The Swiss Family Robinson. Johann Wyss
and before we could clearly distinguish them, were at the very top of the trees.
Fritz was so provoked by their impertinent gestures that he raised his gun, and would have shot one of the poor beasts.
‘Stay,’ cried I, ‘never take the life of any animal needlessly. A live monkey up in that tree is of more use to us than a dozen dead ones at our feet, as I will show you.’
Saying this, I gathered a handful of small stones, and threw them up towards the apes. The stones did not go near them, but influenced by their instinctive mania for imitation, they instantly seized all the coconuts within their reach, and sent a perfect hail of them down upon us.
Fritz was delighted with my stratagem, and rushing forward picked up some of the finest of the nuts. We drank the milk they contained, drawing it through the holes which I pierced, and then, splitting the nuts open with the hatchet, ate the cream which lined their shells. After this delicious meal, we thoroughly despised the lobster we had been carrying, and threw it to Turk, who ate it gratefully: but far from being satisfied, the poor beast began to gnaw the ends of the sugar-canes, and to beg for coconut. I slung a couple of the nuts over my shoulder, fastening them together by their stalks, and Fritz having resumed his burden, we began our homeward march.
I soon discovered that Fritz found the weight of his canes considerably more than he expected: he shifted them from shoulder to shoulder, then for a while carried them under his arm, and finally stopped short with a sigh. ‘I had no idea,’ he said, ‘that a few reeds would be so heavy.’
‘Never mind, my boy,’ I said, ‘Patience and courage! Do you not remember the story of Aesop and his bread-basket, how heavy he found it when he started, and how light at the end of his journey? Let us each take a fresh staff, and then fasten the bundle crosswise with your gun.’
We did so, and once more stepped forward. Fritz presently noticed that I from time to time sucked the end of my cane.
‘Oh, come,’ said he, ‘that’s a capital plan of yours, father, I’ll do that too.’
So saying, he began to suck most vigorously, but not a drop of the juice could he extract. ‘How is this?’ he asked. ‘How do you get the juice out, father?’
‘Think a little,’ I replied, ‘you are quite as capable as I am of finding out the way, even if you do not know the real reason of your failure.’
‘Oh, of course,’ said he, ‘it is like trying to suck marrow from a marrow bone, without making a hole at the other end.’
‘Quite right,’ I said, ‘you form a vacuum in your mouth and the end of your tube, and expect the air to force down the liquid from the other end which it cannot possibly enter.’
Fritz was speedily perfect in the accomplishment of sucking sugar-cane, discovering by experience the necessity for a fresh cut at each joint or knot in the cane, through which the juice could not flow; he talked of the pleasure of initiating his brothers in the art, and of how Ernest would enjoy the coconut milk, with which he had filled his flask.
‘My dear boy,’ said I, ‘you need not have added that to your load; the chances are it is vinegar by the time we get home. In the heat of the sun, it will ferment soon after being drawn from the nut.’
‘Vinegar! Oh, that would be a horrid bore! I must look directly, and see how it is getting on,’ cried Fritz, hastily swinging the flask from his shoulder, and tugging out the cork. With a loud ‘pop’ the contents came forth, foaming like champagne.
‘There now!’ said I, laughing as he tasted this new luxury. ‘You will have to exercise moderation again, friend Fritz! I daresay it is delicious, but it will go to your head, if you venture deep into your flask.’
‘My dear father, you cannot think how good it is! Do take some. Vinegar, indeed! This is like excellent wine.’
We were both invigorated by this unexpected draught, and went on so merrily after it, that the distance to the place where we had left our gourd dishes seemed less than we expected. We found them quite dry, and very light and easy to carry.
Just as we had passed through the grove in which we breakfasted, Turk suddenly darted away from us, and sprang furiously among a troop of monkeys, which were gambolling playfully on the turf at a little distance from the trees. They were taken by surprise completely, and the dog, now really ravenous from hunger, had seized, and was fiercely tearing one to pieces before we could approach the spot.
His luckless victim was the mother of a tiny little monkey, which being on her back when the dog flew at her, had hindered her flight; the little creature attempted to hide among the grass, and in trembling fear watched the tragic fate of its mother. On perceiving Turk’s blood-thirsty design, Fritz had eagerly rushed to the rescue, flinging away all he was carrying, and losing his hat in his haste. All to no purpose as far as the poor mother ape was concerned, and a laughable scene ensued, for no sooner did the young monkey catch sight of him than at one bound it was on his shoulders, and, holding fast by his thick curly hair, it firmly kept its seat in spite of all he could do to dislodge it. He screamed and plunged about as he endeavoured to shake or pull the creature off, but all in vain, it only clung the closer to his neck, making the most absurd grimaces.
I laughed so much at this ridiculous scene, that I could scarcely assist my terrified boy out of his awkward predicament.
At last, by coaxing the monkey, offering it a bit of biscuit, and gradually disentangling its small sinewy paws from the curls it grasped so tightly, I managed to relieve poor Fritz, who then looked with interest at the baby ape, no bigger than a kitten, as it lay in my arms.
‘What a jolly little fellow it is!’ exclaimed he. ‘Do let me try to rear it, father. I daresay coconut milk would do until we can bring the cow and the goats from the wreck. If he lives he might be useful to us. I believe monkeys instinctively know what fruits are wholesome and what are poisonous.’
‘Well,’ said I, ‘let the little orphan be yours. You bravely and kindly exerted yourself to save the mother’s life, now you must train her child carefully, for unless you do so its natural instinct will prove mischievous instead of useful to us.’
Turk was meanwhile devouring with great satisfaction the little animal’s unfortunate mother. I could not grudge it him, and continued hunger might have made him dangerous to ourselves. We did not think it necessary to wait until he had dined, so we prepared to resume our march.
The tiny ape seated itself in the coolest way imaginable on Fritz’s shoulder, I helped to carry his canes, and we were on some distance before Turk overtook us, looking uncommonly well pleased, and licking his chops as though recalling the memory of his feast.
He took no notice of the monkey, but it was very uneasy at sight of him, and scrambled down into Fritz’s arms, which was so inconvenient to him that he devised a plan to relieve himself of his burden. Calling Turk, and seriously enjoining obedience, he seated the monkey on his back, securing it there with a cord, and then putting a second string round the dog’s neck that he might lead him, he put a loop of the knot into the comical rider’s hand, saying gravely, ‘Having slain the parent, Mr Turk, you will please to carry the son.’
At first this arrangement mightily displeased them both, but by and by they yielded to it quietly; the monkey especially amused us by riding along with the air of a person perfectly at his ease.
‘We look just like a couple of mountebanks on their way to a fair with animals to exhibit,’ said I. ‘What an outcry the children will make when we appear!’
My son inquired to what species of the monkey tribe I thought his protégé belonged, which led to a good deal of talk on the subject, and conversation beguiling the way, we found ourselves ere long on the rocky margin of the stream and close to the rest of our party.
Juno was the first to be aware of our approach, and gave notice of it by loud barking, to which Turk replied with such hearty goodwill, that his little rider, terrified at the noise his steed was making, slipped from under the cord and fled to his refuge on Fritz’s shoulder, where