The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801). Даниэль Дефо
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abode in the island. I spent the whole day in acknowledging God's mercies, in giving him thanks for making this solitary life as agreeable, and less sinful, than that of human society; and for the communications of his grace to my soul, in supporting, comforting, and encouraging me to depend, upon his Providence, and hope for his eternal presence in the world to come.
Indeed, I often did consider how much more happy I was in this fate of life, than in that accursed manner of living formerly used; and sometimes when hunting, or viewing the country, the anguish of my soul would break out upon me, and my very heart would sink within me, to think of the woods, the mountains, the desarts I was in; and how I was a prisoner locked up within the eternal bars and bolts of the ocean, in an uninhabited wilderness, without hopes, and without redemption: In this condition I would often wring my hands, and weep like a child: And even sometimes, in the middle of my work, this fit would take me; and then I would sit down and sigh, looking on the ground for an hour or two together, till such time as my grief got vent in a flood of tears.
One morning as I was sadly employed in this manner, I opened my Bible, when I immediately fixed my eyes upon these words, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee! Surely, thought I, these words are directed to me, or else why should they appear just at a moment when I am bemoaning my forlorn condition? and if God does not forsake, what matters it, since he can me more happy in this state of life, than if I enjoyed the greatest splendour in the world? But while I was going to return God thanks for my present state, something seemed to shock my mind, as if it had thus said: Unworthy wretch; can you pretend to be thankful for a condition, from which you would pray to be delivered? Therefore I stopt:-- and tho' I could not say, I thanked the Divine Majesty for being there, yet I gave God thanks for placing in my view my former course of life, and granting me a true knowledge of repentance. And whenever I opened or read the Bible, I blessed kind Providence, that directed my good friend in England to send it among my goods without any order, and for assisting me to save it from the power of the raging ocean.
And now beginning my third year, my several daily employments were these: First, My duty to Heaven, and diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, which I did twice or thrice every day: Secondly, Seeking provision with my gun, which commonly took me up, when it did not rain, three hours every morning: Thirdly, The ordering, curing, preserving, and cooking what I killed, or catched for my supply which took me up great part of the day: for, in the middle of the day, the sun being in its height, it was so hot, that I could not stir out; so that I had only but four hours in the evening to work in: and then the want of tools, of assistance, and skill, wasted a great deal of time to little purpose. I was no less than two and forty days making a board fit for a long shelf, which two sawyers with their tools and saw-pit, would have cut off the same tree in half a day. It was a large tree, as my board was to be broad. I was three days in cutting it down and two more in lopping off the boughs, and reducing it to a piece of timber. This I hacked and hewed off each side, till it became light to move; then I turned it, made one side of is smooth and flat as a board from end to end, then turned it downward, cutting the other side, till I brouht the plank to be about three inches thick, and smooth on both sides. Any body may judge my great labour and fatigue in such a piece of work; but this I went through with patience, as also many other things that my circumstances made necessary for me to do.
The harvest months, November and December, were now at hand, in which I had the pleasing prospect of a very good crop. But here I met with a new problem; for the goats and hares, having tasted of the outshoot of the blade, kept it to short that it had not strengthen to shoot up into a stalk. To prevent this, I enclosed it with a hedge, and by day shot some of its devourers; and my dog which I had tied to the field-gate, keeping barking all night; so frightened those creatures, that I got entirely rid of them.
But no sooner did I get rid of these, than other enemies appeared, to wit, whole flocks of several sorts of birds, who only waited till my back was turned, to ruin me: so much did this provoke me, that I let fly, and killed three of the malefactors; and afterwards served them as they do notorious thieves in England, hung them up in chains as a terror to others. And, indeed, to good an effect had this that they not only forsook the corn, but all that part of the island, so long as these criminals hung there.
My corn having ripened apace, the latter end of December, which was my second harvest, I reaped it with a scythe, made of one of my broad swords. I had no fatigue in cutting down my first crop it was so slender. The ears I carried home in a basket, rubbing it with my hands, instead of threshing it: and when the harvest was over, found my half peck of seed produced near two bushels of rice, and two bushels and a half of barley. And now I plainly foresaw, that by God's goodness, I should be furnished with bread; but yet I was concerned, because I knew not how to grind or make meal of my corn, nor bread, neither knew how to bake it. I would not however, taste any of the crop, but resolved to preserve it against next season, and, in the mean while, use my best endeavours to provide myself with other food.
But where were my labours to end? The want of a plough to turn up the earth, or shovel to dig it, I conquered by making me a wooden spade. The want of a harrow I supplied myself, with dragging over the corn a great bough of a tree. When it was growing I was forced to fence it; when ripe to mow it, carry it home, thrash it, part it from the chaff, and save it. And, after all, I wanted a mill to grind it, sieve to dress it, yest and salt to make it into bread, and an oven to bake it. This set my brains to work to find some expedient for every one of these necessaries against the next harvest.
And now having more seed, my first care was to prepare me more land. I pitched upon two large flat pieces of ground near my castle, for that purpose, in which sowed my seed, and fenced it with a good hedge. This took me up three months: by which time the wet season coming on, and the rain keeping me within doors, I found several occasions to employ myself; and, while at work, used to divert myself in talking to my parrot, learning him to know and speak his own name Poll the first welcome word I ever heard spoke in the island. I had been a long time in contriving how to make earthen vessels, which I wanted extremely; and when I considered the heat of the climate, I did not doubt but if I could find any such clay, I might botch up a pot, strong enough, when dried in the sun, to bear handling, and to hold any thing that was dry, as corn, meal, and other things.
To be short, the clay I found; but it would occasion the most serious person to smile, to see what aukward ways I took, and what ugly misshapen things I made; how many either fell out or cracked by the violent heat of the sun, and fell in pieces when they were removed; so that I think it was two months time before I could perfect any thing: and even then but two clumsy things in imitation of earthen jars. These, however, I very gently placed in wicker baskets, made on purpose for them, and between the pot and the baskets, stuffed it full of rice and barley straw, and these I presume would hold my dried corn, and perhaps the meal when the corn was bruised. As for the smaller thing, I made them with better success, such as little round pots, flat dishes, pitchers, and pipkins, the fun baking them very hard.
Yet still I wanted one thing absolutely necessary, and that was an earthen pot, not only to hold my liquid, but also to bear the fire, which none of these could do. It once happened that as I was putting out my fire, I found therein a broken piece of one of my vessels burnt as hard as a rock, and red as a tile. This made me think of burning some pots; and having no notion of a kiln, or of glazing them with leaf, I fixed three large pipkins, and two or three pots in a pile one upon another. The fire I piled round the outside, and dry wood on the top, till I saw the pots in the inside red hot, and found out that, they were net crackt at all: and when I perceived them perfectly red, I let one of them stand in the fire about five or six hours, till the clay melted by the extremity of the heat, and would have run to glass, had I suffered it; upon which I slacked my fire by degrees, till the redness abated; and watching them till the morning, I found I had three very good pipkins, and two earthen pots, as well burnt and fit for my turn as I could desire.
No joy could be greater than mine at this discovery. For after this, I may say, I wanted for no fort of earthen ware. I filled one of my pipkins with water to boil me some meat, which it did admirably well, and with a piece of kid I made me some good broth, as well as my circumstances would afford me at that time.
The next concern I had was to get me a stone-morter to beat some corn in, instead of a mill to grind it. Here indeed