The following pages I found in a trunk belonging to my man Friday, when I was forced to dispose of his personal items after his murder at the hands of savages a short sail from the Bay of All Saints in the Brazils. I knew not that his command of the Mother tongue was quite so refined, for often when he spake, his words were not so eloquent or refined. While some passages seem to paint an unflattering portrait of myself and civilized ways, I caution you, dear reader, to remember the author’s Savage upbringing, which no more can be shed entirely than a leopard may change his spots. Our Heavenly Father has made all of Creation, including all the brute beasts and human beings who have yet to hear the word of God and embark upon His way. To read these notations, nonetheless, has filled me with great joy to find that all my efforts to make of Friday a decent God-fearing Christian man were not in vain. I have elsewhere remarked that he was the most grateful, faithful, honest and most affectionate servant that ever man had. To those qualities I may add that he was no doubt a loving father, loyal subject and an honest husband.
R. Crusoe née Robinson Kreutznaeur,
Author of The Life and Strange, Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Mariner June 7, 1695
Perhaps there is no man alive today who has experienced a life such as mine — nay, perhaps there is, but it would be a rarity indeed for such a Savage as I was born into this world to become a God-fearing Christian, leave my native continent, traverse great Oceans with divers dangers and adventures and yet to find the greatest gift at the end of my voyages — my beloved Father alive and well by the hand it can only be of Divine Providence.
Last night I dreamed a horrible nightmare, that like unto Saint Sebastian of the Papists, I was pierced through by many arrows for my faith. As often I have thought to put pen to paper to recount my life’s journey from Savagery to Christianity, I had thought there was time enough when I was gray and wizened. After my restless night with the arrows flying thick about me, I feel that I must tarry no longer and so I take my quill in hand to write. I believe it may prove useful for my wife and my children who are remote from me and now must be satisfied to earn their way as best they can in Yorkshire town, whereof I have lately left them.
My dear wife Prudence knows much of my tale, but as e’en the fair sex mayhaps sometime be of Great Intellect, more often than not their days are filled with many smaller cares and woes — from the mending of linens to attending an egg-bound hen to a feverish child — so she may forget of some lessons that I shall want my two fine lads, now 3 and 5 years of age, to remember of their loving father. I must pray that they, too, shall see me return to them erstwhile and may their hearts then be filled with the joy that I have so lately been privy to.
I shall begin with my beginning as a man, on the day I was saved from the I____ tribe by one whom I came to know as Master, one Robinson Crusoe. I was a brave Warrior among my people, who were a fierce, proud people and often engaged in warfare with neighboring tribes on the Continent, as well as on the various Islands that lay scattered throughout the Brazil region. On that fateful day, which was to have been my last, I was captured when surrounded by many of the I______, more than even I could club and slay with my Bukasa, as we called our great wooden swords, and was bound hand and foot, to be carried to the island where Robinson Crusoe lived a solitary Existence, except for his goats and his God, with whom he communed daily and taught me to cherish and honor. You may imagine my Consternation when I first saw my Savior, who appeared as an Apparition, dressed in furs, with a sword by his side and in his hand his piece which made a thunderous noise and with which he slew the two who pursued me. It was as if the Angel of the Lord on Judgment Day had arrived and cast two sinners into the Depths of Hell and spared me, for what manner of reason I knew not at the time.
I made obeisance to this strange and Wonderful figure in the way of my people, by placing his foot upon my head to signify my subservience to his will and that I should never disobey but always be true and Faithful to him as my Savior. He seemed mightily pleased at this and bid me follow him to his abode, which he taught me to call his Castle, but which now in retrospect, I understand was a misnomer, it being but a crude hut with fortifications of sticks and trees and suchlike.
You may imagine how utterly alone and abandoned I was to be apart from my people and in the company of such a strange and forbidding man, who smelled of goat because of his diet and his apparel. His Weaponry was something to behold and I was so affrighted of it at first I could scarce contain myself, but was always afeard and begging him not to harm me and sometimes I spake to the Weapon itself as if it had a mind of its own. I knew not of such witchery in my land of more simple ways.
Master had such an Abhorrence of one of our customs — that of eating of the flesh of captives taken in battle that I forthwith resolved to abstain from the practice. I believe he did not truly comprehend our custom and thought we partook of flesh merely to eat or to gloat over our triumph in battle. It was not until, when in the course of my conversion and spiritual progress, I came upon a passage in the New Testament of Christ Jesus that paralleled our practice, that I could ever have a hope of explaining our ways to Master. It is recorded that Jesus at the Last
Supper (Matthew 26:26) took bread, and blessed and broke, and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take and eat: this is my body.” And taking a cup, he gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, “All of you drink of this; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is being shed for many unto the forgiveness of sins. ”
When my people partook of flesh after battle, it was to honour the fallen, imbibe of their spirit and knowledge and courage, and carry them with us as part of our flesh always. We did not look upon it in any way so barbarous as Master believed. When I pointed to the Gospel and tried to explain such to Master many years later when I was in England with him and had already learned to read and write as well as any native of the nation of long beards, he became outraged that I should blaspheme so and endeavored to explain my error in reasoning. As often I did, I acquiesced and bowed my head, because I remembered whereof my Destiny lay, had he not saved me that day on his island.
Master and I lived together on the island for nearly four years. In that time, I came to know his ways and anticipate his moods, which were as variable as the weather in the tropical latitudes wherein his Castle lay. At times he would be ever so affectionate with me, sometimes putting me down upon his lap and stroking me as a pet. He particularly approved of my shiny black mane and at times braided it or decorated it with bits of bone and feathers. Then he would say, “Aye, my pretty Savage,” and kiss my cheek. I trembled sometimes at this, for I had heard that long beards had their own barbarous customs and would lay with their own kind. But his hands never strayed below my belly nor did he ever request that I should do any such moral Atrocity.
I learned to be a farmer as he was in his Manor and could sow and reap the harvest and care for our herd of goats as well as he. I had my own knife which Master gave me and I could shoot better than he, for his light eyes appeared to be weakening after so much time passed in the sunny clime.
No day at our labors passed, however, but that he did not speak of his God to me. I had told him of Benamuckee as best I could divine and how our elders spoke to Him from the highest peaks, but Master was ever of a mind that I should love and honor only his God. I could see no reason to object, for, in my youth, I cared little for such talk nor mattered it to me whose God was more powerful. In Master’s eyes, I was become a Christian, though a Savage one.
Master, however, on occasion, tested my loyalty and subjugation to him. He would ask me if I did not wish to go home to my people and of course, I said, “Yes, I would.” It took what seemed an uncommon great period of time for one so adept at reasoning to understand the nature of my yearning to go home. I was bound by loyalty and honor to remain with Master, but would never forget my family and my dear father, whom I loved above all else and would fain see again one day. I asked Master did he not wish to see his own father again in the nation so far across the water.
“Ah, yes, Friday, I should like to see him,” he said. “But I fear he may be dead, and in any case, it would do nothing but confirm his dread and forebodings that I have wasted my years on a spit of land because of my quirksome desire for adventure and lack of appreciation for the middle existence he so longed me to undertake. ”
I did not understand his words fully then, but more so with the passing of the years, I came to understand that the distance between him and his father encompassed more than leagues of ocean. Master had left his home without his father’s blessing and so it weighed heavy on his soul, making him at times melancholy.
And so we passed our days on the little island. I was about 26 years of age by Master’s reckoning when he saved me from the I. Every year we always celebrated that day, a Friday, as my birthday or name day, even after years had passed and we had gone to live in England. We ate roasted kid with raisins and corn bread and gave thanks before our meal. In truth, it was about the same meal we partook of every day on the island, but seemed it so more special when we performed the ritual in England. It had a religious nature about it as the Seder meal is to the Jews who eat bitter roots and lamb.
As I have said, I gave much in the way of service with my words and lips to Master’s God. His talk of his Heavenly Father often made me the more homesick and desirous of seeing my own father. In truth, as a means to test the power of his God, I prayed many a fortnight on my knees as a good Christian, that Master’s God would reunite me with my father, I cared not how. Master would espy me so engaged and remark upon my devotion, for he had no method to distinguish my testing of his God from true and heartfelt prayer.
You may imagine then, with what tremulousness and awe I regarded the God of the Christians when the day arrived that my father was miraculously returned to me, brought by Savages to our very island to be feasted upon as part of the Savage way. But we attacked and killed the revelers and scattered the rest and so my father was rescued by Master and me. With what joy did I receive my father. I could not leave his sight, but must pet and hold and touch each and every appendage, so wondrous did it appear to me that he was now with me once again. It was on that day that I truly became a Christian man, because I could fathom how in no means other than by Divine Providence could my own dear father be returned to me. Indeed, the power of our Heavenly Father was revealed to me and tears of joy and devotion poured from my eyes. No more would I doubt that our Heavenly Father existed or that He cared for me even as He cared for the Lily of the field, which I never yet had seen but heard Master speak of, nor even a Sparrow, belike a little bird that twits about and also I had not yet seen. Oh joy! Oh rapture! When such a Spirit fills one, it is unlike any other feeling or perception of being that one can imagine. I longed to be one with my Savior and to make known his power and Mercy to all.
My days with my father were numbered, however. It came to pass that Master took a fancy to sending my father and the other Christian man we saved, a Spaniard, to a nearby isle to find some other long beards that were living among the G tribe. After repairing a canoe and making it ready, he sent them off. Little did I know that would be the last I would see of my dear father for many years hence. While they were away on their mission, we had a great adventure assisting a captain to retake his ship. His crew had foully mutinied and our worthiness in battle and in Character secured for us passage away from the island, which Master never yet had named, nor built upon it a House of Worship, which I thought strange many years later when I saw the many and divers Houses of Worship in fair England, especially for all his talk of devotion to his God. Mayhaps it would have been wasteful of resources and Master was nothing if not a good husbandman.
We set sail and arrived in England on the 11 th of June 1687. I was about 30 years of age, in my prime of health and mobility as well as looks, if I may say so with utmost modesty. Wherever we went, Master and I turned heads. Of course, he had shed his loathsome garments and adopted the usual dress of his countrymen, as did I. But we cut fine figures, me with my tawny skin and jet-black hair and Master dressed as fine as his circumstances allowed, and they were considerable after he found his plantation in the Brazils was turning a tidy profit. We traveled once again to Lisbon where Master settled some affairs and overland we journeyed across the nation of Spain to France and then over a smallish Ocean, now called the English Channel and returned to England.
Here Master had a mind to settle down and become a farmer. He married and fathered two children and farmed, as he was wont to do. His fortune was great and did not require that he but till as little or as much land as he desired. As his most Trusted Servant, I became a part of his household and tended to his every need withal.
While acting as his servant, I learned to speak English much better and the Mistress began to teach me a greater understanding of the written word. I learned to read quite well, cipher and parse and other wondrous improvements of Civilization. I continued with my Bible study and committed whole sections of verse to memory. Even more often than Master I would go to the little Dissenting church down the way. There I would pray that one day again I should see my father.
One fine spring day, when the air was fresh and balmy and the birds chittered and chattered in the trees, I was performing an errand for Master when I chanced to meet a beauteous maid, with flaxen hair and skin as fair as ivory. Her name was Prudence and wish that I had practiced some of that worthy virtue in my dealings with her. We began to see each other, furtively, of course, for I believed it to be true that one so dark as I would ne’er be permitted to court one so white as my Beloved. I feared Master’s wrath as well as the wrath of the villagers, to be sure. It was through this intercourse with Prudence that I began to lose my way and strayed from the Gospels, particularly the Commandment to not commit adultery and to honor the marriage vows as sacred.
In short, Prudence was with child and there was no other honourable means to settle the affair than to inform my Master, beg his forgiveness and perform whatever Penance he would require. I most of all wished that Prudence would not be dishonoured in the eyes of the villagers.
Master, indeed was furious and belike it was as close as ever he came to striking me. He asked what I intended to do, and I replied, “Sir, I would indeed wish to many Prudence, if you would deem it so.” Aghast he was at this most bold proposition, but I had learned that sometimes it is best to be bold and say clearly your desires, that the converse may get straight to the point. It was the way of my people to not mince words, so to speak.
He bade me leave his sight, which I did. I was sorely disappointed that I had displeased Master so, after all the goodness and kindness he had shown to me, yet my love for Prudence had clouded my reason and good judgment in the matter.
I believe Mistress intervened and some hours later Master sent for me.
He told me that he had inquired of the maid Prudence and found that her family was of little regard and had neither dowry money nor great prospects for her. Her father was a drunkard and her mother a swineherd; therefore, it would be no grave dishonour for her to many a half-
Savage, though he be a good decent Christian man of some years. Master, therefore, gave us his blessing and promised he would make us a little cottage nearby. I must however, continue to be his manservant, which of course I promised I would.
And so a few years passed. Prudence and I were very happy and made forthwith another child, and both were strapping young sons, the pride and joy of my hearth and heart. They were of a mixed race and so not quite tawny like me nor yet so fair as Prudence, but of more the middle circumstance, which I have learned often is the best way. Some might even think they were Portugee or other Mediterranean people and so their lot was not so dismal as first it seemed. Of course, I wished my own dear father could see his progeny, but I feared he was no longer of this Earth.
A very sad occasion presented itself during this time. Mistress passed away and the change it wrought in Master was most miserable. He no longer found joy in his daily habitat but the wanderlust came upon him again. He forthwith made plans to visit his island and see how his little Colony had managed without his guiding hand. I hoped he would not expect me to go along on the voyage, but in fact, he did, and assumed I must be as anxious to return as he. I was curious about my father, forsooth, but left the matter in the hands of Providence.
We departed speedily after making the most proper provisions and it was with teary eyes that Prudence and my two sons, Robin and Ben, made our farewells. After a voyage of some months, we came in sight of the little island.
I do not know whether it was Master or myself that was the more anxious as we approached the lush green Eden we had left for the cares and yet wholesome possibilities of Civilization.
Upon our disembarkation, I espied my own dear father. He was alive! He was wirier than I had remembered, but had nonetheless aged in a manner befitting an I____ tribesman. He and I cried tears of happiness and I again danced a dance of joy at seeing him. How great is God our Father to allow for repetition of wondrous events.
We remained upon the island for some five and twenty days, while Master and I heard the accounts of the invasion by Savages upon these shores and of the islanders’ bravery in withstanding the assault and of the treachery of some of the settlers, but how all now seemed to be settled and in good order. We left some artisans and a great variety of supplies and even a parson of the Roman sort who married some of the island folk and planned to stay and minister to their spiritual needs.
I spent many a pleasant hour with my father and described to him the wonders I had seen and the vast distances I had traveled in the company of my Master and Savior. I described my wife and his two grandchildren as best I could and in what words came when I tried to see them in my mind’s eye, which caused me grief to think they were without me and me without them and how long we should be apart only Providence would determine. I spake too of my Faith in God and how though I had sinned with Prudence we had come a ways and would now walk together in the light of Salvation. I made him know that there was only one God and He was the one most powerful, the one most mighty and most merciful, else how would I be standing here on this island today.
In explaining all of these things to my father I came to understand that I was informing and instructing him in many things I did not know or had not fully considered before, but which now seemed so natural to my mind especially as I was explaining them to my own dear father, who was still most a Savage,
And now it has come to pass that we are to leave for further adventures for Master has bid us. I can do nothing but answer his call, as I am duty bound to honor his Company and trust to Providence in all.
Leaves of Ash 