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The Children's Treasure Book - Vol IV - Robinson Crusoe - Illustrated By F.N.J. Moody and Others
The Children's Treasure Book - Vol IV - Robinson Crusoe - Illustrated By F.N.J. Moody and Others
The Children's Treasure Book - Vol IV - Robinson Crusoe - Illustrated By F.N.J. Moody and Others
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The Children's Treasure Book - Vol IV - Robinson Crusoe - Illustrated By F.N.J. Moody and Others

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Volume four of the Children's Treasure Book containing Daniel Defoe's classic novel Robinson Crusoe. The book is illustrated in colour and black and white by F. N. J. Moody and others. Pook Press celebrates the great Golden Age of Illustration in children's literature. Many of the earliest children's books, particularly those dating back to the 1850s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pook Press are working to republish these classic works in affordable, high quality, colour editions, using the original text and artwork so these works can delight another generation of children.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 16, 2013
ISBN9781473382725
The Children's Treasure Book - Vol IV - Robinson Crusoe - Illustrated By F.N.J. Moody and Others
Author

Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born at the beginning of a period of history known as the English Restoration, so-named because it was when King Charles II restored the monarchy to England following the English Civil War and the brief dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell. Defoe’s contemporaries included Isaac Newton and Samuel Pepys.

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Rating: 3.6436781609195403 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Robinson Crusoe starts off whiney. And moany. And oh-woe-is-me, and why did I do that?

    This is spoiler-ish.

    Then he spends 20-odd years alone on a not-desert island. He learns to be alone--except for pets, and a parrot who he teaches to talk, and God. Because of course he finds God and starts studying the bible. It was all downhill from here.

    From whiney guy he becomes the King. Because of course a native man will be his servant! And of course his servan'ts father and the random Spanish guy will serve him too! And then he becomes the Governor, because of course those who survive a mutiny on their ship will want Robinson to be their boss! And hey, he'll just eave the Spanish behind!

    I was going to recommend this for a friend's 5th grade daughter--she reads like crazy, and would love the way he builds his life on the island. But then the servant bossy governor bits come in. Meh.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sure, it's not for everyone, but what book is? I've read it many times. It's a great book, especially after a tough week or month surrounded by traffic, computers, and smog. Then I just want to be Robinson on my own private island, building, inventing, and slowly going happily mad!

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Unreadable prose (37 semicolons in a single sentence!) and a self-satisfied narrator make for a very unlikeable book. Defoe was a sexist, racist, colonialist pig, and this book reflects little more than his own crazed view of the world. It's a useful historical document, of course.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's a classic; how could I not give it 5 stars. I was delighted to discover how very readable the book is despite the language of early 1700s. Also surprised that the two main themes of the book are mechanical and spiritual. Mechanical, in the sense that there is a lot of practical detail about how Crusoe creates a living from the bits and pieces he rescues from the wrecked ship. And spiritual, in his struggles to come to terms with life alone (until near the end) on an island (not desert, btw) and how considers his relationship with God under the circumstances. Doubtless one of today's editors would have asked for a rewrite to reduce the book in half, but the rambling detail is part of its classic charm. Read slowly and it's easy to be with Crusoe for a LONG time.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    i so longed for my own deserted island after reading this
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Four stars on the strength of it's historical/classical significance...I read an abbreviated version as a young boy....enjoyed it much then...I thank I liked the adventure story of a very competent person...in this reading Defoe's religious themes were more in site...took a long time to get through.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    2008, Blackstone Audiobooks, Read by John LeeI’ve been wanting to read this classic, first published in 1719, for some time. It is in [1001 Books] and it is widely acknowledged at the first English novel. Defoe presents readers with a fascinating scenario: the prolonged and intense solitude of Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on a deserted island. Crusoe’s grappling with his new existence is captivating. First, of course, he needs to learn how he will feed himself; but in time he develops a relationship with the natural world of the island which allows him not only to survive but to fashion a quite comfortable, if solitary, existence. And he develops a personal connection to God that is both rich and rewarding, where before his mishap, he had none. Crusoe’s encounters with the native islanders date the publication in terms of master/slave relations with the savages – and and I found it difficult not to squirm, reading from my twenty-first century chair (what’s more, I could not but notice that such relations are left absent from the most recent re-telling of Robinson Crusoe, the 2000 film Castaway.Good read. Not one I will revisit, but one that is certainly worthwhile.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The storyline of this novel is intriguing enough, but since the medium was so new, Defoe's writing leaves much to be desires. Crusoe's constant listing and mood swings are hard to get through after a while.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Started rereading this as a refresher before I pick up Foe - and wow, is it a different book now. When I was a kid, I read this at the crux between my nautical fiction craze and my self-sufficiency craze, so naturally the seagoing and the invention with which Crusoe builds his encampment interested me most. This time around, though, I'm fascinated by his descriptions of living with and without fear of different varieties, and by what is middle-class and middle-aged about those fears. Very different. Hm.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I didn't think I really needed to read this book. After all the plot line is pretty well known and the survival story of being stuck on a desert island has been repeated in many other books as well as used multiple times in Hollywood blockbusters. And somehow I was under the impression that when Crusoe discovers another human being on this island the phrase 'Thank God it's Friday' was uttered and became a standard phrase to express the end of a long week as well as a chain restaurant (that last part I don't think is true, or at least I missed the line when reading the book).

    But this book is definitely worth reading. It is the original castaway story and I found it easy to read, very exciting, and was surprised to realize that many of my assumptions about the story were wrong. I loved the ingenuity that Crusoe employed in surviving from capturing and taming wild goats to devising methods of shelter. But the biggest surprise was the inner dialog and philosophy scattered throughout the book. Crusoe was one of the earliest practitioners of keeping a gratitude journal. Rather than moaning and complaining about being stuck on an island and the only survivor, he was grateful for the few good things he had.

    The book definitely exhibits some pretty strong racial prejudices. Although it would not be acceptable today, it seemed to reflect the time that it was written.

    Surprisingly good book to read!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Started out quite interesting - then made the mistake of reading the historical basis for the story before finishing (Selkirk's Island). With the illusion shattered, I couldn't get back to the adventure with any gusto. :(
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is one of those books that is normally read in childhood that I just never got around to, that being said, I'm not sorry I skipped it as a child. I can't believe this book is considered a children's classic. It promotes slavery as a way of life, discusses lifestyles of cannibals, and overly promotes religion. I could over look all of those things given that the book was written in 1719, and would have been common conceptions, but seriously, this is the stuff of my childhood nightmares.

    The author has Crusoe killing cats to keep the population down, drowning kittens, enslaving a man that he was obliged to save. It wont give me nightmares... But I can't say I've enjoyed this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I may be the only person who has read two books by Daniel Defoe, neither of them Robinson Crusoe or Moll Flanders. Decided to finally remedy that. It may be heretical to say, but Robinson Crusoe feels more like a historical curiosity than a great novel. If the Odyssey or Bleak House were published for the first time today they would be considered masterpieces. If Robinson Crusoe were published today one would think the action was somewhat lame, the character's psychology implausible, and the novel lacking in a coherent structure, especially as manifested by the ending, not to mention the books racism and imperialism.

    That said, it as a very worthwhile historical curiosity and it is hard to imagine it not having been written and it is generally enjoyable to read,. The first quarter is a series of adventures culminating in Crusoe being stranded on an uninhabited island in the Caribbean. The last quarter is another series of adventures, not just his escape but -- oddly continuing to adventures like being attacked by wolves while traveling overland from Portugal to Northern France.,

    The middle half of the book is the timeless story of Crusoe's 27 years on the island, starting with his meticulous efforts to save as much as possible from the ship and continuing through his becoming increasingly productive through agriculture and livestock rearing, much of it described in minute and fascinating detail. Crusoe himself, however, is a stock character who has no psychological depth, no depth of emotion about his situation, and often has attitudes that seem implausible for someone stranded alone for more than twenty years.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    “It is never too late to be wise.” No doubt like many others I knew this story from its techni-colour reincarnations but had actually never read the original so had no idea how Robinson Crusoe got to the island or even off it. As such felt that it was time that I put that right even if it was tough to get those versions out of my mind.This book was originally published nearly 300 years ago in 1719 and is regarded as one of the first English novels, its even based on a true story but unfortunately for me it is showing the signs of age.The book explores many issues including religion and colonialism and it was interesting that the first word that Crusoe teaches Friday is 'master' but the book is so top heavy with all the action being either at the beginning or the very end with little happening in between and despite living on the island for over 20 years on his own Crusoe never fully explored it which seems a bit of a stretch to put it mildly. It also seems amazing that the island was not visited by another human being for 20+ years given the ending when it seemed to suddenly appear on the tourist must to list.On the whole I enjoyed the beginning and the end where it felt like a boy's own tale yet found the middle ponderous and disappointing which has affected my general opinion overall.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In my eyes the only thing remarkable about this tale is the notion that it is purportedly one of the first English novels. It is an adventure story set in the 1600s about Englishman Robinson Crusoe's experiences as a sailor and his survival alone on an uninhabited island after surviving a ship wreck. While I found portions of the story captivating, too much of it is burdened with excrutiatingly detailed passages of Crusoe's life on the island. I learned some practical things about survival, and I found notable the themes of self preservation, human perseverence, and resourcefulness. It would be unfair to condemn the book too harshly for being a product of its time, which includes all the nastiness of European imperialism and the arrogance and prejudices that came with it, but I found the attitude toward the "savages" (oh, that would be the natives of South America) difficult to suffer and remain on the side of the story's protagonist. Defoe would have best served the novel had he omitted the detailed chapters that chronicled Crusoe's return journey through the Continent and instead concluded simply with his return to England.Overall the novel is inconsistent in its pace and bores the reader with trivialities. The notion that Crusoe found a newfound faith in God on the island and proceeded directly thereafter to so gracelessly enslave a native isn't so much surprising as it is inadvertantly satirical.Three stars only because of the historical significance of this, one of the first, novels in the English language. Otherwise, I would have given it two stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its account of a man's industry and occasionally outright boredom in the face of trying circumstances is inspiring and classic.Honestly, if you dig too deep, there are a lot of uncomfortable themes about race, gender, and religion that might tarnish any fond childhood memories you have (I recommend the excellent essay "Robinson Crusoe and the Ethnic Sidekick").To summarize, it's about a man who uses and possesses everything and everyone he sees. You can draw a lot of conclusions about sexism, white supremacy, and capitalism and you really wouldn't be too far off base.While it's good to keep this in mind, you should also keep in mind that it's over three hundred years old. Not that this makes any of the enclosed sentiments any less awful, but the prevailing ideas of the time should at least be taken into account.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5


    Fascinating book both for its detailed subject matter and its insight into the mindset and culture of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    he waited 20-something years to meet Friday. the first teo chapters were packed with action and then he was alone on his island. turns out that u need at least two people in a story and to create conflict so that part was just slow for me to read. the last three chapters are packed again with lots of actions and people on the island.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the best young adult books ever written. Deserted islands and shipwrecks started with Dafoe.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In "Robinson Crusoe", Robinson disobeys his father's wishes and goes with the sea. The boat is shipwrecked and he is the only one who survives. He makes a home on an island, which is surprisingly beast free. Robinson raises goats for meat and company. He also goes out frequently to get grapes for raisins. Cannibals from another island capture a merchant ship and come over to his island for the sacrifice. Robinson is able to rescue the sailors and get them to take him back to a real home. This book was very descriptive. The plot was somewhat predictable. I would recommend this book. This book seems like someone actually wrote this on an island. It was very real. Some places in the book were boring because everyday did not have action. Overall, I would not like to read this book again.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is obviously a must read for any fan of classic literature.Defoe's writing style is generally quite user friendly given he wrote in the early 1700s. On one level, Robinson Crusoe is a compelling story about what one man must do to survive without the most basic of necessities. It is a testament to the human spirit in the face of adversity. On another level, the book concerns a common man's coming to religion and learning to appreciate what really in matters in life.My only reservation is that the final few chapters seemed out of character with the majority of the book, and in my opinion were unnecessary to the story.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The story was interesting enough but not very realistic. Crusoe was a very shallow-minded British man who was able not only to survive nearly three decades alone on an island but teach himself all manner skilled trades, avoid being eaten by neighboring savages, acquire a faithful servant (slave), and raise a small fighting force against would-be pirates. He then is able to return back home to England with all the money he had saved (even though it had seemed useless to keep it for so long) and discovered that his business interests had been looked after in his absence with great success and he would now enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor; still with his slave in tow.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    What an aggravating book. Chilling in its blithe acceptance of slavery and exploitation for personal gain, though of course this is not out of sync with the times in which it was written. Even put in context, though, it is hard to sympathize with this character beyond an admiration for his industry and compassion for anyone who is suffering, no matter how morally afflicted a fellow he may be. The racism is thick and irksome, from his descriptions of skin tone outward, and his "improvements" on the "savage" he saves and then dominates are of the sort justifiably decried in countless modern books on slavery, racism, and colonization.It is also astonishingly boring. I have a higher level of patience than most for characters noodling around doing nothing much of interest in order to set the scene, but egads. I am gobsmacked that this book is still published and recommended for children. It must be seriously rewritten in their versions. Yikes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Published in 1719 and certainly a classic adventure story, but its inconsistencies don’t stand up to much scrutiny, and it isn’t particularly well written. The main inspiration for the tale was the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who had been left for four years on an uninhabited island after arguing with his captain, then rescued, and his story told in 1712. Defoe expanded on this of course, among other things stranding Crusoe for 28 years, and having him meet ‘Friday’, an aboriginal who he then (ugh) made a servant and converted to the ‘True God’. Friday is not treated as a person, he’s more like other ‘material’ Crusoe finds, but this was par for the course at this time in history.Aside from the adventure story, Defoe was exploring man’s nature and his reaction to adversity, topics larger than the story itself. In one scene, Crusoe lists ‘evil’ aspects to his condition (‘I am cast upon a horrible desolate island, void of all hope of recovery’), and corresponding good aspects (‘But I am alive, and not drown’d as all my ship’s company was’). I don’t think there was anything particularly insightful here, though the struggle for survival and events like finding the footprint are iconic and lasting images.Quotes:On accepting fate:“I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them; because they see and covet something that He has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”And:“These reflections made me very sensible of the goodness of Providence to me, and very thankful for my present condition, with all its hardships and misfortunes; and this part also I cannot but recommend to the reflection of those who are apt in their misery to say, “Is there any affliction like mine!” Let them consider how much worse the cases of some people are, and their case might have been, if Providence had thought fit.”On money:“He told me that it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortune on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me, or too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labor and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind.”On religion:“I had rather be delivered up to the savages, and be devoured alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the priests, and be carried into the Inquisition.”On youth:“...how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, viz. that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed for the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. This was the third novel I’ve completed (the first two being A Tale of Two Cities and Around the World in 80 Days) and like the first two, the reader did not detract from the experience, and was in fact quite good.Robinson Crusoe was written in the 17th century by Daniel DeFoe and is one of the oldest novels written in the English language. Despite this, it is not difficult to read (or listen to) in the least. While there are a few affectations and instances of unfamiliar “period” language and references, I never found this to be a problem.The story is well known; an English mariner becomes shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island for many years, ultimately joined by his man Friday (a local native). The novel however, begins far sooner and spends some time detailing Crusoe’s early life and adventures. A good 75% of the story, however, takes place on the island, located off the coast of South America near the mouth of the Orinoco River.Luckily, Crusoe is not completely without provisions or means of survival and the “eight and twenty” years he spends on the island are filled with his ingenuity and seemingly never ending industry in making his abode not only livable but comfortably so. This is very much a period piece with religion playing a not insignificant role, though not overbearingly so. It is, more than anything, quite entertaining and even enlightening. I must confess being somewhat pleasantly surprised that such an old work played so well in current times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There's so much more in this novel than has come into the culture. It's essentially about sin and slavery. So Crusoe disobeys his father and is cast into slavery. After he escapes he sets about enslaving others and is cast away on the island, into a sort of slavery to himself, where he can never do anything for anyone else. And for all that he takes to God, he can never be tested. Whatever his character faults, when he gets company he does take command with their agreement and it's only then that he can escape. Clever stuff, and it's also an exciting adventure story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of my favorite classics as a child - I suppose because I felt so isolated back then. Defoe shows us that we are all victims of a shipwreck - stranded in the middle of the ocean called life. Faced with the struggle of Man against Nature, most of us would not cope as well as Defoe's hero.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Robinson Crusoe shipwrecked on his island, the footprint in the sand, and his "Man" Friday are part of the shared culture of English speakers and beyond. The book is interesting for other reasons: it has been called the first English novel, and it paints an image of the life and times.I found the book was a little different from the shared mental image. For example, the footprint on the sand was three years before Crusoe encountered Friday. The relations between races and the cultural assumptions are, three centuries on, a little confronting.I also found the lack of editing amusing - there was limited experience in this type of writing, and Defoe gets bogged down at times, repeats himself, clarifies things already described to fit plot needs later in the story etc. But there is no doubt he could tell a tale, and the book has been popular from the time of its original publication.Worth reading. (March 2014)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wilkie Collins put in the pen of Gabriel Betteredge the following words: "I have found it my friend in need in all the necessities of this mortal life. When my spirits are bad — ROBINSON CRUSOE. When I want advice — ROBINSON CRUSOE. In past times when my wife plagued me; in present times when I have had a drop too much — ROBINSON CRUSOE." At once both caricature and encomium, and each a fitting response.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    While I was reading Robinson Crusoe, I was also reading aloud to my children Edward Eager's Seven-Day Magic. The children in Edward Eager's books always end up interacting with the characters of classic children's literature. Crusoe was still alone on his island, trying to eke out an existence when the children in Seven-Day Magic took a short trip to the island, too, where they noted that Crusoe was followed about by his man Friday and thereby spoiled a bit of the plot for me. It wasn't a huge spoiler, though; it turns out, as with so many classic works of literature, I was already fairly familiar with the story even though I'd not read it before.

    I know, however, that many people (like my spouse) aren't so blasé about having plot points revealed to them ahead of time, so I will warn you that I will be making reference to events towards the end of the book with impunity. If you don't want read Robinson Crusoe spoilers, you might want to stop here, read the book, then come on back and read the rest of my review. Otherwise, carry on.

    I didn't realize that Robinson Crusoe was considered a children's book, although I remember having a copy of it in the "children's classics" set my parents put on my bedroom bookshelf and of which I never cared to read more than the titles on the spines. I can see where children might enjoy reading about his adventures and imagining themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island, but I wonder what else they would take from the book because there really is a lot more here.

    Central to the story is the kind of religious conversion experience that Crusoe has, and his musings about faith and Providence take up a fair amount of text. I could see myself just skipping over those sections as a child, but as an adult, I found the evolution of his personal faith very interesting. I particularly liked Crusoe's shift from a "Why me, God?" perspective to one of gratitude that he was spared when all the rest of his shipmates perished.

    "I learn'd to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoy'd, rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them; because they see and covet something that He had not given them. All our discontents about what we want appear'd to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have."

    With some updates to the language and more prudent use of semi-colons, this could come from a 21st-century self-help book.

    I also really enjoyed reading about the roll that isolation played in Crusoe's personal evolution. For example, when Crusoe finds evidence of the presence of cannibals on the far shore of his island, he spends years waiting for their return, first in fear and then in plotting their murders before deciding it's better to not get involved unless they involved him. Without distractions---even without the ability to write down his thoughts and feelings in the moment---and with, as it were, all the time in the world, Crusoe was forced to sit with personal conflicts and crises of faith without the power to act. Defoe does a very good job of showing how that mental space and that practice of mindfulness and reflection lets Crusoe's emotions run their course and gradually leads him to a more rational plan of action.

    I frequently wonder if, by blogging about books I read or issues I face in my life, I'm making too concrete my thoughts about different issues and diminishing their potential to evolve over time. With status updates and tweets and blog posts, it seems like we're getting into the habit of broadcasting our thoughts the moment we have them. For me, at least, I wonder if this squelches the process of reflection and doesn't allow the thoughts to mature. Is it like picking an apple before it's ripe? Or can the process of sharing these thoughts actually enhance the "ripening" process?

    I've read reviews in which people complain about the level of detail Defoe goes into about Crusoe's life on the island, but I actually found those alone-on-the-island parts to be the most interesting. Aside from a riveting account of a wintertime trek through the Pyrenees upon his return to Europe, the "action" parts of the story were somewhat less interesting to me. I guess I prefer the accounts of personal growth to the really plot-driven bits. It seemed almost like, when Crusoe was engaged in action of any kind, his personal growth was on break. For example, there was some rather disturbing treatment of a starving bear near the end of the book, which kind of made me wonder if maybe Crusoe's personal evolution really was entirely dependent on his being alone. Crusoe himself points out that the bear was going about its own business and would likely have ignored them entirely if Friday hadn't decided to mess with the creature for their amusement. Of course, this doesn't seem to stop Crusoe from getting as many laughs from the situation as everyone else. Perhaps spiritual evolution was different back when the Spanish Inquisition was still alive and well.

Book preview

The Children's Treasure Book - Vol IV - Robinson Crusoe - Illustrated By F.N.J. Moody and Others - Daniel Defoe

I was born in the city of York

ROBINSON CRUSOE

CHAPTER I

I WAS born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and, leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York; from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called, nay, we call ourselves, and write our name, Crusoe; and so my companions always called me.

Being the third son of the family, and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a country free school generally go, and designed me for the law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that propension of nature, tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.

Being one day at Hull, whither I went casually, and without any purpose of making an elopement that time—but, I say, being there, and one of my companions being going by sea to London, in his father’s ship, and prompting me to go with him, with the common allurement of a seafaring man, that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father nor mother any more, nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God’s blessing or my father’s, without any consideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, God knows, on the 1st of September, 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London. Never any young adventurer’s misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer, than mine. The ship was no sooner got out of the Humber, than the wind began to blow, and the sea to rise in a most frightful manner; and as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body, and terrified in mind.

The storm increased, and the sea went very high, though nothing like what I have seen many times since—no, nor what I saw a few days after: but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had never known anything of the matter. I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought it did in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more.

I was very grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards night the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed; the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next morning; and having little or no wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, the sight was, as I thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.

I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheerful—looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little a time after: and now, lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had indeed enticed me away, comes to me. Well, Bob, says he, clapping me upon the shoulder, How do you do after it? I warrant you were frightened, weren’t you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind? A capful d’ye call it? said I, ’twas a terrible storm. A storm, you fool you! replies he, do you call that a storm? why it was nothing at all; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that; but you’re but a fresh-water sailor, Bob; come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we’ll forget all that: d’ye see what charming weather ’tis now? To make short this sad part of my story, we went the way of all sailors; the punch was made, and I was made half drunk with it, and in that one night’s wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my past conduct, all my resolutions for the future.

The sixth day of our being at sea, we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind having been contrary and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the storm. Here we were obliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing contrary, namely, at south-west, for seven or eight days; during which time a great many ships from Newcastle came in to the same roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.

We had not, however, rid here so long but we should have tided it up the river, but that the wind blew too fresh; and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard. However, the roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the anchorage good, and our ground-tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day, in the morning, the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our top-masts, and make everything snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible. By noon, the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rid forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home; upon which our master ordered out the sheet-anchor; so that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the better end.

By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror and amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves. The master, though vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet, as he went in and out of the cabin by me, I could hear him, softly to himself, say several times, Lord, be merciful to us! we shall be all lost—we shall be all undone! and the like. During these first hurries, I was stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper. But when the master himself came by me, and said we should all be lost, I was dreadfully frighted: I got up out of my cabin, and looked out; but such a dismal sight I never saw: the sea went mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes; when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us. Two ships that rid near us, we found, had cut their masts by the board, being deep laden; and our men cried out that a ship, which rid about a mile ahead of us, was foundered. Two more ships, being driven from their anchors, were run out of the roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing. The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their sprit sail out before the wind.

Towards the evening, the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let them cut away the foremast, which he was very unwilling to do; but the boatswain protesting to him, that if he did not the ship would founder, he consented; and when they had cut away the foremast, the mainmast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut it away also, and make a clear deck.

Any one must judge what a condition I must be in at all this, who was but a young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little. But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time, I was in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former convictions, and the having returned from them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at first, than I was at death itself; and these, added to the terror of the storm, put me into such a condition, that I can by no words describe it. But the worst was not come yet; the storm continued with such fury that the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never seen a worse. We had a good ship, but she was deep-laden, and wallowed in the sea, that the seamen every now and then cried out she would founder. It was my advantage, in one respect, that I did not know what they meant by founder, till I inquired. However, the storm was so violent, that I saw, what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom. In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down on purpose to see, cried out we had sprung a leak; another said there was four feet water in the hold. Then all hands were called to the pump. At that very word, my heart, as I thought, died within me; and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin. However the men roused me, and told me that I, that was able to do nothing before, was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up, and went to the pump and worked very heartily. While this was doing, the master, seeing some light colliers who, not able to ride out the storm, were obliged to slip and run away to the sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. I, who knew nothing what that meant, was so surprised, that I thought the ship had broke, or some dreadful thing happened. In a word, I was so surprised that I fell down in a swoon. As this was a time when everybody had his own life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but another man stepped up to the pump, and thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I had been dead; and it was a great while before I came to myself.

We worked on, but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder; and though the storm began to abate a little, yet as it was not possible she could swim till we might run into a port, so the master continued firing guns for help; and a light ship, who had rid it out just ahead of us, ventured a boat out to help us. It was with the utmost hazard the boat came near us; but it was impossible for us to get on board, or for the boat to lie near the ship’s side, till at last the men rowing very heartily, and venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern with a buoy to it, and then veered it out a great length, which they, after much labour and hazard, took hold of, and we hauled them close under our stern, and got all into their boat. It was to no purpose for them or us, after we were in the boat, to think of reaching to their own ship; so we all agreed to let her drive, and only to pull her in towards shore as much as we could; and our master promised them, that if the boat was staved upon shore, he would make it good to their master; so, partly rowing, and partly driving, our boat went away to the northward, sloping towards the shore, almost as far as Winterton Ness.

We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship, but we saw her sink; and then I understood, for the first time, what was meant by a ship foundering in the sea. I must acknowledge I had hardly eyes to look up, when the seamen told me she was sinking; for from that moment they rather put me into the boat, than that I might be said to go in, my heart was, as it were, dead within me, partly with fright, partly with horror of mind, and the thoughts of what was yet before me.

While we were in this condition, the men yet labouring at the oar to bring the boat nearer the shore, we could see (when our boat mounting the waves, we were able to see the shore) a great many people running along the shore to assist us, when we should come near; but we made but slow way toward the shore, nor were we able to reach the shore, till being past the lighthouse at Winterton, the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke off a little the violence of the wind. Here we got in, and though not without much difficulty, got all safe on shore, and walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity, as well by the magistrates of the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by particular merchants and owners of ships, and had money given us sufficient to carry us either to London, or back to Hull, as we thought fit.

Had I now had the sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had been happy, and my father, an emblem of our blessed Saviour’s parable, had even killed the fatted calf for me; for, hearing the ship I went in was cast away in Yarmouth Roads, it was a great while before he had any assurance that I was not drowned.

But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resist; and though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more composed judgment to go home, yet I had no power to do it.

That evil influence which carried me first away from my father’s house, that hurried me into the wild and indigested notion of raising my fortune, and that impressed those conceits so forcibly upon me, as to make me deaf to all good advice, and to the entreaties and even the command of my father—I say, the same influence, whatever it was, presented the most unfortunate of all enterprises to my view; and I went on board a vessel bound to the coast of Africa; or, as our sailors vulgarly call it, a voyage to Guinea.

It was my great misfortune, that in all these adventures I did not ship myself as a sailor; whereby, though I might indeed have worked a little harder than ordinary, yet, at the same time, I had learned the duty and office of a fore-mastman, and in time might have qualified myself for a mate or lieutenant, if not for a master. But as it was always my fate to choose for the worst, so I did here; for, having money in my pocket, and good clothes upon my back, I would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman; and so I neither had any business in the ship, nor learned to do any.

CHAPTER II

IT was my lot, first of all, to fall into pretty good company in London, which does not always happen to such loose and unguided young fellows as I then was, the devil generally not omitting to lay some snare for them very early; but it was not so with me. I first fell acquainted with the master of a ship who had been on the coast of Guinea; and who, having had very good success there, was resolved to go again; and who, taking a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to see the world, told me, if I would go the voyage with him I should be at no expense—I should be his mess-mate and his companion; and if I could carry anything with me, I should have all the advantage of it that the trade would permit; and, perhaps, I might meet with some encouragement.

I embraced the offer; and, entering into a strict friendship with this captain, who was an honest and plain-dealing man, I went the voyage with him, and carried a small adventure with me, which, by the disinterested honesty of my friend, the captain, I increased very considerably; for I carried about forty pounds in such toys and trifles as the captain directed me to buy. This forty pounds I had mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations, whom I corresponded with, and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my mother, to contribute so much as that to my first adventure.

This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventures, and which I owe to the integrity and honesty of my friend, the captain; under whom also I got a competent knowledge of the mathematics, and the rules of navigation—learned how to keep an account of the ship’s course, take an observation, and, in short, to understand some things that were needful to be understood by a sailor; for, as he took delight to instruct me, I took delight to learn; and, in a word, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant; for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold dust for my adventure, which yielded me in London, at my return, almost three hundred pounds; and this filled me with those aspiring thoughts which have since so completed my ruin.

I was now set up for a Guinea trader; and my friend, to my great misfortune, dying soon after his arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again; and I embarked in the same vessel with one who was his mate in the former voyage, and had now got the command of the ship. This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made; for though I did not carry quite £100 of my new gained wealth, so that I had £200 left, and which I lodged with my friend’s widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes in this voyage; and the first was this—namely, our ship, making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised, in the grey of the morning, by a Moorish rover of Sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail she could make. We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our masts carry, to have got clear; but finding the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly come up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight, our ship having twelve guns, and the rover eighteen. About three in the afternoon he came up with us, and bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small shot from near two hundred men which he had on board. However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close. He prepared to attack us again, and we to defend ourselves; but laying us on board the next time upon our other quarter, he entered sixty men upon our decks, who immediately fell to cutting and hacking the decks and rigging. We plied them with small shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of them twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part of our story, our ship being disabled, and three of our men killed, and eight wounded, we were obliged to yield, and were carried all prisoners into Sallee, a port belonging to the Moors.

The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I apprehended: nor was I carried up the country to the emperor’s court, as the rest of our men were, but was kept by the captain of the rover, as his proper prize, and made his slave, being young and nimble, and fit for his business. At this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly overwhelmed; and now I looked back upon my father’s prophetic discourse to me, that I should be miserable, and have none to relieve me; which I thought was now so effectually brought to pass, that I could not be worse—that now the hand of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without redemption. But, alas! this was but a taste of the misery I was to go through, as will appear in the sequel of the story.

As my new patron or master had taken me home to his house, so I was in hopes that he would take me with him when he went to sea again, believing that it would be some time or other his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portugal man-of-war, and that then I should be set at liberty. But this hope of mine was soon taken away; for when he went to sea, he left me on shore to look after his little garden and do the common drudgery of slaves about his house; and when he came home again from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin to look after the ship.

Here I meditated nothing but my escape, and what method I might take to affect it; but found no way that had the least probability in it. Nothing presented to make the supposition of it rational; for I had nobody to communicate it to that would embark with me—no fellow-slave, no Englishman, Irishman, or Scotsman there, but myself; so that for two years, though I often pleased myself with the imagination, yet I never had the least encouraging prospect of putting it in practice.

After about two years, an odd circumstance presented itself which put the whole thought of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head: my patron lying at home longer than usual, without fitting out his ship, which, as I heard, was for want of money, he used constantly, once or twice a week, sometimes oftener, if the weather was fair, to take the ship’s pinnace, and go out into the road a-fishing; and as he always took me and a young Moresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and I proved very dexterous in catching fish; insomuch that sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsmen, and the youth,

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