Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children

What a disappointment it was to find that it was only a dream!

For several days I felt very sad. I was almost ready to give up hope.

Then I remembered my dream; and I said to myself: "If I could only get hold of a

savage and teach him to love me, things might turn out just that way. He must be one of

their prisoners and I must save him from being eaten; for then it will be easy to win his

friendship."

This thought so fixed itself in my mind that I could not get rid of it. Waking or

sleeping, I seemed to be always planning to get hold of a savage.

At last I set myself about it in earnest. Almost every day I went out with my gun

to see if some of these wild men had not again landed on my island.

I GET HOLD OF A SAVAGE (я захватываю дикаря; to get hold of smth —

схватить что-то)

FOR a year and a half I kept close watch upon the farther shore of the island as

well as upon that nearest to my castle (в течение полутора лет я держал постоянное

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наблюдение за дальним берегом острова, равно как и за тем /берегом, который был/

ближайшим к моему замку). But not a single savage came near (но ни один дикарь не

приблизился = не появился).

One morning in June, however (однако), I had a great surprise (я получил

большое удивление = случилось неожиданное).

I was just starting out from my castle when I saw five canoes lying high and dry

on the beach not a mile away (я как раз выходил из моего замка, когда я увидел

несколько каноэ, лежащих высоко и сухими на берегу не более мили вдалеке = на

расстоянии не более мили). There was not a man near them (не было ни одного

человека рядом с ними). The people who had come in them were perhaps asleep among

the trees (люди, которые прибыли на них, возможно, спали между деревьями).

The number of canoes was greater (больше) than I had ever counted upon seeing

(чем я когда-либо насчитывал /из тех, что я/ видел). For there were always four or six

savages in each canoe, and there must now be between twenty and thirty men somewhere

on the shore (где-то на берегу).

I did not know what to think of it. I did not feel brave enough to attack so many

(не чувствовал себя достаточно смелым, чтобы напасть на столь многих).

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So I stayed in my castle and made ready to defend myself (защищаться).

"There is little hope of getting a savage this time," I thought to myself.

I waited a long while (долго), but heard no unusual sound (необычных звуков). I

grew tired of waiting (устал от ожидания), and made up my mind to see what was going

on (решил посмотреть, что происходило).

So, with the help of my ladder (с помощью лестницы), I climbed up to my

lookout on the top of the rock. I put my spyglass to my eyes and looked down upon the

beach.

Surely enough! there they were (и точно: «определенно достаточно» — они

там были). I saw no fewer than thirty naked savages dancing around a fire (не меньше

тридцати обнаженных дикарей, танцующих вокруг огня). I saw that they were

broiling meat upon the coals (варили мясо на углях), but I could not tell what kind of

meat it was (не мог различить, какое мясо это было).

As I watched I saw some of the dancers run to a boat and drag two miserable

prisoners from it (я увидел как несколько танцоров побежали к лодке и притащили

двух несчастных пленников с нее). They must have been in the boat all the time

(должно быть, они были в лодке все это время), but as they were lying down I did not

see them (но, так как они лежали, я не видел их).

All the dancers now crowded around the poor prisoners (столпились вокруг

пленников). They knocked one of them down with a club (сбили одного с ног

дубинкой), and then fell upon him with their knives (напали на него с ножами). I

supposed they were going to cut him up for their horrid feast (я предположил, что они

собирались разрезать его для своего страшного пира).

For a few moments they seemed to forget the other prisoner (казалось, забыли о

другом пленнике), for they left him standing alone at one side (оставили его одного

стоящим в стороне).

All at once he made a break for liberty (сделал попытку, рывок к свободе). You

never saw a hound run so fast (никогда не видели, чтобы гончая бежала так быстро).

He ran along the sandy beach (вдоль песчаного пляжа), right toward my castle (прямо

к моему замку). I was dreadfully frightened (до смерти напуган). I thought that now

my dream was coming true (мой сон сбывался; true — правдивый, достоверный), and

that he would surely hide in my grove.

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But would the other part of the dream come true? Would the other savages lose