true he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and the
sleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little easing them where he
complained they hurt him, and using himself to them, he took to them at length very well.
The next day, after I came home to my hutch with him, I began to consider where I should lodge him: and
that I might do well for him and yet be perfectly easy myself, I made a little tent for him in the vacant place
between my two fortifications, in the inside of the last, and in the outside of the first. As there was a door or
entrance there into my cave, I made a formal framed door.case, and a door to it, of boards, and set it up in
the passage, a little within the entrance; and, causing the door to open in the inside, I barred it up in the night,
taking in my ladders, too; so that Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost wall,
without making so much noise in getting over that it must needs awaken me; for my first wall had now a
complete roof over it of long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to the side of the hill; which was
again laid across with smaller sticks, instead of laths, and then thatched over a great thickness with the rice.
CHAPTER XIV . A DREAM REALISED
Robinson Crusoe
straw, which was strong, like reeds; and at the hole or place which was left to go in or out by the ladder I had
placed a kind of trap. door, which, if it had been attempted on the outside, would not have opened at all, but
would have fallen down and made a great noise . as to weapons, I took them all into my side every night. But
I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more faithful, loving, sincere servant than Friday
was to me: without passions, sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and engaged; his very affections were
tied to me, like those of a child to a father; and I daresay he would have sacrificed his life to save mine upon
any occasion whatsoever . the many testimonies he gave me of this put it out of doubt, and soon convinced
me that I needed to use no precautions for my safety on his account.
This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that however it had pleased God in His
providence, and in the government of the works of His hands, to take from so great a part of the world of His
creatures the best uses to which their faculties and the powers of their souls are adapted, yet that He has
bestowed upon them the same powers, the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of kindness
and obligation, the same passions and resentments of wrongs, the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity,
and all the capacities of doing good and receiving good that He has given to us; and that when He pleases to
offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as ready, nay, more ready, to apply them to the right uses for
which they were bestowed than we are. This made me very melancholy sometimes, in reflecting, as the
several occasions presented, how mean a use we make of all these, even though we have these powers
enlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God, and by the knowledge of His word added to
our understanding; and why it has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so many millions of
souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage, would make a much better use of it than we did. From hence
I sometimes was led too far, to invade the sovereignty of Providence, and, as it were, arraign the justice of so
arbitrary a disposition of things, that should hide that sight from some, and reveal it . to others, and yet
expect a like duty from both; but I shut it up, and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: first, that we did
not know by what light and law these should be condemned; but that as God was necessarily, and by the
nature of His being, infinitely holy and just, so it could not be, but if these creatures were all sentenced to
absence from Himself, it was on account of sinning against that light which, as the Scripture says, was a law
to themselves, and by such rules as their consciences would acknowledge to be just, though the foundation
was not discovered to us; and secondly, that still as we all are the clay in the hand of the potter, no vessel
could say to him, "Why hast thou formed me thus?"
But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with him, and made it my business to teach him
everything that was proper to make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and
understand me when I spoke; and he was the aptest scholar that ever was; and particularly was so merry, so
constantly diligent, and so pleased when he could but understand me, or make me understand him, that it was
very pleasant for me to talk to him. Now my life began to be so easy that I began to say to myself that could I
but have been safe from more savages, I cared not if I was never to remove from the place where I lived.
CHAPTER XV . FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
AFTER I had been two or three days returned to my castle, I thought that, in order to bring Friday off from
his horrid way of feeding, and from the relish of a cannibal's stomach, I ought to let him taste other flesh; so I
took him out with me one morning to the woods. I went, indeed, intending to kill a kid out of my own flock;
and bring it home and dress it; but as I was going I saw a she.goat lying down in the shade, and two young
kids sitting by her. I catched hold of Friday. "Hold," said I, "stand still;" and made signs to him not to stir:
immediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed one of the kids. The poor creature, who had at a distance,
indeed, seen me kill the savage, his enemy, but did not know, nor could imagine how it was done, was
sensibly surprised, trembled, and shook, and looked so amazed that I thought he would have sunk down. He
did not see the kid I shot at, or perceive I had killed it, but ripped up his waistcoat to feel whether he was not
wounded; and, as I found presently, thought I was resolved to kill him: for he came and kneeled down to me,
CHAPTER XV . FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
Robinson Crusoe
and embracing my knees, said a great many things I did not understand; but I could easily see the meaning
was to pray me not to kill him.
I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm; and taking him up by the hand, laughed at
him, and pointing to the kid which I had killed, beckoned to him to run and fetch it, which he did: and while
he was wondering, and looking to see how the creature was killed, I loaded my gun again. By.and.by I saw
a great fowl, like a hawk, sitting upon a tree within shot; so, to let Friday understand a little what I would do,
I called him to me again, pointed at the fowl, which was indeed a parrot, though I thought it had been a hawk;
I say, pointing to the parrot, and to my gun, and to the ground under the parrot, to let him see I would make it
fall, I made him understand that I would shoot and kill that bird; accordingly, I fired, and bade him look, and
immediately he saw the parrot fall. He stood like one frightened again, notwithstanding all I had said to him;
and I found he was the more amazed, because he did not see me put anything into the gun, but thought that
there must be some wonderful fund of death and destruction in that thing, able to kill man, beast, bird, or
anything near or far off; and the astonishment this created in him was such as could not wear off for a long
time; and I believe, if I would have let him, he would have worshipped me and my gun. As for the gun itself,
he would not so much as touch it for several days after; but he would speak to it and talk to it, as if it had
answered him, when he was by himself; which, as I afterwards learned of him, was to desire it not to kill him.
Well, after his astonishment was a little over at this, I pointed to him to run and fetch the bird I had shot,
which he did, but stayed some time; for the parrot, not being quite dead, had fluttered away a good distance
from the place where she fell: however, he found her, took her up, and brought her to me; and as I had
perceived his ignorance about the gun before, I took this advantage to charge the gun again, and not to let him
see me do it, that I might be ready for any other mark that might present; but nothing more offered at that
time: so I brought home the kid, and the same evening I took the skin off, and cut it out as well as I could;
and having a pot fit for that purpose, I boiled or stewed some of the flesh, and made some very good broth.
After I had begun to eat some I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad of it, and liked it very well; but
that which was strangest to him was to see me eat salt with it. He made a sign to me that the salt was not good
to eat; and putting a little into his own mouth, he seemed to nauseate it, and would spit and sputter at it,
washing his mouth with fresh water after it: on the other hand, I took some meat into my mouth without salt,
and I pretended to spit and sputter for want of salt, as much as he had done at the salt; but it would not do; he
would never care for salt with meat or in his broth; at least, not for a great while, and then but a very little.
Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, I was resolved to feast him the next day by roasting a piece
of the kid: this I did by hanging it before the fire on a string, as I had seen many people do in England, setting
two poles up, one on each side of the fire, and one across the top, and tying the string to the cross stick,
letting the meat turn continually. This Friday admired very much; but when he came to taste the flesh, he
took so many ways to tell me how well he liked it, that I could not but understand him: and at last he told me,
as well as he could, he would never eat man's flesh any more, which I was very glad to hear.
The next day I set him to work beating some corn out, and sifting it in the manner I used to do, as I observed
before; and he soon understood how to do it as well as I, especially after he had seen what the meaning of it
was, and that it was to make bread of; for after that I let him see me make my bread, and bake it too; and in a
little time Friday was able to do all the work for me as well as I could do it myself.
I began now to consider, that having two mouths to feed instead of one, I must provide more ground for my
harvest, and plant a larger quantity of corn than I used to do; so I marked out a larger piece of land, and began
the fence in the same manner as before, in which Friday worked not only very willingly and very hard, but
did it very cheerfully: and I told him what it was for; that it was for corn to make more bread, because he was
now with me, and that I might have enough for him and myself too. He appeared very sensible of that part,
and let me know that he thought I had much more labour upon me on his account than I had for myself; and
that he would work the harder for me if I would tell him what to do.
CHAPTER XV . FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
Robinson Crusoe
This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led in this place. Friday began to talk pretty well, and understand
the names of almost everything I had occasion to call for, and of every place I had to send him to, and talked
a great deal to me; so that, in short, I began now to have some use for my tongue again, which, indeed, I had
very little occasion for before. Besides the pleasure of talking to him, I had a singular satisfaction in the
fellow himself: his simple, unfeigned honesty appeared to me more and more every day, and I began really to
love the creature; and on his side I believe he loved me more than it was possible for him ever to love
anything before.
I had a mind once to try if he had any inclination for his own country again; and having taught him English so
well that he could answer me almost any question, I asked him whether the nation that he belonged to never
conquered in battle? At which he smiled, and said . "Yes, yes, we always fight the better;" that is, he meant
always get the better in fight; and so we began the following discourse:.
MASTER. . You always fight the better; how came you to be taken prisoner, then, Friday?
FRIDAY. . My nation beat much for all that.
MASTER. . How beat? If your nation beat them, how came you to be taken?
FRIDAY. . They more many than my nation, in the place where me was; they take one, two, three, and me:
my nation over.beat them in the yonder place, where me no was; there my nation take one, two, great
thousand.
MASTER. . But why did not your side recover you from the hands of your enemies, then?
FRIDAY. . They run, one, two, three, and me, and make go in the canoe; my nation have no canoe that time.
MASTER. . Well, Friday, and what does your nation do with the men they take? Do they carry them away
and eat them, as these did?
FRIDAY. . Yes, my nation eat mans too; eat all up.
MASTER. . Where do they carry them?
FRIDAY. . Go to other place, where they think.
MASTER. . Do they come hither?
FRIDAY. . Yes, yes, they come hither; come other else place.
MASTER. . Have you been here with them?
FRIDAY. . Yes, I have been here (points to the NW. side of the island, which, it seems, was their side).
By this I understood that my man Friday had formerly been among the savages who used to come on shore
on the farther part of the island, on the same man.eating occasions he was now brought for; and some time
after, when I took the courage to carry him to that side, being the same I formerly mentioned, he presently
knew the place, and told me he was there once, when they ate up twenty men, two women, and one child; he
could not tell twenty in English, but he numbered them by laying so many stones in a row, and pointing to me
to tell them over.
CHAPTER XV . FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
Robinson Crusoe
I have told this passage, because it introduces what follows: that after this discourse I had with him, I asked
him how far it was from our island to the shore, and whether the canoes were not often lost. He told me there
was no danger, no canoes ever lost: but that after a little way out to sea, there was a current and wind, always
