鲁宾孙飘流记 英文版 Robinson Crusoe
丹尼尔.笛福 Daniel Defoe
CHAPTER XIV - A DREAM REALISED Page 2
He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, withstraight, strong limbs, not too large; tall, and well-shaped; and,as I reckon, about twenty-six years of age. He had a very goodcountenance, not a fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to havesomething very manly in his face; and yet he had all the sweetnessand softness of a European in his countenance, too, especially whenhe smiled. His hair was long and black, not curled like wool; hisforehead very high and large; and a great vivacity and sparklingsharpness in his eyes. The colour of his skin was not quite black,but very tawny; and yet not an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as theBrazilians and Virginians, and other natives of America are, but ofa bright kind of a dun olive-colour, that had in it something veryagreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face was roundand plump; his nose small, not flat, like the negroes; a very goodmouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white asivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half-an-hour, heawoke again, and came out of the cave to me: for I had been milkingmy goats which I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me hecame running to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, withall the possible signs of an humble, thankful disposition, making agreat many antic gestures to show it. At last he lays his headflat upon the ground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot uponhis head, as he had done before; and after this made all the signsto me of subjection, servitude, and submission imaginable, to letme know how he would serve me so long as he lived. I understoodhim in many things, and let him know I was very well pleased withhim. In a little time I began to speak to him; and teach him tospeak to me: and first, I let him know his name should be Friday,which was the day I saved his life: I called him so for the memoryof the time. I likewise taught him to say Master; and then let himknow that was to be my name: I likewise taught him to say Yes andNo and to know the meaning of them. I gave him some milk in anearthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop mybread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which hequickly complied with, and made signs that it was very good forhim. I kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it wasday I beckoned to him to come with me, and let him know I wouldgive him some clothes; at which he seemed very glad, for he wasstark naked. As we went by the place where he had buried the twomen, he pointed exactly to the place, and showed me the marks thathe had made to find them again, making signs to me that we shoulddig them up again and eat them. At this I appeared very angry,expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if I would vomit at thethoughts of it, and beckoned with my hand to him to come away,which he did immediately, with great submission. I then led him upto the top of the hill, to see if his enemies were gone; andpulling out my glass I looked, and saw plainly the place where theyhad been, but no appearance of them or their canoes; so that it wasplain they were gone, and had left their two comrades behind them,without any search after them.
But I was not content with this discovery; but having now morecourage, and consequently more curiosity, I took my man Friday withme, giving him the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows athis back, which I found he could use very dexterously, making himcarry one gun for me, and I two for myself; and away we marched tothe place where these creatures had been; for I had a mind now toget some further intelligence of them. When I came to the place myvery blood ran chill in my veins, and my heart sunk within me, atthe horror of the spectacle; indeed, it was a dreadful sight, atleast it was so to me, though Friday made nothing of it. The placewas covered with human bones, the ground dyed with their blood, andgreat pieces of flesh left here and there, half-eaten, mangled, andscorched; and, in short, all the tokens of the triumphant feastthey had been making there, after a victory over their enemies. Isaw three skulls, five hands, and the bones of three or four legsand feet, and abundance of other parts of the bodies; and Friday,by his signs, made me understand that they brought over fourprisoners to feast upon; that three of them were eaten up, and thathe, pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there had been agreat battle between them and their next king, of whose subjects,it seems, he had been one, and that they had taken a great numberof prisoners; all which were carried to several places by those whohad taken them in the fight, in order to feast upon them, as wasdone here by these wretches upon those they brought hither.
I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, andwhatever remained, and lay them together in a heap, and make agreat fire upon it, and burn them all to ashes. I found Friday hadstill a hankering stomach after some of the flesh, and was still acannibal in his nature; but I showed so much abhorrence at the verythoughts of it, and at the least appearance of it, that he durstnot discover it: for I had, by some means, let him know that Iwould kill him if he offered it.
When he had done this, we came back to our castle; and there I fellto work for my man Friday; and first of all, I gave him a pair oflinen drawers, which I had out of the poor gunner's chest Imentioned, which I found in the wreck, and which, with a littlealteration, fitted him very well; and then I made him a jerkin ofgoat's skin, as well as my skill would allow (for I was now grown atolerably good tailor); and I gave him a cap which I made of hare'sskin, very convenient, and fashionable enough; and thus he wasclothed, for the present, tolerably well, and was mighty wellpleased to see himself almost as well clothed as his master. It istrue he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing thedrawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistcoatgalled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a littleeasing them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself tothem, he took to them at length very well.
The next day, after I came home to my hutch with him, I began toconsider where I should lodge him: and that I might do well for himand yet be perfectly easy myself, I made a little tent for him inthe vacant place between my two fortifications, in the inside ofthe last, and in the outside of the first. As there was a door orentrance there into my cave, I made a formal framed door-case, anda door to it, of boards, and set it up in the passage, a littlewithin the entrance; and, causing the door to open in the inside, Ibarred it up in the night, taking in my ladders, too; so thatFriday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost wall,without making so much noise in getting over that it must needsawaken me; for my first wall had now a complete roof over it oflong poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to the side of thehill; which was again laid across with smaller sticks, instead oflaths, and then thatched over a great thickness with the rice-straw, which was strong, like reeds; and at the hole or place whichwas left to go in or out by the ladder I had placed a kind of trap-door, which, if it had been attempted on the outside, would nothave opened at all, but would have fallen down and made a greatnoise - as to weapons, I took them all into my side every night.But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a morefaithful, loving, sincere servant than Friday was to me: withoutpassions, sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and engaged;his very affections were tied to me, like those of a child to afather; and I daresay he would have sacrificed his life to savemine upon any occasion whatsoever - the many testimonies he gave meof this put it out of doubt, and soon convinced me that I needed touse no precautions for my safety on his account.
This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder,that however it had pleased God in His providence, and in thegovernment of the works of His hands, to take from so great a partof the world of His creatures the best uses to which theirfaculties and the powers of their souls are adapted, yet that Hehas bestowed upon them the same powers, the same reason, the sameaffections, the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, thesame passions and resentments of wrongs, the same sense ofgratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities of doinggood and receiving good that He has given to us; and that when Hepleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are asready, nay, more ready, to apply them to the right uses for whichthey were bestowed than we are. This made me very melancholysometimes, in reflecting, as the several occasions presented, howmean a use we make of all these, even though we have these powersenlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God,and by the knowledge of His word added to our understanding; andwhy it has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from somany millions of souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage,would make a much better use of it than we did. From hence Isometimes was led too far, to invade the sovereignty of Providence,and, as it were, arraign the justice of so arbitrary a dispositionof things, that should hide that sight from some, and reveal it -to others, and yet expect a like duty from both; but I shut it up,and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: first, that we didnot know by what light and law these should be condemned; but thatas God was necessarily, and by the nature of His being, infinitelyholy and just, so it could not be, but if these creatures were allsentenced to absence from Himself, it was on account of sinningagainst that light which, as the Scripture says, was a law tothemselves, and by such rules as their consciences wouldacknowledge to be just, though the foundation was not discovered tous; and secondly, that still as we all are the clay in the hand ofthe potter, no vessel could say to him, "Why hast thou formed methus?"
But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted withhim, and made it my business to teach him everything that wasproper to make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially tomake him speak, and understand me when I spoke; and he was theaptest scholar that ever was; and particularly was so merry, soconstantly diligent, and so pleased when he could but understandme, or make me understand him, that it was very pleasant for me totalk to him. Now my life began to be so easy that I began to sayto myself that could I but have been safe from more savages, Icared not if I was never to remove from the place where I lived.