The Swiss Family Robinson: A Translation from the Original GermanWyss, Johann David
General
The Swiss Family Robinson: A Translation from the Original German
Wyss, Johann David
Family life -- Fiction; Islands -- Fiction; Survival -- Fiction
Then slipping down the ladder, and picking up the birds, he brought them
to me. One was a kind of thrush, the other a small dove called the
ortolan, and esteemed a very great delicacy on account of its exquisite
flavor. As the figs on which these birds came to feed were only just
beginning to ripen, it was probable that they would soon flock in
numbers to our trees; and by waiting until we could procure them in
large quantities, we might provide ourselves with valuable food for the
rainy season, by placing them, when half cooked, in cases with melted
lard or butter poured over them.
By this time Jack had pointed a good supply of arrows, and industriously
practiced archery. I finished the bow and arrows for Franz, and expected
to be left in peace; but the young man next demanded a quiver, and I had
to invent that also, to complete his equipment. It was easily done by
stripping a piece of bark from a small tree, fitting a flat side and a
bottom to it, and then a string. Attaching it to his shoulders, the
youthful hunter filled it with arrows and went off; looking, as his
mother said, like an innocent little Cupid, bent on conquest.
Not long after this, we were summoned to dinner, and all right willingly
obeyed the call.
During the meal I interested the boys very much by proposing to decide
on suitable names for the different spots we had visited on this coast.
"For," said I, "it will become more and more troublesome to explain what
we mean, unless we do so. Beside which, we shall feel much more at home
if we can talk as people do in inhabited countries: instead of saying,
for instance, 'the little island at the mouth of our bay, where we found
the dead shark,' 'the large stream near our tent, across which we made
the bridge,' 'that wood where we found cocoanuts, and caught the
monkey,' and so on. Let us begin by naming the bay in which we landed.
What shall we call it?"
"Oyster Bay," said Fritz.
"No, no!--Lobster Bay," cried Jack, "in memory of the old fellow who
took a fancy to my leg!"
"I think," observed his mother, "that, in token of gratitude for our
escape, we should call it Safety Bay."
This name met with general approbation, and was forthwith fixed upon.
Other names were quickly chosen. Our first place of abode we called
Tentholm; the islet in the bay, Shark's Island; and the reedy swamp,
Flamingo Marsh. It was some time before the serious question of a name
for our leafy castle could be decided. But finally it was entitled
Falconhurst;[B] and we then rapidly named the remaining points: Prospect
Hill, the eminence we first ascended; Cape Disappointment, from whose
rocky heights we had strained our eyes in vain search for our ship's
company; and Jackal River, as a name for the large stream at our landing
place, concluded our geographical nomenclature.
[B] _Horst_, in German, means "nest" or "eyrie."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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