Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо/Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children

So I told him that I would never, never send him away, and that he should always

stay with me (я сказал ему что я никогда, никогда не отошлю его, и что он навсегда

останется со мной).

You should have seen his eyes brighten (вам следовало бы увидеть, как

зажглись его глаза).

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

208

knife [naif] ocean [‘əu ə

ʃ n]

I TEACH FRIDAY MANY THINGS

WHEN my man Friday had been with me three days I took him out hunting.

As we were going through some woods, I saw a wild goat lying under a tree with

two young kids sitting by her. I caught hold of Friday. "Stop," I said. "Stand still."

Then I took aim at one of the kids, shot and killed it.

The noise of the gun so frightened the poor savage that he did not know what to

do. He shook like a leaf. He thought that I was going to kill him.

He did not see the kid I had shot. He threw himself at my feet. Although I could

not understand a word he said, yet I knew that he was begging me to have pity on him.

And indeed I did pity him — he was so frightened.

I took him by the hand and lifted him up. I laughed at him and pointed to the kid

that I had killed. When he saw it and understood me, he ran to fetch it.

Going on through the woods, I saw a big bird sitting on a tree. I thought it was a

hawk.

"See there, Friday!" I said, as I pointed to it.

Bang! went my gun. The bird fell to the ground. It was not a hawk, but a parrot.

Friday was amazed. He looked at the gun and trembled.

For a long time he would not touch a gun. He would look at it and talk to it. He

would say, in his own language: "O wonderful thing! Do not kill me! Do not kill me!"

We found nothing more in the woods that day. Friday carried the kid home, and I

took off its skin and dressed it. Then I stewed some of the best pieces and made some

good broth.

At dinner I gave some of the broth to my man. He liked it very well, but he could

not bear salt in it.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

209

I tried to show him that food was best with a little salt. But he did not think so,

and he would never eat meat that was salted.

The next day I set Friday to work. I had him thrash some barley for me and grind

the grains into meal as I had always done.

He did his work very well.

Then I let him see me make some bread and bake it. He learned very fast and

soon could cook and keep house as well as any one.

Little by little I taught him how to work on my farm. We fenced another field and

sowed more barley. For now there were two mouths to feed instead of one.

Very soon Friday learned to talk quite well. He learned the name of everything he

saw. He was very quick, and I took pleasure in teaching him.

I told him all about gunpowder and guns and showed him how to shoot. I gave

him a knife, which pleased him not a little. I made him a belt and gave him a hatchet to

carry in it.

I told him about the countries on the other side of the great ocean. And I told him

something of my own history.

Little by little I explained how my people traded in great ships, and how my own

ship had been wrecked on the coast of this island.

Thus, between working and teaching, I forgot all my fears. The days passed by,

and every day brought some new delight.

It was the pleasantest year of my life.

I often asked my man Friday to tell me about his own country. He told me all that

he knew, and his words made me feel quite sure that the mainland of South America was

not far away.

In fact, the low shore that I could see far to the west of my island was part of the

coast of that great continent.

Friday told me that white men sometimes went there. He said that they had long,

dark beards and were always trying to trade with his people.

I felt quite sure they were Spaniards, and I had a great mind to go over, if I could,

and join them. Indeed, my whole mind was set on seeing some of my own people again.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

210

I thought that if I could only get to the mainland, I would find some way to reach

England, or at least some place where Englishmen lived.

At last I told Friday that I would give him a boat to go back to his own country.

This was part of my plan for getting away from the island.

I took him over to the other side of the island and showed him my canoe.

We cleared it of water and then took a short sail in it. Friday could paddle very

well.

"Now, Friday," I said, "shall we paddle across the sea to your own country?"

He looked very dull at my saying this, and I saw that he thought the canoe was

too small.

"Well," I said, "I have a bigger boat. I will show it to you to-morrow."

The next morning, therefore, I took him to see the first boat I had made and which

I could not get to the water.

He said it was big enough. But it had been lying on the ground for twenty-three

years and was rotten.