Robinson Crusoe's Adventures

Author: Daniel Defoe
Translator: Huang Gaoxin
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-06-01
Features: Looking at the great ship that had stranded on the shore, I saw only white, towering waves far away, where it was stranded. It was not very clear, and I couldn’t help but think, "God! I actually made it to the shore—how is this possible?" I felt that this was indeed a stroke of luck in misfortune, and I comforted myself with this thought. Then I looked around to see what kind of environment I was in and what I should do next. After seeing this, the previous sense of relief instantly vanished. In short, although I was saved, my situation was still very dire. Because I was completely drenched, yet had no clothes to change into; my stomach was empty, yet I had nothing to eat or drink, and it seemed my prospects were bleak—not likely to survive on starvation or become prey to beasts. What troubled me most was that I had no firearm to hunt animals for survival or to defend myself from being killed and used as sustenance for them. In short, I only had a small knife, a pipe, and some tobacco in a box. With so little, my heart was in turmoil, and I ran about like a madman. As night fell, I grew anxious, thinking that beasts usually came out to feed at night. I was worried because if there were any fierce animals here, what would happen to me? At that time, the only solution I could think of was to choose a large, thorny tree nearby, which looked like a fir but had dense branches, to climb and spend the night. The next day, I would consider how to die, because in my opinion, there was no chance of survival. After selecting the tree, I went off the shore about two hundred yards to find fresh water, which made me very happy when I did. After drinking the water, I put some tobacco in my mouth to ward off hunger, then returned to the tree, climbed up, and tried to settle in as best as I could so I wouldn’t fall asleep. I cut off a branch, sharpened it into a short stick, and used it as a weapon for defense, then rested in the tree. Exhausted as I was, I soon fell asleep, and I believe that no one in such a situation could sleep as soundly as I did. When I woke up the next day, I felt completely refreshed. I thought that under these circumstances, this was something unprecedented even for me. Having settled my shelter, I realized I would need a place to make a fire and gather firewood. How I did this, how I further dug a cave, and how I tried to improve my living conditions, I will describe in detail later. For now, I will briefly mention my situation and my thoughts on life—of course, these thoughts would not be few, as one might expect. In this predicament, my view of the future was bleak, because as mentioned earlier, we were blown off course by a fierce storm, which led me to this terrifying island, thousands of miles away from the usual trade routes. Therefore, I had every reason to believe that this was God’s will for me to spend the rest of my life in this desolate place, in such loneliness and desolation: Whenever I thought of this, I would break into tears. Sometimes, I would also ask myself: "God created humans, yet He treats them so cruelly, making them extremely unfortunate, helpless, and doomed, leaving them with no reason to be grateful for such a life." However, whenever I had such thoughts, other thoughts would immediately come to stop and rebuke me. Especially one day, while carrying a gun and walking along the beach, I was gloomily reflecting on my current situation. At that moment, reason also questioned me: "Yes, your situation is indeed lonely and desolate, but please don’t forget that where are the others? You and ten others boarded the dinghy, where are the other ten? Why did they survive while you died? Why was it only you who was spared to be left here? Where would it be better for you—here or there?" With that, my hand pointed out to the sea. Therefore, when considering all the misfortunes, one should also think of the good in them and even consider that there could be worse situations. So, I thought that I now had everything necessary to sustain life. It was a ten-thousand-fold stroke of luck that the ship, after striking the rocks, still drifted ashore so close to the beach, giving me time to retrieve the things from it. Otherwise, what would have been my situation? When I was washed ashore, I had neither the essential items for life nor the means to make or obtain them. If I had to live under such conditions, what would have been my situation? "Especially," though speaking to myself, I said aloud, "if I had no gun, no ammunition, no tools, no clothes, no bedding, no tent or shelter, what could I have done?" Now, I had everything I needed, enough for my use, and even if I ran out of ammunition, I could still sustain myself without a gun. Therefore, in my opinion, for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t need to worry about food and clothing. Because from the beginning, I had considered what to do in case of an accident, what to do when the ammunition ran out, and even what to do if I fell ill and my strength waned. I admit that at that time, I never thought that my ammunition would be completely exhausted in an instant—that is, I never thought that lightning could cause gunpowder to explode. Later, when lightning flashed and thunder roared, I suddenly realized this and was greatly surprised. This situation, as I mentioned earlier. Now, I am stranded on this deserted island and beginning a lonely life, which perhaps the world has never heard of before. Therefore, I will describe the events in order. According to my calculations, I arrived at this terrifying island after a narrow escape on the thirtieth of September. For us, it was already past the autumn equinox, and the sun was almost directly overhead, so based on my observations, I estimated that I was at latitude 9°22′ north. About eleven or twelve days after arriving on the island, it suddenly occurred to me that without a notebook, pen, and ink, I wouldn’t be able to keep track of the days accurately, and I might even forget the Sabbath, mixing it with workdays. To prevent this from happening, I made a large cross from a tall wooden pillar and erected it at the spot where I first landed. Then, with a knife, I carved the following words in large letters on the pillar: "I came ashore here on the thirtieth of September, 1659." On both sides of the pillar, I carved grooves, and after the seventh groove, I carved one that was twice as long. On each of the days of the month, I carved a groove that was twice as long again. This way, I had my own calendar, which allowed me to calculate the days of the week and the months. Now, I began to seriously consider my situation and the adversity I faced, listing my circumstances one by one. I did this not to leave something for later readers, because it seemed I would have no inheritors, but to let my thoughts pour out and prevent them from tormenting me daily. Now, my reason began to prevail over my despondency, and I tried to comfort myself as much as possible, while also contrasting my misfortunes with my blessings, so that I could see that my situation was still fortunate despite the misfortunes. I recorded my situation in the format of debits and credits from an accounting ledger, without bias. Below are the misfortunes I suffered and the fortunate aspects of them:
Misfortune: I was stranded on a terrible island with no hope of rescue. It seems that God singled me out, isolating me from the world and subjecting me to suffering. I was far from humanity, left alone and excluded from human society. I had no clothes to cover myself. I had no means to defend myself against attacks from savages or beasts. No one could come to speak to me or rescue me.
Fortune: But I was still alive, unlike all my shipmates who perished. Yet, among all the shipmates, it was only me who survived. If God could perform a miracle to save me from death, He could also save me from this situation. But I still had food, so I didn’t starve to death in this desolate place. But I was in the tropics, and even if I had clothes, they wouldn’t have been very useful. But this island was not like the African coast I had visited, where there were no harmful beasts. What would have happened if the ship had wrecked there? But God performed a great miracle, drifting the ship so close to the shore that I could retrieve a large amount of necessities, some of which were enough to last me a lifetime.
As for him, he was a handsome and well-built young man, with a very symmetrical figure. His limbs were straight and strong, but not too thick. He was tall, but in a well-proportioned way, appearing to be around twenty-six years old. His features were very regular, with no signs of fierceness or roughness. His expression between the brows suggested a noble bearing, while his face also had the kind of amiable and gentle expression common among Europeans, especially when he smiled. His hair was long and black, not curly like wool. His forehead was high and broad. His eyes were sharp, perceptive, and bright. His skin was not jet black but dark brown, but it was not the unpleasant, sickly yellow of the indigenous people of Brazil, Virginia, or other parts of America. It was a deeper olive color, though deeper, it still had a luster. In short, it was difficult to describe his skin, but it looked very pleasant. His face was round and full. His nose was small, not flat like that of a black person. His mouth was well-shaped, with thin lips and neatly arranged, small, white teeth like ivory.
In fact, to say he was sleeping would be an understatement—he was more like dozing. After about half an hour, he woke up and came out of the cave to find me. Because my sheepfold was nearby, I was already milking the sheep at that time. As soon as he saw me, he ran toward me, knelt down again, and made various amusing gestures to show his gratitude and obedience. Then, as before, he pressed his head to the ground and placed one of my feet on his head. Next, he tried his best to gesture to me, showing his willingness to be a loyal servant and letting me understand that he was willing to serve me for the rest of his life. I understood many of his gestures and made him understand that I was very satisfied with him. After a while, I began to speak to him and teach him to speak to me. The first thing I taught him was that his name should be Friday, because I had saved his life on Friday, and I named him so to this day. Similarly, I also taught him to say "master" and let him know that this was how I referred to myself. Next, I taught him to say "yes" and "no" and also explained the meanings of these words to him. I filled a pot with sheep’s milk and gave it to him, then drank some milk in front of him, dipping a piece of bread in it before eating. Then I gave him a piece of bread and asked him to imitate me. He did so immediately and gestured with his hands to show that he thought this was a good way to eat.