SwissFamilyRobinson

Swiss family Robinson

The wind blew day and night

The sea tossed our ship up and down

After six days

Everyone was tired and frightened

My poor children stayed close to their mother. I looked at their white faces

What could I do to help them?

Then with joy, I heard someone shout

land land

But suddenly there was a loud crash

Water poured in and the ship began to sink

Lower the boats the captain shouted above the noise of the storm

We're going to drown

But the frightened sailors forgot us

In the dark and the rain I saw there were no boats left

During the night the storm began to calm down

The ship did not sink and at last my children slept in the cabin

In the morning there was a blue sky above

I climbed out of the cabin and saw that the cabin end of the ship was stuck

Between two high rocks

We were above the water and I could see the land

Soon my wife and sons woke up

The boys were surprised that we were alone

Have the sailors gone? They asked

Have they taken away the boats?

Why did they leave us behind?

What can we do by ourselves?

But Fritz, my eldest son, soon had an idea

The sea was sparkling in the sun

Look, he said, the sea will soon be calm

We can swim to the shore

That's fine for you, said Ernest

You and Father are good swimmers, but think of mum and the rest of us

I know, said Jack, he was only ten years old, but he was very brave

We will make a raft

A good idea, I said, but it will be difficult

First, we must look for useful things

Ernest found a hammer, some nails, and lots of tools

Fritz and I looked for wood

Franz, my youngest boy, went with his mother

They came back with food and some good news

A cow, a donkey, some goats, sheep, and hens were alive

I was not pleased with Jack

He had two large hungry dogs

Oh, please dad, let me keep them, he said

They will be useful, they can help us to hunt when we reach land

I had to agree

We spent the day making a raft

It was very hard work, but at last it was ready

We were all tired and it was late, so we slept for one more night on the ship

Early the next morning, we put food, clothes, carpenters tools, guns, pots, and other useful things on the raft

We made swimming belts for the larger animals, then pushed off from the ship and rode towards the shore

I looked for a safe place to land

The cliffs were very high, we could see only rock and stone

This will help, said Jack, as he took a telescope from his pocket

Look, said Fritz, palm trees

I put the telescope to my eye

What can you see, they all wanted to know

Fritz is right, those are coconut palms

There is a stream too, it flows out to the sea and the land is flat

It will be easy to get ashore there

The dogs ran up the beach ahead of us

We took everything off the raft before we tied it up

I made a fireplace with some flat stones and the boys made a pile of sticks

Then I filled an iron pot with water and soon my wife and Franz were cooking soup over the fire

Fritz took a gun and crossed the stream

Ernest did not like walking so he sat on the beach

Jack climbed over the rocks looking for fish

I began to make a tent

Suddenly I heard Jack shouting for help

I ran to where he was standing in a deep rock pool

A huge crab had its front claws around his leg

I held the back of the crab and at last Jack pulled himself free

We had crab for dinner, it was delicious

Afterwards we slept on the ground

On the soft grass under the tent

It was our first night in a strange land

The sun woke my wife and me early in the morning

We talked and made plans while the children slept

Do you think all the other people on the ship drowned? I asked

First we must look for other people

We will also try to find out where we are

Take Fritz with you my wife said and a gun

I will stay here with the younger children

Fritz and I went to explore

We took a dog with us and walked all morning

The sun was hot

We noticed lots of fruits on the trees and I told Fritz some of their names

Suddenly we heard a strange noise

Fritz ran ahead with his gun

The dog had found a baby monkey

We looked up and saw more monkeys in the palm trees

They began to throw coconuts at us

I showed Fritz how to open a coconut and we drank the milk

We climbed a steep hill

From the top we could see a long way

The sea and some islands lay on one side

On the other we could see mountains and valleys but there were no people

We rested and then walked back to our camp

When we got back the others ran to meet us

Have you found anything interesting they asked

We showed them the coconuts and some fruits

Fritz was carrying the baby monkey

This is a beautiful country I told my wife

But no one lives here we are all by ourselves

We were all alone but we were very happy to be alive

The weather was still good

I decided to return to the wreck before there was another storm

We needed all the useful things from the ship

Fritz came with me and we worked hard

We went back to the wreck every day for a week

My wife stayed with the children

I did not like leaving her alone at our camp so she made a flag from a white sail

It was a signal we could see the flag from the wreck

If there was any danger she would lower the flag

The ship was carrying many things for people in a new country

We found clothes, furniture, food and seeds

There were tools, wheels, matches and rope

We were lucky to have so many things

One day my wife met us at the landing place

She was very excited

I want to show you something she said

We crossed the stream

The younger boys started to run ahead along the path towards some woods

Follow us they shouted

They took us to a place with huge trees

Look said my wife

Isn't it beautiful here?

It is too hot by the sea

Here it is cool. I want to build a house in the trees

I agreed at once but how could we carry all our things there?

First we had to make a bridge over the stream

Jack chose a good place

The cow and the donkey pulled the heavy wood from the beach

It took many weeks to build our house but all the boys loved helping

First we made a floor about 10 meters above the ground

Then we cut down some branches and built walls and a strong roof

We climbed a rope ladder up to our tree house and hung our hammocks from the higher branches

The roof and walls are very strong I said

Even a big bear would find it hard to break in

My wife was very pleased

It will be cool in hot weather. She said

It is beautiful. I love our new home

We were safe and warm at last

And so our days passed

We were not homesick for we had already decided to leave switzerland and start a new life

We had not chosen to be alone, but a few people more or less did not matter

We took everything from the shipwreck. We even had beds

So we did not have to sleep on the ground or in hammocks anymore

We had the animals from the ship and found many more on the land

We planted trees and seeds and found sugar and potatoes

We had good food to eat

We were busy all day

My wife made butter and cheese from the cow's milk

She planted a garden of flowers and vegetables around our tree house

Every day we looked after the animals and the fields

And everyone helped to build new huts and barns

We took time to rest and the boys had time to play too

The sea was warm so they swam a lot

They were good swimmers

They dived from the rocks into the clear blue water

They climbed and ran and jumped

They were strong and healthy

All the children had pets

Fritz found an eagle and gave the baby monkey to earnest

Jack had his two dogs and soon they had puppies

Then Fritz's eagle found some huge eggs

They were ostrich eggs and soon fronds had a pet ostrich

It was not long before he could ride his ostrich every day

Then one day the weather changed

There were clouds in the sky and the wind started to blow

The sky got dark

Then it began to rain

For weeks we had to stay in the tree house

My wife sewed

Ernest drew pictures of the birds animals and plants he had seen

Fritz and Jack taught fronds to read

We all liked music

My wife played the guitar and we all sang together

And I began to write about our life here

On the day we reached land I had made a mark with my knife on a tree

I had marked the tree every day since then

One evening I said to my family

My dears do you know that tomorrow is a very important day

We have lived here for one year

Everyone was surprised to hear this

The time had passed very quickly

We had a wonderful day

I set the table with our best things

My wife cooked delicious food and made a cake

We talked about everything that had happened since the storm a year before

We were very happy

Year followed year

We called our country new Switzerland

Our farm covered many acres of land

We built a new house of stone and rock for the winter

And in the summer we lived in our tree house

Fritz was now 24 years old

Ernest was 22 and Jack was 20

Even fronds was no longer a child

He was 14 years old

They could all look after themselves very well

One day Fritz told me that he wanted to sail around the island

He took lots of food and a tent and set off in his boat

Every day I looked through my telescope

At last I saw him

He was safely home again

He had a big box of pearls and he had an interesting story to tell

Fritz had traveled for many days

He saw many small islands

Then he came to a coral reef where many seabirds lived

They began to fly at his boat

A very large bird hit the sail and fell onto the boat

It was an albatross and round its leg Fritz found a piece of paper

Someone had written in English

Save me from the smoking rock

Fritz tore a piece of cloth from the sail and wrote on it

Help is near

He tied it round the bird's leg and then let it fly away again

We were all excited

Did someone else live near us?

We decided we must go and look

Fritz led the way in his boat

Five days later we saw smoke above the trees on a small island

We sailed closer

Someone waved from the beach

We had found a shipwrecked girl. We took her back to our home

During the winter Jenny taught us all to speak English well

She became a member of our family in time

Then one day Jack and Franz were cleaning their guns

Jack fired his gun to the woods to try it

But we heard a ship's guns fire back from a long way off

Fritz and I set off in the boat

An hour later we passed some cliffs and there in the bay was an English ship

The captain had come to look for Jenny

We went back to tell the family

We all put our best clothes then sailed to the bay

The sailor saw us and we're very surprised

Now we could all go home, but my wife and I loved new Switzerland

We would miss our life here. So we decided to stay

Ernest and Jack decided to stay too

Some people on the ship asked to live in new Switzerland with us and we agreed at once

We said goodbye to Franz Fritz and Jenny

I gave Fritz my book with the story of our adventures

My wife and I watched and waved from the beach as the ship sailed away

But we knew our sons would return one day