Robinson Crusoe was a young man, who loved to embark on adventures. He was very fond of sailing
to far-off places. One day, Robinson decided that he would voyage to Africa, work there and make some money. “No, Robinson. I do not approve of this,” his father said angrily.
Robinson didn’t budge an inch and left his house at dawn. His father felt miserable. At the age of 19, Robinson set sail to the distant land of Africa. Merrily, Robinson went on but soon noticed the high tides. He thought, ‘What is happening? These waves are of high magnitude!’
Before Robinson could navigate away, there rose a heavy storm. Robinson’s ship soared high on waves, and stopped low. It was a disastrous journey. After hours of misery, Robinson was washed ashore by the giant tides. He saw that he was shipwrecked.
Robinson survived, but did not go home. He reached Brazil and became a farmer. He herded buffaloes and grew many kinds of crops. In due course, he earned a good livelihood. One day, he had to go to Africa on business to sell his crops.
As luck would have it, something unfortunate happened. Yet again, Robinson was caught in a terrifying hurricane. The storm was similar to the one he had witnessed on his first journey. This time it was much more violent and worse.
Robinson’s ship got wrecked once again, and he found himself on an island. Robinson looked around
to see where he was. ‘This place looks deserted,’ he thought. Robinson walked deeper inside the island, but found no signs of any human.
Robinson said to himself, ‘This is a lonely and uninhabited island. How will I survive here?’ He explored the island and collected some materials to build a shelter. Being a great farmer, he managed to grow food crops for his survival–rice, wheat, maize and barley. He also hunted the wild goats and ate their meat.
Robinson also kept and fed a few goats for milk which he later used to make butter and cheese. For almost 26 years. Robinson lived alone on the island, with no humans around him. He yearned for company, a human whom he could talk to. One day, Robinson woke up to see a wrecked ship just like his.
Robinson ran towards it, and started examining it. “Is there anyone inside?” Robinson’s voice echoed in the interiors of this ship. Suddenly, Robinson saw a body lying on the broken deck. He rushed towards it and saw that it was a man.
The man was breathing but lay unconscious. Robinson took the man to his shelter and gradually helped him recover. The man opened his eyes and looked around. He was a Spaniard (from Spain) and Robinson could not understand what he said.
Robinson gave the man some food and water. As days passed, the man recovered. Robinson named the man as Friday since he rescued him on Friday. Both men slowly began understanding each other a little, and the communication became easier.
Friday helped Robinson with work and the daily chores. Soon, they both became good companions. One day, Robinson woke up to find that Friday was missing. “Friday! Friday!! Where are you?”
He looked for Friday across the island. For hours he kept on searching. ‘What if the cannibals took him?’ Robinson wondered and got scared. Cannibals were humans who ate other humans for their survival.
Robinson spotted them on the island many months ago, and knew that they’d return some day. At night when Robinson was just about to give up his search, he heard some voices. He saw something horrifying. A dozen cannibals gathered around Friday and were about to kill him.
Robinson had a gun, which he carried for self-defence and, many sharp weapons he had made He quickly sprinted across the trees and shot his gun killing them all. Friday breathed a sigh of relief. Robinson had rescued him. After walking back to the shelter, Friday noticed something.
There was a boat through which the cannibals had come. Both men went and inspected the boat. “We can sail back!” both cried in joy. They stocked the boat with a lot of food and water, and sailed back to Brazil. It was after 35 years that Robinson had returned; he was indeed very happy
