brazil was a beautiful sunny day. There weren't any clouds in the sky, and I could smell the salt from the sea. I was very excited. Then I remembered something. 
"What's the date today?" 
"It's the first of September. Why? What's wrong?" 
"Nothing. I ...just don't like this day." 
It was September 1st, 1659. I first left home on exactly the same day only eight years ago. I felt that something bad was going to happen to me. 
For many days, the weather was perfect. The men sang on board, and everyone was happy. Most of the men asked me about slaves. 
"How can you buy a slave?" 
"You give coins, sugar, rum, generally small things, to the leader of his tribe." 
"And the slave leaves with you?" 
"He has to." 
"What about you, Crusoe? They say you have bad luck at sea. Why did you leave Brazil? Maybe you'll die in a storm." 
I didn't like this man. He only had one eye and very few teeth. But 1 answered him. 
"I thought ofthat. My friends in Brazil can take care ofmy land. If I die, a friend in Portugal will take my money." 
Soon after that, there was a storm. The sky was black and there was a flash of lightning. Huge waves came over the side of the ship. We were close to an island, so we got into a smaller boat and tried to get to the shore. The waves were too big for us. 
"Keep her steady!" 
"We can't hold her!" 
"Look out, we're going under." 
A wave as big as a large hill threw the men from the boat, and we were all underwater. I swam as fast as I could. More waves threw me towards the shore. It was difficult to come up for air. Finally, I felt a rock under my feet. I held onto that tightly. When I got to the beach, I saw that I was all alone. There was no one else left on the sea. 

 
 

 

 

 

Chapter 3 - My Diary 

 

 
 
My first night on the island, I climbed a tree because I was afraid ofwild animals. All I had was a knife, a pipe, and some tobacco. I didn't sleep. I smoked my pipe and listened to the sound of strange birds screaming and things moving through the trees.  
In the morning, I saw that part of our ship was in the water, not far from the beach. I swam out to it and climbed on board. There was no one there, but I found guns, gunpowder, some bread, sugar, rum and flour. I made a small raft from broken pieces of wood to bring these things back to the island, but I had to go and come back many times. I made a tent from one of the ship's sails, and I hid the food and gunpowder in a small cave. 
I walked to the highest part of the island and looked around. The island was quite large, but there were no people on it. I looked out to sea, and there were no boats. 'Why did this happen to me?' I thought. 'Is it because I didn't listen to my father? Why am I so unlucky at sea? But I'm still alive. There must be some reason for that.' 
I found a pen and paper on the ship, and I began to write a diary. It helped me remember what day it was, but it also showed me how my thoughts about life changed. I still have some ofits pages. 
October 1st, 1(559 
Every morning, I make up when I hear the birds singing. I have • a breakfast of fruit and coconut milk, and then I prepare the raft to go to the ship. In the afternoon, I go for a walk and explore the island. Slowly, I find I am not afraid to be (done. 
December 25th, 1659 
It's Christmas day and it's mining. I felt lonely in the morning, ' but then I made two new shelves. I cleaned and organised the tent. j ¡Vow / have a candle ¡it and / am writing, and i feel very peaceful. Hard work makes me fee! good. 
January 1st, 1660 
Today I found a dog! What a surprise! It 's a small brown dog with dark eyes and a very friendly face. I call him Poll, and I want to teach him to hunt. 
May 14th, 1660 
Each day I see that I have everything I need. I fish when I want. In my garden I have rice and com, and the island has fruit, cocoa trees and sugar plants. But I still think of ways to leave. 
June 23rd, 1660 
I am dying. I feel it. I am cold, then hot. My whole body hurts. If someone finds this diary', I want my parents to know that I am sorry for not listening to them. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4 - A New Friend 

 

 
 
I did not die that day in 1660, but I felt very different about life after that. I saw that life is a gift. It's easy to die on an island when you are alone. There's no medicine. There's no one to help you.  
I learnt new things all the time. The best month to start my vegetable garden was in February because it rained in March and April. I made plates and cups from wood or coconut shells. It felt like I was the only man on this earth, and I had to learn everything by myself. The biggest problem was that I wanted to talk to someone. Then something wonderful happened. 
Poll and I went for a walk one day through the forest. I heard a bird flying around my head, and I saw that it was a parrot. A small green parrot with yellow feathers on top ofits head. 
"Hello." 
"Hello." 
"It talks! It talks Poll, it talks!" 
"It talks, it talks!" 
That little bird made me laugh, and I was so happy to have a new friend. Every day, I tried to teach it a new word. After several years, we could almost have a dialogue. I came back to our tent in the morning after a swim in the sea, and we had conversations like this: 
"What should we have for breakfast?" 
"Fruit and milk. Fruit and milk."  
"And what do you want for breakfast?"  
"Nuts. Nuts." 
"You see, Poll, he knows what he wants." 
"Stupid Poll. Stupid Poll." 
Poll barked when the bird said this. I didn't want to teach him that, but he heard me say it and he remembered it. 
I talked to Poll and the parrot like they were people. It made me feel very good, but there was still something missing. I still wanted to see another person. 
I made a small boat from a tree. But the sea was too dangerous, so I stayed close to the island. 
 The island I was on was large. I found many new beaches and many new kinds of fruits with the boat. And that's when I saw the footprints. Someone else was on the island, but I did not know if they were friendly or not. 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Chapter 5 - The Natives 

 

After I saw the footprints, I stayed close to my tent. I thought natives might be on the island. When I went out, I took Poll and the gun with me. 
I didn't see anyone else on the island for a long time. Maybe someone came to the island, saw that no one was there, and then left. But that meant others knew about the island. I was always afraid that they might come again. 
One night, I had a very strange dream. I saw that there were natives on the island and had two native prisoners with them. They were going to kill one. He escaped and found me. He was very friendly. 
"I can help you leave the island," he said. 
When I woke up, I felt both afraid and happy. I was afraid of the natives, but the one in my dream was so kind, I felt he was a friend. 
Time passed. I planted new kinds of food, I hunted and I thought of new ways to leave the island. Then, one morning, when I was on the hill above the beach, I saw five canoes on the beach. Near them I saw about thirty natives sitting around a fire. One of the natives was a prisoner. The others wanted to kill him. 
 
Suddenly, the prisoner started to run. He ran into the forest, and ten or twelve others took their spears and went after him. I climbed down the hill to go back to my tent, but I stopped in the forest when I heard their voices. They spoke in a strange language. I realised they were close to my tent, so I ran ahead to stop them.  
I knew the island very well, so I knew where to hide. They tried to swim across the small river at the bottom of my hill. The prisoner got out of the water first. He ran towards where I was hiding behind a tree. There were only two other natives following him now. When they got out of the water, I came out from behind the tree and fired two shots and killed them both. The prisoner stopped running. I think he was more surprised to see me than to hear the sound of my gun. He fell to his knees, tired. 
"It's alright. I'm not going to kill you." 
The prisoner did not understand me. He crawled along the ground and kissed my foot. I think he thought I was the king of this island. I tried to make him understand me by using my hands. 
"It's OK. I am a friend. Come! I'll give you food. Come, come!" 
And that's how I started one ofthe best friendships of my life. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6 - Friday 

 

 
I took the native prisoner to my tent. He was very hungry, and I gave him bread, water and raisins. He did not know any English. I did not know what his name was, so I gave him one myself. 
"I will call you Friday. Today is Friday and that is the day I saved your life. You are Friday." 
Friday looked at me as if I was saying something strange. "It's all right. I will teach you my language." And so I taught Friday English, and he was a very good student. 
"Friday, what is this?" 
"That's a gun." 
"And what do guns do?" 
"They kill people." 
"But they also kill animals for food." 
I shot the gun by mistake. Friday was frightened! 
"Don't kill me, master Robinson. Please don't kill me." 
"It's OK, I won't kill you. I'm sorry." 
The bird began to talk. 
"Guns kill people. Guns kill people." 
"Master Robinson, why did you teach a bird to talk?" 
"I wanted a friend." 
"We eat birds." 
"Guns kill people. Guns kill people." 
Life with Friday and Poll and the bird became very funny. 
Friday knew a lot about the sea and the islands near ours. 
He said it was possible to leave the island, and we began to build a boat. Then I thought about the natives on those islands. 
"Will they try to kill me?" 
"No, master Robinson. We are friendly if you are friendly." 
"Then, why did those others want to kill you?" 
"We had a king, a very good king. But some of our people wanted more power. They killed our king, and then they killed the people who liked him." 
"Were you one of those people?" 
"Yes, I loved our king very much." 
Friday's feelings surprised me. I had different ideas about natives. I soon understood that Friday loved me as much as he loved that king. I often think that I was put on that island for a reason. Alone, I had to learn how to do things by myself. I also had time to think about what was really important in life. Friday taught me the greatest lesson: friendship is everything. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7 - More Prisoners 

 

 
One morning I was in our tent, and Friday went out to hunt for our lunch. When he came back, he was frightened and started screaming. 
"Master Robinson! Master Robinson! Boats. I saw them. Six of them!" 
"Where? Where?" 
"On the beach. They have prisoners. What are we going to do?" 
"Get the guns!" 
Friday and I went to the top of the hill near the beach. I saw about twenty natives and two prisoners. The natives made a fire, and I saw that they wanted to kill the other two men. I did not know what to do at first. The natives have different ideas about some things. Then I saw that the prisoners were white men, probably from Europe. 
Friday and I climbed down and hid in the forest near the natives' fire. They killed one man, but before they killed the second, we ran out and fired our guns. We screamed to frighten them, and they began to run for their boats. I got to the prisoner first. 
"Are you from Europe?" 
"Yes, I'm Spanish." 
"Here, take this gun." 
The prisoner was too tired to move. He needed food and 
water. 
"Wait here. We'll take care of you." 
Friday and I killed many of the natives on the beach, but some escaped in their boats. 
"Let's follow them, Master Robinson. They will come back with others and kill us." 
"OK. You swim out to that canoe there. I want to see that our Spanish friend is alright before we leave." 
The Spanish prisoner was very weak, but he understood me. 
"Stay here. I'll leave this gun with you, but you'll be OK." 
The clouds came and a storm was near. I swam out to the canoe and saw Friday crying. There was another prisoner tied up in the canoe. He was a native, and he looked at Friday with large eyes. 
"Friday, what's the matter? Why are you crying?" 
"Oh, Master Robinson. This is my father!" 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8 - An English Ship 

 

 
 
Friday and I took his father and the Spaniard back to our tent. We gave them rum, raisins and some cake. They fell asleep immediately, and we waited until the next day to hear their story.  
Friday and his father spoke in a language I did not understand, but they looked very happy together. The Spaniard told me about his time with the natives. 
"There were seventeen of us. The other sixteen are still on the island. It is not far from here." 
"Do you think we can help the others escape?" 
"If you give me a gun and some food, I'll go back with that native there and free my men. We have a boat, and we can take you away from this island and bring you back to Europe." 
I was excited by the Spaniard's idea. I was very comfortable on the island, but I wanted to live again in a place with many people. Now, I knew how hard it is to be alone, away from your family and friends. Now, I wanted to go back and show them how much I loved them. 
We all worked hard to build a boat for Friday's father and the Spaniard. We gave them large baskets of food, and I gave the Spaniard a gun. 
"When we come back, I will fire the gun so you will know it is us." 
"Good luck, and be careful at sea! It's dangerous around here."  
 
Friday and his father said goodbye, and then Friday and I watched them as they sailed away. 
We waited for eight days and then, one morning, I heard Friday running back to the tent. 
"Master! Master! They are here!" 
Friday and I went to the top of the hill. I saw one large ship on the sea and a smaller one coming towards the beach. I looked through the telescope at the large ship, and there was an English flag on top of it. 
"That's an English ship!" 
The men who got out of the smaller boat were all Englishmen, and they had three prisoners with them. 
"They have prisoners, Master Robinson, and they are white men. What does that mean?" 
"I don't know, Friday, but it can't be good. Come on, let's take a closer look."  
 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Chapter 9 - We Leave the Island 

 

 
Friday and I hid in the trees and watched as the English sailors drank brandy and sang songs. One of the prisoners was wearing the coat of a captain. I felt something was wrong because the sailors were very noisy. Luckily, they drank too much brandy and soon fell asleep. 
The captain and his two men were surprised to see us. We untied them, and I quietly asked them who they were. 
"I'm the captain of the English ship. These men took our ship and brought us here. If you help us capture them, I'll do anything you want." 
"Well, I'm an Englishman like you. If we get back to your ship, I want you to help me return to England." 
"Ofcourse I'll help you." 
"All right, then. Take these guns and let's wake up the others." 
Some of the sailors heard the 'click' of our guns. They woke up the others. 
"All right, get up! Get up! You have two choices: you can die here, or you can come back to England as our prisoners." 
"We're sorry, Captain. It was the brandy. We'll do whatever you say." 
The captain and his men tied the sailors up. Then, he asked his men to watch them while I took the captain to our tent to eat. I told the captain my story, and it was difficult for him to believe me. 
"You ate only fruit and vegetables?" 
"No, I had a whole garden. I made the same things you have in England. There are goats here. I had cheese, milk and meat. I caught fish." 
"But I still can't believe you lived here for so many years. You had no one to talk to and you had to do everything yourself." 
"Captain, I learnt new things about life. I was feeling lonely but now that I have someone to talk to, I am much happier." 
"I must say, Crusoe, you are a brave man." 
The captain and I took some of his prisoners back to the boat with us because we needed their help to sail. The others stayed behind. The Spaniard and Friday's father never returned. I asked Friday if he wanted to stay and wait for them. 
"No, Master Robinson. I will go with you. You are good to me. My life is safe with you. We don't know what will happen to the others. We might see them some day." 
I was happy that Friday felt this way. When we left the beach to go back to the captain's ship, I felt two things: freedom, at last, from my prison, and a strange sadness because the island was also my home.  
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Chapter 10 - The Fight with Friday 

 

 
When I was on the ship sailing back to England, I remembered why I love sailing so much. I love the sound of the waves and the smell of the salt in the air. It made me feel like I was in a dream. 
Suddenly, I heard the captain's voice next to me: "Mr Crusoe, I want to talk to you about the native we have on board. People are not very friendly towards natives in Europe." 
I realised that living on the island made me forget what life was like in Europe. 
"Perhaps we can leave him with his people on another nearby island." 
"I'll be happy to do anything you want, Mr Crusoe." 
Friday sat alone at the front of the ship. I went and sat with him. 
"Friday, life in Europe is very different. Maybe you should stay here with your own people." 
"My people are always fighting, Master Robinson. They wanted to kill me. They will want to kill me again. No, I want to stay with you. You are my friend now." 
I never saw how the natives lived on their islands but I had a clear picture of it in my head. I closed my eyes and I saw the natives, men and women. I saw their houses made from trees and leaves. The boat moved slowly through the water. I thought and I thought. Then, the boat stopped. 
"We're here, Mr Crusoe." 
I looked up and some of the captain's men held Friday by the arms. 
"Master Robinson, don't leave me behind." 
"I think it's better this way, Friday." 
I said one thing, but I felt another. The captain's men took Friday to the beach of an island. I went with them. Suddenly, there were natives everywhere. They captured us. Now, I thought, my life will end. 
Friday spoke to them in his language. He told us there was a way for us to leave. The natives wanted to see a fight to the death between Friday and me. 
"But I can't." 
"Go on, Crusoe. We will all die if you don't do it." 
Friday said nothing. They made a large circle in the sand on the beach. Friday and I had to stay inside that circle and fight until one of us killed the other. We each had a knife and a spear. 'I can't,' I thought. But Friday looked very serious. It was impossible for me to hurt him. I felt it all over my body, "I can't! I can't!" 
My own voice woke me up. Friday was next to me. We were still on the ship. 
"What happened, Master Robinson?" 
"I had a dream, a terrible dream." 
That dream meant a lot to me. Friday's friendship was more important to me than anything in this world. 
Friday and I sailed back to Lisbon. I found my old friend, the captain. He told me I could get a lot of money if I sold my land. I sold it, and I went back to England to see my parents. They were dead now, and that made me very sad. But now I knew many important things about life. My parents were right. I was not lucky at sea, and after all the years away from home, I realised that. Life is strange sometimes. It has its own way of teaching us what we need to learn.