Daniel Defoe

THE LIFE AND AMAZING ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSEOE

a sailor from York, who lived for twenty-eight years all alone on a desert island off the coast of America near the mouths of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died; outlining his unexpected release by pirates, written by himself

I was born in 1632 in the city of York into a wealthy family of foreign origin. My father was from Bremen and settled first in Hull. Having made a good fortune by trading, he left business and moved to York. Here he married my mother, whose relatives were called Robinsons - an old surname in those places. They also called me Robinson. My father's surname was Kreutzner, but, according to the custom of the English to distort foreign words, they began to call us Crusoe. Now we ourselves pronounce and write our surname in this way; That's what my friends always called me.

I had two older brothers. One served in Flanders, in the English infantry regiment - the same one that was once commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart; he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was killed in battle with the Spaniards near Dunkirchen. What happened to my second brother, I don't know how my father and mother didn't know what happened to me.

Since I was the third in the family, I was not prepared for any trade, and my head with young years was full of all sorts of nonsense. My father, who was already very old, gave me a fairly tolerable education in the amount that can be obtained by being brought up at home and attending a city school. He wanted me to become a lawyer, but I dreamed of sea voyages and did not want to hear about anything else. This passion for the sea took me so far that I went against my will - moreover: against the direct prohibition of my father and neglected the entreaties of my mother and the advice of friends; it seemed that there was something fatal in the natural inclination of the mouth that pushed me towards the sad life that was my lot.

My father, a sedate and intelligent man, guessed about my undertaking and warned me seriously and thoroughly. One morning he called me to his room, to which he was chained with gout, and began to reproach me warmly. He asked what other reasons, besides wandering tendencies, could I have for leaving my father's house and home country where it is easy for me to go out into the world, where I can, by diligence and labor, increase my fortune and live in contentment and with pleasantness. They leave their homeland in pursuit of adventure, he said. or those who have nothing to lose, or ambitious people, eager to create a higher position for themselves; embarking on enterprises that go beyond the framework of everyday life, they strive to improve their affairs and cover their name with glory; but such things are either beyond my strength or humiliating for me; my place is the middle, that is, what can be called the highest stage of a modest existence, which, as he was convinced by many years of experience, is for us the best in the world, the most suitable for human happiness, freed from need and deprivation, physical labor and suffering falling to the lot of the lower classes, and from luxury, ambition, arrogance and envy of the upper classes. How pleasant such a life is, he said, I can already judge by the fact that all, placed in other conditions, envy him: even kings often complain about the bitter fate of people born for great deeds, and regret that fate did not put them between two extremes - insignificance and greatness, and the sage speaks in favor of the middle, as a measure of true happiness, when he prays to heaven not to send him either poverty or wealth.

I only have to look, said my father, and I will see that all the misfortunes of life are distributed between the upper and lower classes, and that the least of them falls to the lot of middle-class people who are not subject to so many vicissitudes of fate as the nobility and the common people; even from illnesses, bodily and mental, they are insured more than those whose illnesses are caused by vices, luxury and all kinds of excesses, on the one hand, hard work, want, poor and insufficient nutrition - on the other, being, thus, a natural consequence of lifestyle. The middle state is the most favorable for the flourishing of all the virtues, for all the joys of being; abundance and peace are his servants; he is accompanied and blessed by his temperance, temperance, health, peace of mind, sociability, all kinds of pleasant entertainments, all kinds of pleasures. A person of an average condition goes through his life path quietly and smoothly, not burdening himself with either physical or mental overwork, not being sold into slavery for a piece of bread, not tormented by the search for a way out of tangled situations that deprive the body of sleep, and the soul of rest, not consumed by envy. without secretly burning with the fire of ambition. Surrounded by contentment, he easily and imperceptibly slides to the grave, judiciously tasting the sweetness of life without an admixture of bitterness, feeling happy and learning by everyday experience to understand this more and more clearly and deeply.

Then my father persistently and very benevolently began to beg me not to be childish, not to rush headlong into the pool of need and suffering, from which the position in the world that I occupied by my birth, it seemed, should protect me. He said that I was not forced to work for a piece of bread, that he would take care of me, try to put me on the path that he had just advised me to take, and that if I turned out to be a failure or unhappy, I would only have to blame bad luck or on their own oversight. In warning me against a step that will bring me nothing but harm, he thus fulfills his duty and abdicates all responsibility; in a word, if I stay at home and arrange my life according to his instructions, he will be a good father to me, but he will not have a hand in my death, encouraging me to leave. In conclusion, he gave me the example of my older brother, whom he also persistently urged not to take part in the Dutch war, but all his persuasions were in vain: carried away by dreams, the young man fled to the army and was killed. And although (so my father ended his speech) he will never stop praying for me, but he declares to me directly that if I do not give up my crazy idea, I will not have God's blessing. The time will come when I will regret that I neglected his advice, but then, perhaps, there will be no one to help me correct the wrong done.

I saw how, during the last part of this speech (which was truly prophetic, although, I think, my father himself did not suspect it), copious tears built up on the face of the old man, especially when he spoke of my murdered brother; and when the priest said that the time for repentance would come for me, but there would be no one to help me, he broke off his speech out of excitement, declaring that his heart was overflowing and he could not utter a word more.

The life, extraordinary and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived for 28 years all alone on a desert island off the coast of America near the mouths of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died, outlining his unexpected liberation by pirates; written by himself.

Robinson was the third son in the family, a darling, he was not prepared for any craft, and from childhood his head was full of "all sorts of nonsense" - mainly dreams of sea voyages. His older brother died in Flanders fighting the Spaniards, the middle one went missing, and therefore they don’t want to hear at home about letting the last son go to sea. The father, “a sedate and intelligent man”, tearfully implores him to strive for a modest existence, in every way extolling the “average state”, which protects a sane person from evil vicissitudes of fate. The exhortations of the father only temporarily reason with the 18-year-old undergrowth. The attempt of the intractable son to enlist the support of his mother is also not crowned with success, and for almost a year he breaks his parents' hearts, until September 1, 1651, he sails from Hull to London, seduced free travel(the captain is the father of his friend).

Already the first day at sea was a harbinger of future trials. The storm that breaks out awakens repentance in the soul of the disobedient, however, subsided with bad weather and finally dispelled by drinking (“as usual with sailors”). A week later, on the Yarmouth roadstead, a new, much more ferocious storm flies. The experience of the team selflessly rescuing the ship does not help: the ship is sinking, the sailors are picked up by a boat from a neighboring ship. On the shore, Robinson again experiences a fleeting temptation to heed the harsh lesson and return to parental home, but "evil fate" keeps him on his chosen path of disastrous. In London, he meets the captain of a ship preparing to go to Guinea, and decides to sail with them - fortunately, this will not cost him anything, he will be the captain's "companion and friend". How will the late Robinson, wise by trials, reproach himself for this prudent carelessness of his! If he were hired as a simple sailor, he would learn the duties and work of a sailor, otherwise he is just a merchant making a lucky turn on his forty pounds. But he acquires some nautical knowledge: the captain willingly works with him, while away the time. Upon returning to England, the captain soon dies, and Robinson sets off on his own to Guinea.

It was an unsuccessful expedition: their ship is captured by a Turkish corsair, and young Robinson, as if in fulfillment of his father’s gloomy prophecies, goes through a difficult period of trials, turning from a merchant into a “miserable slave” of the captain of a robber ship. He uses it at home, does not take it to the sea, and for two years Robinson has no hope of breaking free. The owner, meanwhile, weakens his supervision, sends a prisoner with a Moor and a boy Xuri to fish at the table, and one day, sailing far from the coast, Robinson throws the Moor overboard and persuades Xuri to escape. He is well prepared: the boat has a supply of crackers and fresh water, tools, guns and gunpowder. On the way, the fugitives shoot living creatures on the shore, even kill a lion and a leopard, peace-loving natives supply them with water and food. Finally they are picked up by an oncoming Portuguese ship. Condescending to the plight of the rescued, the captain undertakes to take Robinson to Brazil for free (they are sailing there); moreover, he buys his launch and "faithful Xuri", promising in ten years ("if he accepts Christianity") to return the boy's freedom. “It made a difference,” Robinson concludes complacently, having done away with remorse.

In Brazil, he settles down thoroughly and, it seems, for a long time: he receives Brazilian citizenship, buys land for plantations of tobacco and sugar cane, works on it in the sweat of his brow, belatedly regretting that Xuri is not around (how an extra pair of hands would help!). Paradoxically, he comes precisely to that “golden mean” with which his father seduced him - so why, he laments now, should he leave his parents' house and climb to the ends of the world? Neighbors-planters are located to him, willingly help, he manages to get from England, where he left money with the widow of his first captain, the necessary goods, agricultural implements and household utensils. Here it would be nice to calm down and continue his profitable business, but the “passion for wandering” and, most importantly, “the desire to get rich sooner than circumstances allowed” prompt Robinson to drastically break the established way of life.

It all started with the fact that the plantations required workers, and slave labor was expensive, since the delivery of blacks from Africa was fraught with the dangers of a sea passage and was still hampered by legal obstacles (for example, the English parliament would only allow private individuals to trade in slaves in 1698) . After listening to Robinson's stories about his trips to the shores of Guinea, the neighboring planters decide to equip a ship and secretly bring slaves to Brazil, dividing them here among themselves. Robinson is invited to participate as a ship's clerk responsible for the purchase of blacks in Guinea, and he himself will not invest any money in the expedition, and he will receive slaves on an equal basis with everyone, and even in his absence, companions will oversee his plantations and watch over his interests. Of course, he is tempted by favorable conditions, habitually (and not very convincingly) cursing "vagrant inclinations." What "inclinations" if he thoroughly and sensibly, observing all the melancholy formalities, disposes of the property he leaves behind! Never before had fate warned him so clearly: he sailed on the first of September 1659, that is, eight years after his escape from his parental home, to the day. In the second week of the voyage, a fierce squall came up, and for twelve days they were battered by the "fury of the elements." The ship leaked, needed to be repaired, the crew lost three sailors (there were seventeen people on the ship), and it was no longer to Africa - it would be more likely to get to land. A second storm is played out, they are carried far from the trade routes, and then the ship runs aground in the sight of the earth, and on the only remaining boat the team "gives itself to the will of the raging waves." Even if they do not drown, rowing to the shore, the surf will blow their boat to pieces near the land, and the approaching land seems to them "more terrible than the sea itself." A huge shaft "the size of a mountain" overturns the boat, and exhausted, miraculously not finished off by the overtaking waves, Robinson gets out on land.

Alas, he alone escaped, as evidenced by three hats thrown ashore, a cap and two unpaired shoes. Frenzied joy is replaced by grief for the fallen comrades, the pangs of hunger and cold, and the fear of wild animals. He spends the first night in a tree. By morning the tide had driven their ship close to the shore, and Robinson swam to it. From spare masts, he builds a raft and loads on it "everything necessary for life": food, clothing, carpentry tools, guns and pistols, shot and gunpowder, sabers, saws, an ax and a hammer. With incredible difficulty, at the risk of tipping over every minute, he brings the raft to a calm bay and sets off to find a place to live. From the top of the hill, Robinson understands his “bitter fate”: this is an island, and, by all indications, uninhabited. Fenced on all sides by chests and boxes, he spends the second night on the island, and in the morning he again swims to the ship, in a hurry to take what he can, until the first storm breaks him into pieces. On this trip, Robinson took a lot of useful things from the ship - again guns and gunpowder, clothes, a sail, mattresses and pillows, iron crowbars, nails, a screwdriver and a sharpener. On the shore, he builds a tent, transfers food and gunpowder to it from the sun and rain, arranges a bed for himself. In total, he visited the ship twelve times, always getting hold of something valuable - canvas, gear, crackers, rum, flour, "iron parts" (he, to his great chagrin, almost completely drowned them). On his last run, he came across a chiffonier with money (this is one of the famous episodes of the novel) and philosophically reasoned that in his position all this “heap of gold” was not worth any of the knives that lay in the next box, however, after thinking, “I decided to take them with you." That same night a storm broke out, and next morning nothing was left of the ship.

Robinson's first concern is the arrangement of reliable, safe housing - and most importantly, in view of the sea, from where only one can expect salvation. On the slope of the hill, he finds a flat clearing and on it, against a small depression in the rock, he decides to pitch a tent, protecting it with a palisade of strong trunks driven into the ground. It was possible to enter the "fortress" only by a ladder. He expanded the recess in the rock - a cave turned out, he uses it as a cellar. This work took many days. He quickly gains experience. In the midst of construction work, rain poured down, lightning flashed, and Robinson's first thought: gunpowder! It was not the fear of death that frightened him, but the possibility of losing gunpowder at once, and for two weeks he pours it into bags and boxes and hides it in different places (at least a hundred). At the same time, he now knows how much gunpowder he has: two hundred and forty pounds. Without numbers (money, goods, cargo) Robinson is no longer Robinson.

Involved in historical memory, growing from the experience of generations and relying on the future, Robinson, although lonely, is not lost in time, which is why the construction of a calendar becomes the first concern of this life-builder - this is a large pillar on which he makes a notch every day. The first date there is the thirtieth of September, 1659. From now on, each of his days is named and taken into account, and for the reader, especially those of that time, the reflection of a great story falls on the works and days of Robinson. During his absence, the monarchy was restored in England, and the return of Robinson "guesses" the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, which brought to the throne William of Orange, Defoe's benevolent patron; in the same years, the “Great Fire” (1666) will happen in London, and the revived urban planning will unrecognizably change the face of the capital; during this time Milton and Spinoza will die; Charles II will issue the Habeas Corpus Act, a law on the inviolability of the person. And in Russia, which, as it turns out, will also be indifferent to the fate of Robinson, at this time they burn Avvakum, execute Razin, Sophia becomes regent under Ivan V and Peter I. These distant lightnings flicker over a man who is burning an earthenware pot.

Among the "not very valuable" things taken from the ship (remember the "heap of gold") were ink, pens, paper, "three very good Bibles", astronomical instruments, spyglasses. Now, when his life is getting better (by the way, three cats and a dog, also on board, live with him, then a moderately talkative parrot will be added), it's time to comprehend what is happening, and until the ink and paper run out, Robinson keeps a diary so that "at least lighten your soul a little." This is a kind of ledger of "evil" and "good": in the left column - he is thrown onto a desert island with no hope of deliverance; in the right - he is alive, and all his comrades drowned. In the diary, he describes in detail his activities, makes observations - both remarkable (regarding the sprouts of barley and rice), and everyday (“It was raining.” “It has been raining all day again”).

The earthquake that happened forces Robinson to think about a new place for housing - it is not safe under the mountain. Meanwhile, a wrecked ship is nailed to the island, and Robinson takes building material and tools from it. On the same days, he is overcome by a fever, and in a feverish dream a man "in flames" appears to him, threatening him with death because he "does not repent." Lamenting about his fatal delusions, Robinson for the first time "in many years" makes a prayer of repentance, reads the Bible - and is treated to the best of his ability. Rum, infused with tobacco, after which he slept for two nights, will raise him to his feet. Accordingly, one day fell out of his calendar. Having recovered, Robinson finally examines the island, where he has lived for more than ten months. In its flat part, among unknown plants, he meets acquaintances - melon and grapes; the latter pleases him especially, he will dry it in the sun, and in the off-season raisins will strengthen his strength. And the island is rich in living creatures - hares (very tasteless), foxes, turtles (these, on the contrary, will pleasantly diversify his table) and even penguins, puzzling in these latitudes. He looks at these heavenly beauties with a master's eye - he has no one to share them with. He decides to set up a hut here, fortify it well and live for several days at the “dacha” (this is his word), spending most of the time “on the old ashes” near the sea, from where liberation can come.

Continuously working, Robinson, for the second and third year, does not give himself relief. Here is his day: "In the forefront are religious duties and the reading of the Holy Scriptures‹...› The second of the daily activities was hunting‹...› The third was the sorting, drying and preparation of killed or caught game." Add to this the care of the crops, and then the harvest; add livestock care; add housework (make a shovel, hang a shelf in the cellar), which takes a lot of time and effort due to lack of tools and inexperience. Robinson has the right to be proud of himself: "With patience and work, I brought to the end all the work to which I was forced by circumstances." It's a joke to say, he will bake bread, doing without salt, yeast and a suitable oven!

His cherished dream is to build a boat and get to the mainland. He does not even think about who and what he will meet there, the main thing is to escape from captivity. Driven by impatience, without thinking about how to deliver the boat from the forest to the water, Robinson fells a huge tree and carves a pirogue out of it for several months. When she is finally ready, he will not be able to launch her into the water. He stoically endures failure: Robinson has become wiser and more self-possessed, he has learned to balance "evil" and "good." He prudently uses the resulting leisure to update a worn-out wardrobe: he “builds” himself a fur suit (trousers and jacket), sews a hat and even makes an umbrella. Five more years pass in everyday work, marked by the fact that he built a boat, launched it into the water and equipped it with a sail. You can’t get to a distant land on it, but you can go around the island. The current takes him to the open sea, with great difficulty he returns to the shore not far from the "cottage". Having suffered fear, he will lose his desire for sea walks for a long time. This year, Robinson is improving in pottery and basket weaving (stocks are growing), and most importantly, he makes himself a royal gift - a pipe! There is an abyss of tobacco on the island.

His measured existence, filled with work and useful leisure, suddenly bursts like soap bubble. On one of his walks, Robinson sees a bare footprint in the sand. Frightened to death, he returns to the "fortress" and sits there for three days, puzzling over an incomprehensible riddle: whose trace? Most likely, these are savages from the mainland. Fear settles in his soul: what if he is discovered? The savages might eat it (he had heard of it), they might destroy the crops and disperse the herd. Starting to go out a little, he takes security measures: he strengthens the “fortress”, arranges a new (distant) corral for goats. Among these troubles, he again comes across human tracks, and then sees the remains of a cannibal feast. Looks like the island has been visited again. Horror has been possessing him for all two years, that he remains without getting out on his part of the island (where there is a “fortress” and a “cottage”), living “always on the alert”. But gradually life returns to the "former calm course", although he continues to build bloodthirsty plans on how to ward off the savages from the island. His ardor is cooled by two considerations: 1) these are tribal feuds, the savages did nothing wrong to him personally; 2) why are they worse than the Spaniards who flooded South America with blood? These conciliatory thoughts are not allowed to take root by a new visit of the savages (the twenty-third anniversary of his stay on the island is underway), who landed this time on "his" side of the island. Having celebrated their terrible feast, the savages swim away, and Robinson is still afraid to look towards the sea for a long time.

And the same sea beckons him with the hope of liberation. On a stormy night he hears cannon shot- a ship sends a distress signal. All night long he burns a huge fire, and in the morning he sees in the distance the wreck of a ship that has crashed on the reefs. Longing for loneliness, Robinson prays to heaven that "at least one" of the team escapes, but "evil fate", as if in a mockery, throws the cabin boy's corpse ashore. And on the ship he will not find a single living soul. It is noteworthy that the poor "booty" from the ship does not upset him very much: he stands firmly on his feet, fully provides for himself, and only gunpowder, shirts, linen - and, according to old memory, money pleases him. He is obsessed with the idea of ​​​​escape to the mainland, and since it is impossible to do it alone, Robinson dreams of saving the savage destined for “slaughter” to help, reasoning in the usual categories: “acquire a servant, or maybe a comrade or assistant.” He has been making cunning plans for a year and a half, but in life, as usual, everything turns out simply: cannibals arrive, the prisoner escapes, Robinson knocks down one pursuer with the butt of a gun, and shoots another to death.

Robinson's life is filled with new - and pleasant - worries. Friday, as he called the rescued, turned out to be a capable student, a faithful and kind comrade. Robinson puts three words at the basis of his education: "master" (referring to himself), "yes" and "no". He eradicates bad savage habits by teaching Friday to eat broth and wear clothes, as well as to "know the true god" (previously, Friday worshiped "an old man named Bunamuki who lives high"). Mastering English language. Friday tells that seventeen Spaniards who escaped from the lost ship live on the mainland with his fellow tribesmen. Robinson decides to build a new pirogue and, together with Friday, rescue the captives. The new arrival of the savages disrupts their plans. This time, the cannibals bring in a Spaniard and an old man who turns out to be Friday's father. Robinson and Friday, who is no worse than his master with a gun, free them. The idea of ​​gathering everyone on the island, building a reliable ship and trying their luck at sea is to the liking of the Spaniard. In the meantime, a new plot is being sown, goats are being caught - a considerable replenishment is expected. Taking an oath from the Spaniard not to surrender to the Inquisition, Robinson sends him with Friday's father to the mainland. And on the eighth day, new guests come to the island. The rebellious team from the English ship brings the captain, assistant and passenger to be punished. Robinson cannot miss such a chance. Taking advantage of the fact that he knows every path here, he frees the captain and his comrades in misfortune, and five of them deal with the villains. Robinson's only condition is to bring him to England with Friday. The rebellion is pacified, two notorious villains hang on a yardarm, three more are left on the island, humanely providing everything necessary; but more valuable than provisions, tools and weapons - the very experience of survival that Robinson shares with the new settlers, there will be five of them in total - two more will escape from the ship, not really trusting the captain's forgiveness.

Robinson's twenty-eight-year odyssey ended: on June 11, 1686, he returned to England. His parents died long ago, but a good friend, the widow of his first captain, is still alive. In Lisbon, he learns that all these years his Brazilian plantation was managed by an official from the treasury, and since it now turns out that he is alive, all the income for this period is returned to him. wealthy man, he takes two nephews into his care, and prepares the second for sailors. Finally, Robinson marries (he is sixty-one years old) "not without benefit and quite successfully in all respects." He has two sons and a daughter.

A sailor from York, who lived for twenty-eight years all alone on a desert island off the coast of America near the mouths of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died; outlining his unexpected release by pirates, written by himself

I was born in 1632 in the city of York into a wealthy family of foreign origin. My father was from Bremen and settled first in Hull. Having made a good fortune by trade, he left business and moved to York. Here he married my mother, whose relatives were called Robinsons - an old surname in those places. They also called me Robinson. My father's surname was Kreutzner, but, according to the custom of the English to distort foreign words, they began to call us Crusoe. Now we ourselves pronounce and write our surname in this way; That's what my friends always called me.
I had two older brothers. One served in Flanders, in the English infantry regiment - the same one that was once commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart; he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was killed in battle with the Spaniards near Dunkirchen. What happened to my second brother, I don't know how my father and mother didn't know what happened to me.
Since I was the third in the family, I was not prepared for any craft, and from a young age my head was full of all sorts of nonsense. My father, who was already very old, gave me a fairly tolerable education in the amount that can be obtained by being brought up at home and attending a city school. He wanted me to become a lawyer, but I dreamed of sea voyages and did not want to hear about anything else. This passion for the sea took me so far that I went against my will - moreover: against the direct prohibition of my father and neglected the entreaties of my mother and the advice of my friends; it seemed that there was something fatal in the natural inclination of the mouth that pushed me towards the sad life that was my lot.
My father, a sedate and intelligent man, guessed about my undertaking and warned me seriously and thoroughly. One morning he called me to his room, to which he was chained by gout, and began to reproach me warmly. He asked what other reasons, besides wandering inclinations, could I have for leaving my father's house and my native country, where it is easy for me to go out into the people, where I can increase my fortune with diligence and work and live in contentment and with pleasantness. They leave their homeland in pursuit of adventure, he said. or those who have nothing to lose, or ambitious people, eager to create a higher position for themselves; embarking on enterprises that go beyond the framework of everyday life, they strive to improve their affairs and cover their name with glory; but such things are either beyond my strength or humiliating for me; my place is the middle, that is, what can be called the highest stage of a modest existence, which, as he was convinced by many years of experience, is for us the best in the world, the most suitable for human happiness, freed from need and deprivation, physical labor and suffering falling to the lot of the lower classes, and from luxury, ambition, arrogance and envy of the upper classes. How pleasant such a life is, he said, I can already judge by the fact that all, placed in other conditions, envy him: even kings often complain about the bitter fate of people born for great deeds, and regret that fate did not put them between two extremes - insignificance and greatness, and the sage speaks in favor of the middle, as a measure of true happiness, when he prays to heaven not to send him either poverty or wealth.
I only have to look, said my father, and I will see that all the misfortunes of life are distributed between the upper and lower classes, and that the least of them falls to the lot of middle-class people who are not subject to so many vicissitudes of fate as the nobility and the common people; even from illnesses, bodily and mental, they are insured more than those whose illnesses are caused by vices, luxury and all kinds of excesses, on the one hand, hard work, want, poor and insufficient nutrition - on the other, being, thus, a natural consequence of lifestyle.

a sailor from York, who lived for twenty-eight years all alone on a desert island off the coast of America near the mouths of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died; outlining his unexpected release by pirates, written by himself

I was born in 1632 in the city of York into a wealthy family of foreign origin. My father was from Bremen and settled first in Hull. Having made a good fortune by trading, he left business and moved to York. Here he married my mother, whose relatives were called Robinsons - an old surname in those places. They also called me Robinson. My father's surname was Kreutzner, but, according to the custom of the English to distort foreign words, they began to call us Crusoe. Now we ourselves pronounce and write our surname in this way; That's what my friends always called me.

I had two older brothers. One served in Flanders, in the English infantry regiment - the same one that was once commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart; he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was killed in battle with the Spaniards near Dunkirchen. What happened to my second brother, I don't know how my father and mother didn't know what happened to me.

Since I was the third in the family, I was not prepared for any craft, and from a young age my head was full of all sorts of nonsense. My father, who was already very old, gave me a fairly tolerable education in the amount that can be obtained by being brought up at home and attending a city school. He wanted me to become a lawyer, but I dreamed of sea voyages and did not want to hear about anything else. This passion for the sea took me so far that I went against my will - moreover: against the direct prohibition of my father and neglected the entreaties of my mother and the advice of friends; it seemed that there was something fatal in the natural inclination of the mouth that pushed me towards the sad life that was my lot.

My father, a sedate and intelligent man, guessed about my undertaking and warned me seriously and thoroughly. One morning he called me to his room, to which he was chained with gout, and began to reproach me warmly. He asked what other reasons, besides wandering inclinations, could I have for leaving my father's house and my native country, where it is easy for me to go among people, where I can increase my fortune by diligence and work and live in contentment and with pleasantness. They leave their homeland in pursuit of adventure, he said. or those who have nothing to lose, or ambitious people, eager to create a higher position for themselves; embarking on enterprises that go beyond the framework of everyday life, they strive to improve their affairs and cover their name with glory; but such things are either beyond my strength or humiliating for me; my place is the middle, that is, what can be called the highest stage of a modest existence, which, as he was convinced by many years of experience, is for us the best in the world, the most suitable for human happiness, freed from need and deprivation, physical labor and suffering falling to the lot of the lower classes, and from luxury, ambition, arrogance and envy of the upper classes. How pleasant such a life is, he said, I can already judge by the fact that all, placed in other conditions, envy him: even kings often complain about the bitter fate of people born for great deeds, and regret that fate did not put them between two extremes - insignificance and greatness, and the sage speaks in favor of the middle, as a measure of true happiness, when he prays to heaven not to send him either poverty or wealth.

I only have to look, said my father, and I will see that all the misfortunes of life are distributed between the upper and lower classes, and that the least of them falls to the lot of middle-class people who are not subject to so many vicissitudes of fate as the nobility and the common people; even from illnesses, bodily and mental, they are insured more than those whose illnesses are caused by vices, luxury and all kinds of excesses, on the one hand, hard work, want, poor and insufficient nutrition - on the other, being, thus, a natural consequence of lifestyle. The middle state is the most favorable for the flourishing of all the virtues, for all the joys of being; abundance and peace are his servants; he is accompanied and blessed by his temperance, temperance, health, peace of mind, sociability, all kinds of pleasant entertainments, all kinds of pleasures. A person of an average condition goes through his life path quietly and smoothly, not burdening himself with either physical or mental overwork, not being sold into slavery for a piece of bread, not tormented by the search for a way out of tangled situations that deprive the body of sleep, and the soul of rest, not consumed by envy. without secretly burning with the fire of ambition. Surrounded by contentment, he easily and imperceptibly slides to the grave, judiciously tasting the sweetness of life without an admixture of bitterness, feeling happy and learning by everyday experience to understand this more and more clearly and deeply.

Then my father persistently and very benevolently began to beg me not to be childish, not to rush headlong into the pool of need and suffering, from which the position in the world that I occupied by my birth, it seemed, should protect me. He said that I was not forced to work for a piece of bread, that he would take care of me, try to put me on the path that he had just advised me to take, and that if I turned out to be a failure or unhappy, I would only have to blame bad luck or on their own oversight. In warning me against a step that will bring me nothing but harm, he thus fulfills his duty and abdicates all responsibility; in a word, if I stay at home and arrange my life according to his instructions, he will be a good father to me, but he will not have a hand in my death, encouraging me to leave. In conclusion, he gave me the example of my older brother, whom he also persistently urged not to take part in the Dutch war, but all his persuasions were in vain: carried away by dreams, the young man fled to the army and was killed. And although (so my father ended his speech) he will never stop praying for me, but he declares to me directly that if I do not give up my crazy idea, I will not have God's blessing. The time will come when I will regret that I neglected his advice, but then, perhaps, there will be no one to help me correct the wrong done.

I saw how, during the last part of this speech (which was truly prophetic, although, I think, my father himself did not suspect it), copious tears built up on the face of the old man, especially when he spoke of my murdered brother; and when the priest said that the time for repentance would come for me, but there would be no one to help me, he broke off his speech out of excitement, declaring that his heart was overflowing and he could not utter a word more.

I was sincerely touched by this speech (and who would not have been touched by it?) and firmly decided not to think about leaving for foreign lands anymore, but to settle in my homeland, as my father wished. But alas! - several days passed, and nothing remained of my decision: in a word, a few weeks after my conversation with my father, in order to avoid new father's exhortations, I decided to run away from home secretly. But I restrained the first ardor of my impatience and acted slowly: choosing a time when my mother, as it seemed to me, was more ordinary in spirit, I took her to a corner and told her that all my thoughts were so absorbed by the desire to see foreign lands. that even if I get down to some business, I still do not have enough patience to bring it to the end and that let better father will let me go voluntarily, because otherwise I will have to do without his permission. I said that I was eighteen years old, and in these years it is too late to learn a trade, too late to train as a lawyer. And even if, let's say, I became a clerk's clerk, I know in advance that I will run away from my patron, not having reached the time of temptation, and go to sea. I asked my mother to persuade the priest to let me travel as an experience; then if I don't like this life. I turn back home and will not leave again; and a gave his word to make up for lost time by double diligence.

Daniel Defoe

"The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe"

The life, extraordinary and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived for 28 years all alone on a desert island off the coast of America near the mouths of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died, outlining his unexpected liberation by pirates; written by himself.

Robinson was the third son in the family, a darling, he was not prepared for any trade, and from childhood his head was full of "all sorts of nonsense" - mainly dreams of sea voyages. His older brother died in Flanders fighting the Spaniards, the middle one went missing, and therefore they don’t want to hear at home about letting the last son go to sea. The father, “a sedate and intelligent man”, tearfully implores him to strive for a modest existence, in every way extolling the “average state”, which protects a sane person from evil vicissitudes of fate. The exhortations of the father only temporarily reason with the 18-year-old undergrowth. The attempt of the intractable son to enlist the support of his mother is also not crowned with success, and for almost a year he breaks his parents' hearts, until September 1, 1651, he sails from Hull to London, tempted by a free passage (the captain is the father of his friend).

Already the first day at sea was a harbinger of future trials. The storm that breaks out awakens repentance in the soul of the disobedient, however, subsided with bad weather and finally dispelled by drinking (“as usual with sailors”). A week later, on the Yarmouth roadstead, a new, much more ferocious storm flies. The experience of the team selflessly rescuing the ship does not help: the ship is sinking, the sailors are picked up by a boat from a neighboring ship. On the shore, Robinson again experiences a fleeting temptation to heed the harsh lesson and return to his parental home, but "evil fate" keeps him on his chosen disastrous path. In London, he meets the captain of a ship preparing to go to Guinea, and decides to sail with them - fortunately, this will not cost him anything, he will be the captain's "companion and friend". How will the late Robinson, wise by trials, reproach himself for this prudent carelessness of his! If he were hired as a simple sailor, he would learn the duties and work of a sailor, otherwise he is just a merchant making a lucky turn on his forty pounds. But he acquires some nautical knowledge: the captain willingly works with him, while away the time. Upon returning to England, the captain soon dies, and Robinson sets off on his own to Guinea.

It was an unsuccessful expedition: their ship is captured by a Turkish corsair, and young Robinson, as if in fulfillment of his father’s gloomy prophecies, goes through a difficult period of trials, turning from a merchant into a “miserable slave” of the captain of a robber ship. He uses it at home, does not take it to the sea, and for two years Robinson has no hope of breaking free. The owner, meanwhile, weakens his supervision, sends a prisoner with a Moor and a boy Xuri to fish at the table, and one day, sailing far from the coast, Robinson throws the Moor overboard and persuades Xuri to escape. He is well prepared: the boat has a supply of crackers and fresh water, tools, guns and gunpowder. On the way, the fugitives shoot living creatures on the shore, even kill a lion and a leopard, peace-loving natives supply them with water and food. Finally they are picked up by an oncoming Portuguese ship. Condescending to the plight of the rescued, the captain undertakes to take Robinson to Brazil for free (they are sailing there); moreover, he buys his launch and "faithful Xuri", promising in ten years ("if he accepts Christianity") to return the boy's freedom. “It made a difference,” Robinson concludes complacently, having done away with remorse.

In Brazil, he settles down thoroughly and, it seems, for a long time: he receives Brazilian citizenship, buys land for plantations of tobacco and sugar cane, works on it in the sweat of his brow, belatedly regretting that Xuri is not around (how an extra pair of hands would help!). Paradoxically, he comes precisely to that “golden mean” with which his father seduced him - so why, he laments now, should he leave his parents' house and climb to the ends of the world? Neighbors-planters are located to him, willingly help, he manages to get from England, where he left money with the widow of his first captain, the necessary goods, agricultural implements and household utensils. Here it would be nice to calm down and continue his profitable business, but the “passion for wandering” and, most importantly, “the desire to get rich sooner than circumstances allowed” prompt Robinson to drastically break the established way of life.

It all started with the fact that the plantations required workers, and slave labor was expensive, since the delivery of blacks from Africa was fraught with the dangers of a sea passage and was still hampered by legal obstacles (for example, the English parliament would only allow private individuals to trade in slaves in 1698) . After listening to Robinson's stories about his trips to the shores of Guinea, the neighboring planters decide to equip a ship and secretly bring slaves to Brazil, dividing them here among themselves. Robinson is invited to participate as a ship's clerk responsible for the purchase of blacks in Guinea, and he himself will not invest any money in the expedition, and he will receive slaves on an equal basis with everyone, and even in his absence, companions will oversee his plantations and watch over his interests. Of course, he is tempted by favorable conditions, habitually (and not very convincingly) cursing "vagrant inclinations." What "inclinations" if he thoroughly and sensibly, observing all the melancholy formalities, disposes of the property he leaves behind! Never before had fate warned him so clearly: he sailed on the first of September 1659, that is, eight years after his escape from his parental home, to the day. In the second week of the voyage, a fierce squall came up, and for twelve days they were battered by the "fury of the elements." The ship leaked, needed to be repaired, the crew lost three sailors (a total of seventeen people on the ship), and it was no longer to Africa - it would be more likely to get to land. A second storm is played out, they are carried far from the trade routes, and then the ship runs aground in the sight of the earth, and on the only remaining boat the team "gives itself to the will of the raging waves." Even if they do not drown, rowing to the shore, the surf will blow their boat to pieces near the land, and the approaching land seems to them "more terrible than the sea itself." A huge shaft "the size of a mountain" overturns the boat, and exhausted, miraculously not finished off by the overtaking waves, Robinson gets out on land.

Alas, he alone escaped, as evidenced by three hats thrown ashore, a cap and two unpaired shoes. Frenzied joy is replaced by grief for the fallen comrades, the pangs of hunger and cold, and the fear of wild animals. He spends the first night in a tree. By morning the tide had driven their ship close to the shore, and Robinson swam to it. From spare masts, he builds a raft and loads on it "everything necessary for life": food, clothing, carpentry tools, guns and pistols, shot and gunpowder, sabers, saws, an ax and a hammer. With incredible difficulty, at the risk of tipping over every minute, he brings the raft to a calm bay and sets off to find a place to live. From the top of the hill, Robinson understands his “bitter fate”: this is an island, and, by all indications, uninhabited. Fenced on all sides by chests and boxes, he spends the second night on the island, and in the morning he again swims to the ship, in a hurry to take what he can, until the first storm breaks him into pieces. On this trip, Robinson took a lot of useful things from the ship - again guns and gunpowder, clothes, a sail, mattresses and pillows, iron crowbars, nails, a screwdriver and a sharpener. On the shore, he builds a tent, transfers food and gunpowder to it from the sun and rain, arranges a bed for himself. In total, he visited the ship twelve times, always getting hold of something valuable - canvas, gear, crackers, rum, flour, "iron parts" (he, to his great chagrin, almost completely drowned them). On his last run, he came across a chiffonier with money (this is one of the famous episodes of the novel) and philosophically reasoned that in his position all this “heap of gold” was not worth any of the knives that lay in the next box, however, after thinking, “I decided to take them with you." That same night a storm broke out, and next morning nothing was left of the ship.

The first concern of Robinson is the arrangement of reliable, safe housing - and most importantly, in view of the sea, from where only one can expect salvation. On the slope of the hill, he finds a flat clearing and on it, against a small depression in the rock, he decides to pitch a tent, protecting it with a palisade of strong trunks driven into the ground. It was possible to enter the "fortress" only by a ladder. He expanded the recess in the rock - a cave turned out, he uses it as a cellar. This work took many days. He quickly gains experience. In the midst of construction work, rain poured down, lightning flashed, and Robinson's first thought: gunpowder! It was not the fear of death that frightened him, but the possibility of losing gunpowder at once, and for two weeks he pours it into bags and boxes and hides it in different places (at least a hundred). At the same time, he now knows how much gunpowder he has: two hundred and forty pounds. Without numbers (money, goods, cargo) Robinson is no longer Robinson.

Involved in historical memory, growing from the experience of generations and relying on the future, although Robinson is alone, he is not lost in time, which is why the construction of a calendar becomes the first concern of this life-builder - this is a large pillar on which he makes a notch every day. The first date there is September 30, 1659. From now on, each of his days is named and taken into account, and for the reader, especially those of that time, the reflection of a great story falls on the works and days of Robinson. During his absence, the monarchy was restored in England, and the return of Robinson "guesses" the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, which brought to the throne William of Orange, Defoe's benevolent patron; in the same years, the “Great Fire” (1666) will happen in London, and the revived urban planning will unrecognizably change the face of the capital; during this time Milton and Spinoza will die; Charles II will issue the Habeas Corpus Act, a law on the inviolability of the person. And in Russia, which, as it turns out, will also be indifferent to the fate of Robinson, at this time they burn Avvakum, execute Razin, Sophia becomes regent under Ivan V and Peter I. These distant lightnings flicker over a man who is burning an earthenware pot.

Among the "not very valuable" things taken from the ship (remember the "heap of gold") were ink, pens, paper, "three very good Bibles", astronomical instruments, spyglasses. Now, when his life is getting better (by the way, three cats and a dog, also on board, live with him, then a moderately talkative parrot will be added), it's time to comprehend what is happening, and until the ink and paper run out, Robinson keeps a diary so that "at least lighten your soul a little." This is a kind of ledger of "evil" and "good": in the left column - he is thrown onto a desert island with no hope of deliverance; in the right - he is alive, and all his comrades drowned. In the diary, he describes in detail his activities, makes observations - both remarkable (regarding the sprouts of barley and rice), and everyday ("It was raining." "It's been raining all day again").

The earthquake that happened forces Robinson to think about a new place for housing - it is not safe under the mountain. Meanwhile, a wrecked ship is nailed to the island, and Robinson takes building material and tools from it. On the same days, he is overcome by a fever, and in a feverish dream a man "in flames" appears to him, threatening him with death because he "does not repent." Lamenting about his fatal delusions, Robinson for the first time "in many years" makes a prayer of repentance, reads the Bible - and is treated to the best of his ability. Rum, infused with tobacco, after which he slept for two nights, will raise him to his feet. Accordingly, one day fell out of his calendar. Having recovered, Robinson finally examines the island, where he has lived for more than ten months. In its flat part, among unknown plants, he meets acquaintances - melon and grapes; the latter pleases him especially, he will dry it in the sun, and in the off-season raisins will strengthen his strength. And the island is rich in living creatures - hares (very tasteless), foxes, turtles (these, on the contrary, will pleasantly diversify his table) and even penguins, which cause bewilderment in these latitudes. He looks at these heavenly beauties with a master's eye - he has no one to share them with. He decides to set up a hut here, fortify it well and live for several days at the “dacha” (this is his word), spending most of the time “on the old ashes” near the sea, from where liberation can come.

Continuously working, Robinson, for the second and third year, does not give himself relief. Here is his day: “In the foreground, religious duties and the reading of the Holy Scriptures<…>The second of the daily activities was hunting<…>The third was the sorting, drying and cooking of killed or caught game." Add to this the care of the crops, and then the harvest; add livestock care; add housework (make a shovel, hang a shelf in the cellar), which takes a lot of time and effort due to lack of tools and inexperience. Robinson has the right to be proud of himself: "With patience and work, I brought to the end all the work to which I was forced by circumstances." It's a joke to say, he will bake bread, doing without salt, yeast and a suitable oven!

His cherished dream is to build a boat and get to the mainland. He does not even think about who and what he will meet there, the main thing is to escape from captivity. Driven by impatience, without thinking about how to deliver the boat from the forest to the water, Robinson fells a huge tree and carves a pirogue out of it for several months. When she is finally ready, he will not be able to launch her into the water. He stoically endures failure: Robinson has become wiser and more self-possessed, he has learned to balance "evil" and "good." He prudently uses the resulting leisure to update a worn-out wardrobe: he “builds” himself a fur suit (trousers and jacket), sews a hat and even makes an umbrella. Five more years pass in everyday work, marked by the fact that he built a boat, launched it into the water and equipped it with a sail. You can’t get to a distant land on it, but you can go around the island. The current takes him to the open sea, with great difficulty he returns to the shore not far from the "cottage". Having suffered fear, he will lose his desire for sea walks for a long time. This year, Robinson is improving in pottery and basket weaving (stocks are growing), and most importantly, he makes himself a royal gift - a pipe! There is an abyss of tobacco on the island.

His measured existence, filled with work and useful leisure, suddenly bursts like a soap bubble. On one of his walks, Robinson sees a bare footprint in the sand. Frightened to death, he returns to the "fortress" and sits there for three days, puzzling over an incomprehensible riddle: whose trace? Most likely, these are savages from the mainland. Fear settles in his soul: what if he is discovered? The savages might eat it (he had heard of it), they might destroy the crops and disperse the herd. Starting to go out a little, he takes security measures: he strengthens the “fortress”, arranges a new (distant) corral for goats. Among these troubles, he again comes across human tracks, and then sees the remains of a cannibal feast. Looks like the island has been visited again. Horror has been possessing him for all two years, that he remains without getting out on his part of the island (where there is a “fortress” and a “cottage”), living “always on the alert”. But gradually life returns to the "former calm course", although he continues to build bloodthirsty plans on how to ward off the savages from the island. His ardor is cooled by two considerations: 1) these are tribal feuds, the savages did nothing wrong to him personally; 2) why are they worse than the Spaniards who flooded South America with blood? These conciliatory thoughts are prevented by a new visit of savages (the twenty-third anniversary of his stay on the island is underway), who landed this time on "his" side of the island. Having celebrated their terrible feast, the savages swim away, and Robinson is still afraid to look towards the sea for a long time.

And the same sea beckons him with the hope of liberation. On a stormy night, he hears a cannon shot - some ship gives a distress signal. All night long he burns a huge fire, and in the morning he sees in the distance the wreck of a ship that has crashed on the reefs. Longing for loneliness, Robinson prays to the sky that "at least one" of the team escaped, but "evil fate", as if in a mockery, throws the cabin boy's corpse ashore. And on the ship he will not find a single living soul. It is noteworthy that the poor "booty" from the ship does not upset him very much: he stands firmly on his feet, fully provides for himself, and only gunpowder, shirts, linen - and, according to old memory, money pleases him. He is obsessed with the idea of ​​​​escape to the mainland, and since it is impossible to do it alone, Robinson dreams of saving the savage destined for “slaughter” to help, reasoning in the usual categories: “acquire a servant, or maybe a comrade or assistant.” He has been making cunning plans for a year and a half, but in life, as usual, everything turns out simply: cannibals arrive, the prisoner escapes, Robinson knocks down one pursuer with the butt of a gun, and shoots another to death.

Robinson's life is filled with new - and pleasant - worries. Friday, as he called the rescued, turned out to be a capable student, a faithful and kind comrade. Robinson puts three words at the basis of his education: "master" (referring to himself), "yes" and "no". He eradicates bad savage habits by teaching Friday to eat broth and wear clothes, as well as to "know the true god" (previously, Friday worshiped "an old man named Bunamuki who lives high"). Mastering English. Friday tells that seventeen Spaniards who escaped from the lost ship live on the mainland with his fellow tribesmen. Robinson decides to build a new pirogue and, together with Friday, rescue the captives. The new arrival of the savages disrupts their plans. This time, the cannibals bring in a Spaniard and an old man who turns out to be Friday's father. Robinson and Friday, who is no worse than his master with a gun, free them. The idea of ​​gathering everyone on the island, building a reliable ship and trying their luck at sea is to the liking of the Spaniard. In the meantime, a new plot is being sown, goats are being caught - a considerable replenishment is expected. Taking an oath from the Spaniard not to surrender to the Inquisition, Robinson sends him with Friday's father to the mainland. And on the eighth day, new guests come to the island. The rebellious team from the English ship brings the captain, assistant and passenger to be punished. Robinson cannot miss such a chance. Taking advantage of the fact that he knows every path here, he frees the captain and his comrades in misfortune, and five of them deal with the villains. Robinson's only condition is to bring him and Friday to England. The rebellion is pacified, two notorious villains hang on a yardarm, three more are left on the island, humanely providing everything necessary; but more valuable than provisions, tools and weapons - the very experience of survival that Robinson shares with the new settlers, there will be five of them in total - two more will escape from the ship, not really trusting the forgiveness of the captain.

Robinson's twenty-eight-year odyssey ended: on June 11, 1686, he returned to England. His parents died long ago, but a good friend, the widow of his first captain, is still alive. In Lisbon, he learns that all these years his Brazilian plantation was managed by an official from the treasury, and since it now turns out that he is alive, all the income for this period is returned to him. A wealthy man, he takes care of two nephews, and prepares the second for sailors. Finally, Robinson marries (he is sixty-one years old) "not without benefit and quite successfully in all respects." He has two sons and a daughter.

Robinson is the third son in the family. He dreamed of sea voyages, but his parents did not want to listen to this. But all the same, he sailed from Gool to London on the ship of a friend's father on September 1, 1651. But on the very first day, remorse arose, caused by a storm, and which calmed down along with the bad weather. In the next storm, the ship sinks, and the sailors are brought ashore on the boat of a passing ship. Robinson, frightened, wanted to return to his parents' house, but again gets on board a ship sailing to Guinea.

As a result of the next expedition, Robinson became the "wretched slave" of the captain of the robber ship. He runs away from him, gets on a Portuguese ship. In Brazil, he receives citizenship, cultivates the acquired piece of land for sugar cane and tobacco. But again, Robinson finds himself on board a ship - secretly travels to Brazil with fellow slave planters to work on their plantations. On the way, storms come one after another, the ship, having strayed far from the trade routes, at the sight of the earth, runs aground. The team moved into the boat on the raging waves, but a huge shaft overturned it. Robinson miraculously made it to land. The only one from the crew.

Shrouded in hunger, fear and grief for his dead comrades, Robinson spent the first night on a tree. In the morning, not far from the shore, there was a ship driven by the tide. Having sailed to it, Robinson made a raft of masts, on which he transported everything he needed to the shore: tools, clothes, an ax, a hammer and guns. Having gone in search of housing, Robinson realizes that this is an uninhabited island. The next morning, he again went to the ship, trying to bring everything from there as much as possible, until another storm broke out, which completely wrecked the ship that same night.

Arranged Robinson safe housing near the sea, where you can expect rescue. He pitched a tent on a flat clearing on the slope of a hill against a depression in the rock. He fences it with a palisade, driving strong trunks into the ground. The entrance to the fortress is only by a ladder. He uses the widened depression in the rock as a cellar. Having lived like this for quite a few days, he quickly gains experience. For two weeks he poured gunpowder into many small bags and hid them from the rain in different places. Getting used to a new life, Robinson has changed a lot. Now his goal is to survive. In the process of one work, he notices something else that is beneficial. He has to master new professions, the laws of the world around him, learn to interact with him. He mastered the skills of hunting goats, at the same time he managed to tame several of them by adding meat and milk to his diet, he learned how to make cheese. He managed to establish agriculture from the grains of barley and rice, which were shaken out of the bag and sprouted.

In order not to get lost in time, Robinson built a wooden calendar, on which he marked the days with a knife, making a notch. A dog and three cats (from the ship) live with him, he tamed a talking parrot. He keeps a diary - paper and ink are also from the ship. Reads the bible. Having examined the island, he finds grapes that dry in the sun. Raisins reinforce strength. Feels like the owner of these heavenly beauties.

Years go by every day. He built a boat, but could not launch it - it is far from the shore. During the next walk, seeing a footprint in the sand, Robinson, frightened, begins to "strengthen".

In the 23rd year of his life on the island, he saw how savages visited his island to eat their victim. Robinson is scared. He dreams of escaping to the mainland, and to help for this he decided to free the captive savage, who will be brought to be eaten. Robinson did this a year and a half later and named the saved Friday. He teaches him the trade, to speak, to wear clothes. Friday considers Robinson "God".

Together they will pacify the rebellious crew of the English ship, which will deliver the captain, assistant and passenger to their island. As a condition for the release of the ship, Robinson asks them to be delivered to England with Friday, and the rebels to be left on the island for correction. And so it was done.

After 28 years, Robinson returned home. His parents are dead. All these years, his plantation was managed by an official from the treasury and Robinson returned the income for the entire period. Being wealthy, he takes care of two nephews, marries at the age of 62 "quite successfully." He has two sons and a daughter.

Compositions