Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (portable ebook reader .txt) 📕

Chapter 4

Next morning all were early awake, and the children sprang about the

tree like young monkeys.

 

`What shall we begin to do, father?’ they cried. `What do you want us

to do, today?’

 

`Rest, my boys,’ I replied, `rest.’

 

`Rest?’ repeated they. `Why should we rest?’

 

`“Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do, but on

the seventh, thou shalt do no manner of work.” This is the seventh

day,’ I replied, `on it, therefore, let us rest.’

 

`What, is it really Sunday?’ said Jack, `How jolly! Oh, I won’t do any

work; but I’ll take a bow and arrow and shoot, and we’ll climb about

the tree and have fun all day.’

 

`That is not resting,’ said I, `that is not the way you are accustomed

to spend the Lord’s day.’

 

`No! But then we can’t go to church here, and there is nothing else to

do.’

 

`We can worship here as well as at home,’ said I.

 

`But there is no church, no clergyman and no organ,’ said Franz.

 

`The leafy shade of this great tree is far more beautiful than any

church,’ I said, `there will we worship our Creator. Come, boys, down

with you: turn our dining hall into a breakfast room.’

 

The children, one by one, slipped down the ladder.

 

`My dear Elizabeth,’ said I, `this morning we will devote to the

service of the Lord, and by means of a parable, I will endeavor to give

the children some serious thought; but, without books, or the

possibility of any of the usual Sunday occupations, we cannot keep them

quiet the whole day; afterward, therefore I shall allow them to pursue

any innocent recreation they choose, and in the cool of the evening we

will take a walk.’

 

My wife entirely agreed with my proposal, and having breakfasted, the

family assembled round me, as we sat in the pleasant shade on the

fresh, soft grass.

 

After singing some hymns and offering heartfelt prayers to the

Almighty Giver of all good, I told the children I would relate to them

a parable instead of preaching a sermon.

 

`Oh, that would be delightful! I like the parables in the Bible better

than anything,’ said Franz. `When can we hear you read out of the Bible

again, father?’

 

`Ah, my little boy, your words reproach me,’ returned I. `While

eagerly striving to procure from the ship would feed our bodies and

provide for their comfort, I blush to think that I have neglected the

Bread of Life, the word of God. I shall search for a Bible on my next

return to the wreck: although our own books were nearly all destroyed,

I am pretty sure to find one.’

 

At these words my wife arose, and fetching her magic bag, she drew from

it a copy of the Holy Scriptures, which I thankfully received from her

hand; and after reading aloud from its sacred pages, I spoke as

follows:

 

`A Great King, ruling in power and splendor over a vast realm of light

and love, possessed within its boundaries a desolate and unfruitful

island. This spot he made the object of his special care; and,

lavishing on it all the varied resources of his might and goodness, it

bloomed in beauty, and became the happy residence of a band of

colonists, who were charged not only with the cultivation and

improvement of the soil, but each, individually, was bound to cherish

in his soul the spirit of love and true allegiance to his Sovereign.

 

`While this faithful union was maintained, the colony flourished; and

the noblest virtues exalted and rendered happy the existence of every

member of the race.

 

`That a discontented and rebellious spirit should ever have infected

these fortunate subjects of so loving a master, seems incredible, yet

it was so; disobedience and pride brought misery and punishment, the

fair prospects of the colony were blighted, the labours of the

colonists were unblessed, and total separation from the parent kingdom

seemed inevitable.

 

`A message of pardon—of free forgiveness—was nevertheless accorded to

these rebels; and to all who, humbly accepting it, molded their future

lives to the will of the Great King (now revealed in a character even

more gracious than before), was held out the promise of removal at last

from among the ruins caused by the great rebellion, to the glory and

undimmed splendor of the realm of Light and Blessedness.’

 

Having interested the children, I then, leaving allegory, pressed

simply and earnestly home to each young heart the truths I sought to

teach; and, with a short prayer for a blessing on my words, brought the

service to a close.

 

After a thoughtful pause, we separated, and each employed himself as he

felt disposed.

 

I took some arrows, and endeavoured to point them with porcupine

quills.

 

Franz came to beg me make a little bow and arrow for him to shoot

with, while Fritz asked my advice about the tiger-cat skin and the

cases he was to contrive from it. Jack assisted with the arrow-making,

and inserting a sharp spine at one end of each reed made it fast with

pack-thread, and began to wish for glue to ensure its remaining firm.

 

`Oh, Jack! Mamma’s soup is as sticky as anything!’ cried Franz. `Shall

I run and ask for a cake of it?’

 

`No, no, little goose! Better look for some real glue in the

tool-box.’

 

`There he will find glue, to be sure,’ said I, `and the soup would

scarcely have answered your purpose. But Jack, my boy, I do not like to

hear you ridicule your little brother’s idea. Some of the most valuable

discoveries have been the result of thoughts which originally appeared

no wiser than his.’

 

While thus directing and assisting my sons, we were surprised by

hearing a shot just over heads; at the same moment two small birds fell

dead at our feet, and looking up, we beheld Ernest among the branches,

as bending his face joyfully towards us, he cried, `Well hit! Well hit!

A good shot, wasn’t it?’

 

Then slipping down the ladder, and picking up the birds, he brought

them to me. One was a kind of thrush, the other a small dove called the

ortolan, and esteemed a very great delicacy on account of its exquisite

flavour.

 

As the figs on which these birds came to feed were only just beginning

to ripen, it was probable that they would soon flock in numbers to our

trees; and by waiting until we could procure them in large quantities,

we might provide ourselves with valuable food for the rainy season, by

placing them, when half cooked, in casks with melted lard or butter

poured over them.

 

By this time Jack had pointed a good supply of arrows, and

industriously practised archery. I finished the bow and arrows for

Franz, and expected to be left in peace; but the young man next

demanded a quiver, and I had to invent that also, to complete his

equipment. It was easily done by stripping a piece of bark from a small

tree, fitting a flat side and a bottom to it, and then a string.

Attaching it to his shoulders, the youthful hunter filled it with

arrows and went off; looking, as his mother said, like an innocent

little Cupid, bent on conquest.

 

Not long after this, we were summoned to dinner, and all right

willingly obeyed the call.

 

During the meal I interested the boys very much by proposing to decide

on suitable names for the different spots we had visited on this coast.

 

`For,’ said I, `it will become more and more troublesome to explain

what we mean, unless we do so. Besides which, we shall feel much more

at home if we can talk as people do in inhabited countries: instead of

saying, for instance, “the little island at the mouth of our bay, where

we found the dead shark”, “the large stream near our tent, across which

we made the bridge”, “that wood where we found cocoanuts, and caught

the monkey”, and so on. Let us begin by naming the bay in which we

landed. What shall we call it?’

 

`Oyster Bay,’ said Fritz.

 

`No, no!—Lobster Bay,’ cried Jack, `in memory of the old fellow who

took a fancy to my leg!’

 

`I think,’ observed his mother, `that, in token of gratitude for our

escape, we should call it Safety Bay.’

 

This name met with general approbation, and was forthwith fixed upon.

 

Other names were quickly chosen. Our first place of abode we called

Tentholm; the islet in the bay, Shark’s Island; and the reedy swamp,

Flamingo Marsh. It was some time before the serious question of a name

for our leafy castle could be decided. But finally it was entitled

Falconhurst; and we then rapidly named the few remaining points:

Prospect Hill, the eminence we first ascended; Cape Disappointment,

from whose rocky heights we had strained our eyes in vain search for

our ship’s company; and Jackal River, as a name for the large stream at

our landing place, concluded our geographical nomenclature.

 

In the afternoon the boys went on with their various employments.

Fritz finished his cases, and Jack asked my assistance in carrying out

his plan of making a cuirass for Turk, out of the porcupine skin. After

thoroughly cleansing the inside, we cut and fitted it round the body of

the patient dog; then when strings were sewn on, and it became

tolerably dry, he was armed with this ingenious coat of mail, and a

most singular figure he cut!

 

Juno strongly objected to his friendly approaches, and got out of his

way so fast as she could; and it was clear that he would easily put to

flight the fiercest animal he might encounter, while protected by

armour at once defensive and offensive. I determined to make also a

helmet for Jack out of the remainder of the skin, which to his infinite

delight I speedily did.

 

Amid these interesting occupations the evening drew on, and after a

pleasant walk among the sweet glades near our abode, we closed our

Sabbath day with prayer and a glad hymn of praise, retiring to rest

with peaceful hearts.

 

Next morning, I proposed an expedition to Tentholm, saying I wished to

make my way thither by a different route. We left the tree well armed;

I and my three elder sons each carrying a gun and game-bag, while

little