AN AMAZING ADVENTURE ★ Learn English Through Story ★ Level 4

chapter one ship on the rocks it was the seventh day of the storm we didn't know where we were everyone on the ship believed that death was very near my wife and my four young sons moved close to me my dear children i said i don't think we're going to die then above the noise of the storm i heard a cry land land and the ship hit the rocks we heard someone shout there's no hope now let down the boats no hope cried the children be brave my boys i said the land isn't far away we'll save ourselves we'll find a way i'll see what we can do i left our room and looked around but there were no sailors on the ship they were all in boats on the sea we were alone i returned to my family it's all right i said the front part of the ship is between two rocks so it's above the water tomorrow the sea will be calmer and will be able to reach the land the children immediately became happier but my wife understood the danger of our position she prepared a meal and the boys went to bed but my wife and i stayed awake and watched the next day it was not as windy and the sky was clear we could see that we were near land now i said let's go round the ship let's look for things that will help us to reach the land we need food and water too then we'll meet again here fritz my oldest boy brought back guns and gunpowder my second son ernest found a box of tools a lot of nails a big knife some small knives and some other things the box was very heavy but fritz helped him with it when my third son jack opened the door to one of the rooms two big dogs jumped out at him they were quite friendly and he brought them with him then my wife came with france our youngest son good news she said a donkey two goats a pig six sheep and some chickens are still alive i said those will all be useful but not the dogs they'll eat too much but father said jack they'll help us to catch animals for food when we reach the land yes i said but we haven't reached it yet we need to make a boat let's get some barrels and some pieces of wood so we started to work and we made a boat we used one of the pieces of wood to hold the sail at last everything was ready and we lowered the boat into the sea it was too late to leave the ship that night so i tied one end of a long rope to our boat and the other end to the ship then we had a meal and went to bed chapter 2 the island we all woke up early the next morning i called the children together and said first we must feed the animals i hope we'll be able to come back for them later then let's take everything that will be useful to us we took guns and gunpowder and bags of food we took some cooking pots the tools nails and knives we brought sail cloth to make a tent the chickens seemed sad so we brought them too the dogs i said can swim behind the boat at the last minute my wife came carrying a big bag i didn't ask her what was in it at first the boat turned round and round but after a time i learned to sail it look cried fritz as we came nearer the land those are coconuts we'll have coconuts to eat the dogs were swimming towards calmer water they know the best place to land i said i'll follow them three of the boys jumped onto the beach then they helped france to follow them we took everything out of the boat and freed the chickens then i cut some wood from the trees put it in the ground and made a tent from the sail cloth now i said to the children go and bring some dry grass for our beds while they were doing this i found some big stones for a fireplace i soon made a good fire using dry wood from the beach my wife got a pot of water from the river and put it on the fire then helped by little france she began to cook a meal fritz took a gun to the other side of the river ernest went to the right along the beach and jack went to the left suddenly i heard jack shouting i took a gun and ran to help him i found him standing in water up to his knees come here father he shouted come quickly i've caught something really big all right i said bring it here i can't it's caught me i laughed then i hit the large shellfish with my gun and freed jack it was only holding on to his clothing so he wasn't hurt well jack i said you've caught our first fresh food just then ernest came i've found some things that are good to eat too but i need help to get them what are they they're shellfish too but i can't get them off the rocks we'll take them later after our meal the food's ready said my wife but we should wait for fritz she looked at her pot how shall we eat it we can't eat soup with a knife we need spoons but we haven't got any we can cut coconuts in half and use them we can but we haven't got any coconuts i said there are shells on the rocks said ernest we can use them if you help me fritz arrived so the boys all went to get the shellfish when they came back jack tried to open one with a knife i can't do it he said i can't open it put them near the hot fire i said and they'll open without your help so we sat down to our meal we ate the shellfish first and then we used the shells as spoons for the soup but we haven't got any plates said my wife i've got a plate said ernest showing her a very big shell i found it on the beach there are lots of these shells near the place where i found this one then why i asked didn't you bring plates for all of us the sun was going down when we finished our meal then my wife opened her bag from the ship and began to throw corn to the chickens i stopped her i'm very glad that you've brought this but we mustn't give it to the chickens we must plant it then when it grows we can make bread the chickens can have other food it was time for everyone to go to bed we took our guns with us into the tent chapter 3 the baby monkey we woke up very early the next day first i said we must see if any of the sailors from the ship have reached land we don't all need to go said my wife you take fritz i'll stay here with the other boys yes i answered i'll take turk with us and flora can stay with you those were the names of our dogs my wife gave us bags of food to take with us we walked along the beach looking in the sand for signs of other people but we didn't find any fritz had a gun with him shall i use the gun he asked if they're near they'll hear it no i said if there are wild men on the island they will hear it too we don't want them to know we're here we turned away from the beach and walked for about a mile we came to a little wood at every step we saw a new and beautiful plant what's this strange plant asked fritz with these big things growing on it ah i said those are gourds they're very useful we took some of the gourds and cut them open now we must take out the soft part inside we'll leave the shells to dry in the sun then we can make spoons and plates and cooking pots from them that's why these plants are so useful i don't understand how you can make a cooking pot from this if you put it on the fire it'll burn ah i said but you don't put it on the fire you fill it with water then you put hot stones into the water and the water will boil we cut plates and spoons and pots from the gourds and put them in the sun we left signs to ourselves around the place so we could find it again later we walked to a field of very tall grass it was growing high above our heads now where i thought have i seen grass like this we had to cut our way through the grass as i touched it my hands became very wet i put a hand to my mouth then i remembered come here fritz cut one of these open and put the soft part in your mouth he did that oh he said it's sweet like sugar it is sugar i answered let's take some back with us the others will be very pleased and surprised next we came to some coconut trees as we moved nearer we saw a lot of monkeys on the ground near the trees but when they saw us they ran up into the trees they made angry noises at us fritz lifted his gun stop i cried why do you want to kill those monkeys because they're screaming at us they're terrible useless things or perhaps they're laughing at you why are you getting so angry because they're laughing at you they're right to laugh at an angry boy and they aren't useless how can you make a monkey useful fritz asked i threw some stones at the monkeys in the trees and the monkeys threw coconuts down at us there i said an angry monkey can be quite useful more useful than an angry boy said fritz but i'm not angry now i'll carry the coconuts we came to more coconut trees and the dog turk ran in front of us we heard cries of pain and angry cries from the monkeys up in the trees we saw that turk had one of the monkeys in his mouth fritz ran to save it but it was too late the monkey was dead its baby wasn't far away it was in the grass crying out in fear then a very strange thing happened the baby monkey jumped onto fritz's back and held onto his hair take it off take it off cried fritz i laughed it's lost its mother and so you've become its father yes it's very similar to its new father i carefully took the monkey off fritz's back and held it in my arms what shall we do with it i asked can i take it home cried fritz i'll get milk for it from the goats on the ship and soon it will learn to find food for itself we returned to the beach and my wife and the three other boys ran to meet us they were very pleased to see the little monkey what are those sticks they asked there for you to eat said fritz and he gave the sugar to his brothers a very good meal was waiting for us at the tent different sorts of fish and a bird were cooking over the fire france caught the fish while we were away ernest caught the bird the fish was very nice but we didn't like the taste of ernest bird the sun was going down when we finished our meal we all went to bed fritz took the little monkey with him chapter 4 back to the ship when i woke up i said to my wife i don't know what to do first there are so many things that we need to do first she said you must bring those animals from the ship go with fritz the rest of us will look for a place where we can build a home i said to her we'll have to stay on the ship all night tell earnest to climb up that high tree he should tie a piece of cloth to the top if there's any danger pull the cloth down and you must put up a light in the ship said my wife then i'll know that you've got there safely we reached the ship quite easily the animals were in good health and had enough food i remembered my wife's words and put up a light then we had some food and went to sleep we woke up very early the next morning we found useful things for our life on the island we must have plenty of gunpowder said fritz then we'll be safe if we meet wild animals or enemies later we'll need we must think of the present i said what do we need now for these next few days or weeks we must take more sail cloth because we need to make a home and we must think of food what food is there on the ship i've seen a barrel of butter said fritz and there's the ship's bread and some meat and salt but what will we do when the bread's finished and the butter will soon go bad let's think of the present i said we have enough problems to worry about now we can think about the future later perhaps a ship will come and take us away but i was wrong it's always a good idea to prepare for the future we didn't know that at the time so we made some silly mistakes we didn't take back things that we needed later it was a slow job getting all these things together so we had to spend a second night on the ship we woke up late the next morning now fritz i said as we sat at breakfast how can we take these animals to the land we can't put them in the boat he said they're too heavy can we make another boat no the animals are too big what can we do the pig can swim but the goats in the donkey can't swim so far no i said we can't make a boat that's big enough there are a lot of barrels on the ship enough for a bigger boat but we haven't got time to make one barrels cried fritz let's make a boat for each animal let's tie barrels to the animals the barrels will hold them up above the water when we pull them behind the boat that's possible i said let's try first with one animal and see we tied a barrel to each side of a sheep and put it into the sea it went down and down then finally i saw its head above the water and it began to swim when it was tired it stopped swimming it stayed there held up by the barrels fritz jumped into the sea and tied a rope to the sheep and we pulled it back into the ship we worked very hard and for a time the job seemed impossible the pig and the donkey were the most difficult perhaps we should leave them said fritz we need the goats more than the other animals we tied barrels to the goats and then we tried again with the pig and the donkey the donkey seemed to understand but the pig gave us a lot of trouble the pig's very fat said fritz and pigs are good swimmers perhaps it's fat we'll keep it up in the water so we didn't tie barrels to the pig at last we got all the animals into the water then we climbed into the boat and put up the sail there was a strong wind and we soon reached the land i cut the barrels from the animals and they came up onto the beach they were glad to be on land again my wife and the boys came running my wife was surprised to see all the animals even the pigs safe on the land how did you think of using the barrels she asked i didn't think of it i answered this was fritz's plan not mine chapter five a new place what did you do my dear while fritz and i were on the ship i asked i found a place for a new home said my wife it was impossible to stay in the tent because it was so hot and there are no trees here that we can sit under so ernest and jack took their guns and we took enough food with us for the day the dogs came too we came to a river and crossed it on stones then we walked up to higher ground from there i could see a small group of 10 or 12 trees they were the biggest trees that i've ever seen we stopped and at our lunch there it seemed to me to be the perfect place to live there now you know my story i went to look for a new place to live and i found one promise me that we'll go there tomorrow we'll make a home for ourselves in one of those big trees what i said laughing in a tree a tree house we can live under a tree but how can we get up into the tree fly you can laugh if you want to but i'm sure that we can build a small hut in the branches we'll think of a way to get up there right i said we'll all go and see the place tomorrow then we'll think about what we can do during the night i thought about our conversation then as we sat at breakfast the next day i said yes we'll move to the place that you saw on the other side of the river i turned to the boys and said now what's the first thing that we must do i know said jack we must move the tent there and then take all our things and the animals what do you think fritz the place is on the other side of the river mother ernest jack and france went across on stones but the donkey and pig can't cross on those stones and we can't carry our things across the water we must build a bridge that's the first thing isn't it no said earnest first we must go out to the ship and bring back wood for the bridge we don't have to do that said jack there was a lot of wood on the beach where that shellfish caught me it's come from other ships and there will be more there now good boy i said let's see what we can find jack was right we found plenty of wood we tied together the big pieces which were useful to us we pulled them to the mouth of the river then we got the donkey and with its help we pulled the pieces of wood up the river finally they were at the place where we wanted to build our bridge it wasn't easy but we put three long pieces across the river then we nailed more wood across them it was very hard work and we all slept well that night the next morning we got up early and began preparing for our journey we put our pots food and smaller things into bags and hung them on each side of the donkey we put little bags on the goats but the pig refused to carry anything france sat on the back of the donkey so it could not run away the boys and i carried the other things that we needed for the first few days in our new home when we were all ready my wife said we can't leave the chickens here if we leave them we'll lose them all fritz and ernest tried to catch the chickens but it was impossible they ran away i'll show you how to do it my wife said she threw a little corn on the ground and all the chickens ran to it when she threw some more inside the tent they all went inside then while they were eating she closed the tent now jack you go into the tent catch the birds and pass them out to us we'll tie their legs and put them in two barrels on the donkey's back at last we were ready to start we put our other things inside the tent and closed it carefully fritz and my wife went in front next came the donkey with france on its back then jack with the goats the monkey rode on the goat that gave him his milk after him came ernest and the sheep and i came last the dogs helped us to keep all the animals in line the pig did not want to come with us so we left it behind but when it saw us leaving it came running after us when we reached the bridge it was there too we crossed the bridge very carefully i was worried about the weight of the donkey so i went first the bridge was alright so the donkey went next then the rest followed but not the pig oh no the pig refused to go on the bridge we tried everything but without success then when we were all on the other side the pigs swam across it followed us so we reached the place where we wanted to make our new home these are wonderful trees said fritz they're so tall yes i said i didn't think they were as big as this this is an excellent place if we can make a house in one of these trees we'll be safe from wild animals we tied up the animals so they couldn't escape but not the pig the pig lay down and slept we freed the chickens and my wife started a fire and cooked a meal for us chapter six the rope ladder after the meal i said we must sleep on the ground tonight i can't see how we can get up into a tree this evening then i went to the beach with fritz and ernest we looked for the things that we needed for a ladder the beach was covered with pieces of wood of all sizes carried there from ships by the sea it'll be difficult to make a ladder out of these pieces of wood said fritz and it'll be very heavy look at those tall thick plants there cried ernest they're what we need bamboo i cut some bamboo into pieces about six feet long then i tied them together so i could carry them then i cut some straight sticks i can make a bow with this bamboo i said and arrows from these sticks we went back to the biggest tree carrying the bamboo we put it on the ground that branch is about 30 feet high i said we've got more than 60 feet of thick rope and a lot of thin rope now we'll put two long pieces of rope on the ground and we'll cut pieces of bamboo a foot and a half long fritz you cut the pieces ernest will help me with the rope so we began to work now i said we must tie pieces of bamboo across the ropes to make steps then we'll have a rope ladder we worked very hard and after a few hours a ladder was ready then i made a bow from another piece of bamboo ernest i said make arrows from these sticks put a big nail in one end oh cried jack a bow and arrows what are you going to do with them i want to play with them i'm not making a toy jack i'm going to shoot with this but soon you'll all have bows and arrows because we must be careful with our gunpowder when we've used this gunpowder we won't be able to get any more and if there are dangerous men on the island we'll need our gunpowder when the bow and arrows were ready i tied a long piece of thin rope to an arrow and shot the arrow up over the branch it came down on the other side carrying the thin rope with it ah said ernest he always understood things quickly you'll tie the rope ladder to this thin rope and pull it up onto the branch then you'll hold it there while someone ties it to the branch yes i said you climb up there you're smaller than fritz and i don't think jack can tie the ladder well enough soon the ladder was tied to the branch that's a good day's work i said now we must tie up the animals and we'll sleep at the foot of the tree tomorrow we'll begin to build our treehouse look said jack the chickens are on our rope ladder i looked each chicken was sitting on a step they were already very comfortable i lit a big fire to keep away dangerous animals then i decided to stay awake and watch chapter 7 the treehouse i was worried at first i didn't feel that we were in a very safe place i heard a strange sound no it was only the movement of the trees the fire was getting low what were those shadows was that a wild animal moving nearer nearer i got up and put more wood on the fire at last i felt safer and went to sleep it was light when i woke up all the others were already awake we had breakfast and then we started work again my wife milked the goats then she went down to the beach with ernest jack france and the donkey to get wood for the treehouse fritz and i climbed up the ladder into the tree and planned our new home these branches i said are thick and close together and they come straight out from the tree the floor of the house can be here and the tree will be one of the walls fritz looked up and said those higher branches will hold up the roof but what sort of roof we'll put a sail over the branches and bring it down to the floor on two sides that as you will hear later was a great mistake i was very stupid but at the time fritz and i were very pleased with our simple plans this fourth side i said will be open we can look out from there perhaps we'll make a place where we can sit outside in the daytime it will be a beautiful house said fritz then my wife and ernest arrived the donkey was pulling a lot of wood behind it more wood was tied on its back and france was sitting on top of that they left the wood and went back for more how shall we get it up here said fritz shall i carry it up the ladder no we must pull it up now where did i see yes i remember it was in ernest's box of tools fritz found the little wheel we tied it to a branch and pulled up the pieces of wood then i started to make the floor when evening came the floor was finished we hung our sail cloth over the higher branches and nailed it down to the floor on two sides on the fourth side we could see across the country around us and plenty of air could come into the house there i said our house is finished then i saw that there were more pieces of wood we'll make a table and some chairs from these tomorrow tonight we'll sleep in our new house the three older boys quickly went up the ladder carrying everything for their beds my wife was afraid of the ladder but she reached the top safely then i took france on my back i untied the ladder from the posts in the ground climbed up and pulled the ladder up after me now we're safe in our tree house said jack nothing can climb up here oh cried fritz where's the monkey there said ernest pointing to fritz's bed a monkey can climb up anywhere i kept my gun by my side i was still not sure that the animals below were safe but the night passed quietly chapter 8 back to the tent after breakfast fritz and i started to make a table suddenly we heard a loud bang and a small bird fell almost at our feet that was a good shot said ernest picking it up he was very proud it wasn't good i said we can't use our gunpowder like that we can use the guns to shoot large animals for food but for birds and small animals we must use bows and arrows look at the bow and arrow that i've made ernest try to make better ones and learn to use them when midday came we put some barrels around the new table we were ready to eat our first meal at it where are earnest and jack asked my wife let's start if they come late they won't have any lunch maybe something has happened to them said my wife i can't eat if they're not here we waited i'm sure nothing has happened to them i said at last they're young and silly and don't notice the time put the food on the table then ernest and jack arrived carrying bows and arrows look said jack before i could speak he held out two very small birds we shot them with our bows and arrows i'm very pleased about that but i'm angry because you're late your mother's been worried about you sit down and eat your lunch we only had meat and a little bread for lunch the bread was very hard the meat was an animal that i shot the day before i left some things at the tent said my wife if we get them i can give you better meals we left and walked towards the beach the dogs went in front this time the little monkey was riding on turk's back then came fritz ernest and jack with their bows and arrows my wife and france and i came last there was still a lot of wood on the beach and i noticed two long pieces just the same shape their ends were turned up now where i thought have i seen pieces of wood shaped like that ah i remember in switzerland of course we reached the tent and found everything in the same place as before everyone looked for the things that they wanted fritz got some gunpowder while i found the butter my wife pointed to a bag that i remembered putting into our boat what is it i asked ah she said that's what i wanted for our lunch potatoes there are only enough for one meal i said but if we plant them we'll have plenty next year enough for all our meals jack was listening to this we can eat these potatoes and then we can find wild potatoes he said you found sugar and coconuts no jack wild potatoes grow on the top of high mountains and they're very small and not very good to eat these potatoes are different from wild ones we must make a garden and grow potatoes in it but what can we eat now asked jack i'll see what i can find i answered until our garden's ready there are some wild plants that we can use next fritz and i went to get salt the sea water dried on the rocks and left salt behind we were able to get enough to give our food some taste but we were stupid not to take more than that chapter 9 the sledge later in bed i thought that barrel of butter was very heavy we must find a way to carry heavy things i thought about our animals tied up at the foot of the tree at night they weren't safe we must make huts for them we needed wood for this but more than we used for the floor of our house we also needed bamboo the donkey couldn't carry so much so we must make a sledge those two pieces of wood on the beach were just the right shape for the bottom of a sledge so early in the morning ernest and i climbed quietly down the ladder i took some tools nails and a piece of light rope we found the two pieces of wood and nailed them together with smaller pieces then we put a lot of bamboo and wood across the top i tied a rope on the front and we pulled the sledge back along the beach it moved very easily across the sand when we were finishing our breakfast we heard a loud noise from the chickens we all ran to them it's the monkey cried ernest he's running after them then we saw the monkey hiding behind a tree he was eating an egg the monkey ran away to another tree and ernest ran after him soon ernest came back with four more eggs my wife went and looked in the grass one of the chickens is sitting on her eggs she said soon we'll have some little ones we must make a safe place for the chickens then we can keep the monkey away from them after lunch ernest and i went out again with the donkey the donkey pulled the sledge to the beach we put more wood and bamboo on the sledge and then i looked at the sky we must go home i said there are clouds in the sky and the wind is getting stronger then i looked at the place where the ship was still on the rocks another storm could carry the rest of it away we must make one more journey to the ship before it broke into pieces why was i so stupid on our last journey we brought back the animals butter salt meat bed clothes gunpowder some books but we knew then that we were on the island for a long time a year two years perhaps for the rest of our lives why didn't i think of other more important things chapter 10 a second journey to the ship the next morning fritz and i got up very early we went to look at our boat it was in a good state but it didn't have a sail that was now the treehouse roof i think said fritz that we can use long flat pieces of wood as paddles yes i said but we must get another sail from the ship the boat will be very heavy with everything in it there's still a strong wind we'll run back home and tell the others we'll go now and then we'll spend the night on the ship we went quickly and told them our plans my wife said we'll meet you with the sledge when you come back be careful we reach the ship without great problems now fritz what do we really need i can only think of one very small thing he answered what's that i want something to catch big fish yes i said but we can't eat fish and meat every day no he answered we must have bread and fruit and green vegetables do you remember mr wilkins on the ship he was moving to a new home i'll see if i can find his tools you find a fishing line yes said fritz i remember watching one of the officers when he was fishing over the side of the boat i know which room was his i'll look there i went below and found some gardening tools i also found some seeds that's lucky i thought now we'll have lots of different vegetables to eat fritz came back with his arms full i remember i said to fritz that mr wilkins was bringing a light plow with him shall i take the plow to the island what will pull it asked fritz i don't think the donkey can pull a plow no i answered no you're right but it isn't very big we'll take it perhaps we can use it we slept on the ship that night the next day was windier and the sky looked stormy we put a good sail on our boat and started back towards the land perhaps said fritz we can catch a fish on the way back to the land he put a fishing line over the side and pulled it through the water suddenly we felt something on the line it was very strong it pulled the boat back towards the open sea the fish will carry us away cried fritz we must cut the line i said no no cried fritz let's wait just then the wind began and it pushed the boat towards the land it became stronger and stronger and we moved faster and faster through the water the boat was thrown up onto the beach and it broke into pieces my wife and the boys were waiting for us we quickly took our things off the boat and put them on the sledge there that's all i said no answered fritz no let's see if the fish is still with us he went into the water yes it's still here it's dead so we carried the big fish onto the beach and put it on the sledge this will give us food for days i said if it doesn't go bad we must put it in salt but now said ernest we haven't got a boat what should we do we'll take the barrels that we used for the boat i said they'll be very useful for food and other things ernest you walk along the beach i think the sea threw one of the ship's boats out of the water there i was right there was a boat there it was badly broken but we were able to mend it we had some of the fish for supper and it tasted very nice then my wife kept some for our meals the next day and put the rest into a barrel with salt after our meal we sat round the fire we talked about the things that we had to do in the next few days you must make a hut for the tools and other large things said my wife you can't carry those tools up and down into our house yes i said and we must also make some huts for the animals we won't need many huts said ernest oh i said let's see i think we'll have more animals soon and i was right we must make a garden too i said a big garden said fritz what have we got plants and seeds from the ship and potatoes and perhaps we can find other plants on the island that we can grow in our garden yes i said but we must build a wall round the garden we don't want the animals to eat the plants we'll use bamboo oh that's a lot of work said ernest ernest was lazy and didn't like work there's one thing that you haven't told me said my wife you've told me what we'll be able to eat next year but what are we going to eat now ah i said we haven't got any potatoes but there are wild plants i'm sure that there are sweet potatoes on this island next morning we all went out and looked for sweet potatoes for some time we didn't find anything then fritz found a plant and called me is this a sweet potato he asked yes i said it is we looked around and found more back at the tree house my wife cooked the sweet potatoes they tasted like potatoes but not as nice then she made some of the potatoes into a sort of bread it was quite hard but good chapter 11 the garden we got up very early in the morning we wanted to start work on our garden before the weather got hot fritz ernest and i took our tools jack had a fork but he wasn't really old enough we all started to work after a time when we were quite tired i said let's see what the animals left on the ground last night that'll be very good for the earth in the garden we went to look the pig the pig's gone jack cried it was true the pig was nowhere near the tree house we can't do anything about that i said perhaps she'll come back again you said she said jack yes of course i think she's going to be a mother perhaps she's gone away to the forest to have her babies there then she'll come back i hope we went back and worked again in the garden we were all very tired when it was time for the evening meal we had fish and sweet potatoes now i said we must work in the garden again tomorrow and plant all the seeds from the ship then we'll put bamboo around our garden and make huts for the animals we must make a big hut for the pig said jack if she has a lot of little pigs now go to bed i said to the boys be ready to work hard tomorrow first we'll get the bamboo how will we carry a lot of bamboo across the ground asked jack we can't use the sledge can the donkey pull it no i said we won't go to the place where we found bamboo before we'll go to a different place then we'll be able to bring it here more easily oh said jack is there an easier way yes i said we'll go up the river we'll cut the pieces of bamboo and pull them to the river then the river can carry them down to our treehouse ah said jack yes that'll be the best way chapter 12 buffaloes and other animals we left the next morning to get bamboo for our garden and for animal huts my wife and the four boys came with me and the two dogs turk and flora we also took the donkey we needed it to pull the bamboo to the side of the river it was our first visit to this part of the island so we took our guns with us the dogs were a mistake but the guns weren't we went up the river and found a lot of bamboo we cut it and tied it together and the donkey pulled it to the river then we had a meal and rested jack went for a walk after a time he came back and said father there's a big field over there and there are 10 or 15 large horses in it i said jack there aren't any horses in this place there are he said come and see when we came out of the trees we saw a lot of buffaloes we went nearer and nearer until we were about 130 feet away the buffaloes stood and looked at us with their big round eyes they didn't seem to be angry or afraid i could see two young buffaloes then turk and flora began to jump up and down making a lot of noise the buffaloes became angry and they came towards us we were in great danger but fritz and i both used our guns one of the buffaloes fell dead and the others turned and ran away we were lucky to escape so easily i said to fritz and ernest come and catch those two young buffaloes the dogs have pushed them into the trees we must take them with us we put ropes around their necks and they came with us without any trouble we hurried away as fast as we could now i said we'll leave the bamboo until tomorrow but the young buffaloes will be very useful we'll give them milk from the goat the goat gave the young buffalos her milk but said jack there won't be much milk for us no i said but soon we'll have as much milk as we need you seem very pleased about the young buffaloes said earnest yes i am i answered because now i can see an answer to two big problems oh said ernest what problems these i answered when the goat doesn't give us any more milk we won't have any but these two young buffaloes will grow up and they'll have babies so we'll have more and more buffaloes and plenty of milk buffalo milk is very good we can make butter from it and perhaps cheese too and what was the other problem asked fritz the other problem i answered you remember the plow that we brought from the ship i didn't know how we could pull it a buffalo is very strong and the buffaloes can pull the plow for us so now we have a plough and we have milk not yet said earnest no not yet i answered but next year we mustn't think only of today we must think of future years the next day we went back and cut up the dead buffalo we brought a lot of the meat back and put it into barrels with salt now i thought we'll have food in the winter we also put the bamboo in the river and the river carried it down to a place near the treehouse pulled it to the treehouse and started to put it around our garden some days later when the garden was finished i said now we must begin to make huts for the animals we'll only need three huts said ernest why only three huts i asked we need one for the buffaloes one for the goats and another for the sheep said earnest and perhaps we should make a house for the chickens but i said the donkey and the pig need huts too oh said ernest the pig's gone and today the donkey's gone too gone i said yes i can't see it anywhere and the pig went days ago yes i said but i hope they'll come back we'll make huts for all of them and hope we were sitting at breakfast a few days later when fritz said something's moving in those tall grasses i'll get my gun he ran and got his gun wait i said don't shoot let's see what it is jack said i'll go round behind it and look if it's dangerous i'll run away so jack moved very quietly he was very good at that because he often followed birds with his bow and arrow the thing came nearer and then out came our pig with six little ones at last i said we're all very glad to see you mrs pig and your house is ready for you so we pushed the pig and her six babies into their hut then france called to me look he cried flora's had six babies too so now we had eight dogs and seven pigs now where's our donkey i said one morning we were planting potatoes in the garden when we heard a strange noise what's that i said what sort of animal is making that noise the dogs heard it too they looked ready for a fight we all looked round we couldn't see anything but the noise continued it came nearer and nearer and our dogs became angrier and angrier i tied them to a tree then fritz put down his gun and started to laugh i can see it he said it's our donkey he's come back there he was and then we saw that he wasn't alone our donkey was bringing another animal with him very similar to a donkey but smaller that i said to jack and ernest is probably a kind of wild donkey now don't make a sound fritz and i will try to catch her fritz moved towards our donkey holding some salt in his hand our donkey loved salt he came to fritz and the wild donkey came a little closer too then when she was near enough i put a rope over her head from behind her she fought against us but at last we were able to tie her up i said perhaps the wild donkey will have babies it will be easier to teach her if she does and she'll be useful to us and that is what happened in the end the chickens were sitting on eggs and soon we had 40 little ones so now we had a lot of animals to feed we had the donkey and the wild donkey two buffaloes the goats the pigs and the dogs the sheep and the monkey i said we must work very hard and get food for all these animals the rainy season is coming so we brought the tent from the beach and filled it with dry grass we got sweet potatoes and coconuts and put them in a dry place at the foot of the tree chapter 13 winter there were dark clouds in the sky and the sea was stormy i looked out to sea and thought the sea has finally broken up our ship there will be more wood on the beach and this rough sea will come up to our boat on the beach boys i said we must pull our boat high up on the beach we don't want the sea to carry it away and we must turn it over so it doesn't fill with water we went down to the beach and pulled the boat up high on the sand and turned it over then ernest pointed and said what's that thing there that square thing i looked and saw a big box it was nearly covered with sand we uncovered it and opened it and it was full of a sailor's clothes the clothes were very wet and salty from the sea water we can wash them in the river and dry them i said they'll be too big for us said jack they're too big for fritz or ernest yes i said they'll be too big for you but you'll be glad when your other clothes have got wet in the rain then i thought now winter's coming what do we need dry firewood for my wife to cook with under the tree house we didn't of course cook in the tree house because of the wooden floor so we found a lot of firewood and put it at the foot of the tree under the tree house then i thought in the stormy weather we won't be able to go far from our house to get food we must be sure that we have a lot of food in or near the house then we can use that when the weather's very bad we've got barrels of salt meat and buffalo meat i hope it will keep well we can't get any more salt the sea was now coming up over the rocks and there was no sunshine to dry the salt my thoughts continued we've got eggs of course from our chickens perhaps we can catch fish with the fishing line from the ship but that's not easy when the sea is very stormy we've got sweet potatoes and a lot of coconuts the goats will give us a little milk and there's plenty of dry grass for our animals now i said to my family we've got a good house and plenty of food so we're ready for the winter that's what i thought but i was very wrong the next few months were probably the unhappiest months that i have ever known in all my life we had four enemies the rain the wind the cold and the shorter days the days were not much shorter but we had to spend a lot of time inside the house because of the bad weather the rain came down like a river from the sky it rained nearly all day and all night there were only a few days when it stopped most of the land was underwater the river was too big to cross and our bridge was broken luckily our garden was on higher ground and our plants were beginning to come through the wind was very strong when we made our tree house i didn't think about the wind if a house is built on the ground with good walls and a low roof the wind will pass over it the house is safe but when a house is built up in a tree the wind goes up into it the roof of our house was made of sailcloth when it rained there were deep pools of water on the roof the water ran over the sides onto the floor then the strong wind pushed the sail cloth up and a river of rain came down into the room the days were not as hot as before and the nights were the same sometimes even cold we sat all day in wet clothes and we couldn't dry them in the evenings we didn't know how to keep warm we put stones on the floor of our tree room and lit a fire on them but soon the room was full of smoke and we were afraid of a fire we couldn't get the smoke out of the room we couldn't make a hole in the roof because of the rain when the sun went down darkness came suddenly but even in the daytime the room was quite dark we had no light we burned small pieces of wood giving a little light but that wasn't enough so at night we sat round in our wet clothes very cold in the darkness there was nothing to do except sleep we couldn't continue like this i said we must go down and live at the foot of the tree we'll put a sail cloth over this floor then there will be two roofs the roof in the tree and the roof on this floor then we'll be dry down there we built two walls at the foot of the tree the animal's huts made the third wall and the tree was the fourth wall we made a hole in the floor of the upstairs room for the smoke from our fire now the rain couldn't come straight down onto the fire we were more comfortable in this lower room but the smell of the animals came in from the huts and that was terrible after a time we began to have problems with our food the buffalo meat went bad because there wasn't enough salt in the barrels oh why didn't i think about that before we needed a lot of salt to keep our food fresh through the bad months of the year we killed some of the older chickens and at them then when the weather was better the boys were able to go out fishing or shooting with their bows and arrows they brought in a little fish and meat we had sweet potatoes but cooking was very difficult when the weather was good my wife made enough sweet potato bread for a few days but it wasn't very good we didn't have enough food for the animals we killed four of the young dogs leaving only turk and flora and two of their babies we had to find food for the goats the sheep and the buffaloes we couldn't give them enough food in their huts so we moved them out into the forest we put coconut shells around their necks so we could hear them then we put a little food in their huts each night so they wanted to come back home chapter 14 the cave house we were very pleased when the storms ended after those long weeks of rain the sun shone again we came out from our dark smelly room and looked up at the bright sun around us the grass was green and flowers were coming through in our garden the plants were coming up very well but the birds saw them too so jack guarded them with flora's help and kept the birds away we also put fishing lines across the plants to protect them from those little thieves we hung up our clothes in the sunlight to dry them then we started work on the tree house in a few days we were able to leave our room at the foot of the tree and go back to our bright and happy home i can't live through another winter like that said my wife it will kill me i'm sure that the first men thousands of years ago didn't live in trees like monkeys they lived in caves and we must find one too i knew that she was right i went out and walked along the coast and looked at the hills near the sea some came straight down to the beach those were possible places for caves i walked a long way but i couldn't see any big ones i needed a large cave for my family i went back and told my wife and the boys the caves weren't large enough for us so said fritz if the caves aren't big enough we must make one bigger you can try i said but the rock's very hard i don't know if it's possible i'll take you to the best cave that i found above the beach it was probably made by the sea but the sea's gone down and left it in the side of the hill bring the tools and we'll try so we went to the cave we worked for a week but we only made the cave six feet deeper the rock was very hard i thought about using gunpowder but gunpowder was too important for us i didn't know what to do shall we stop i asked fritz shall we think of another idea i think said fritz that the rock is getting softer this piece here seems softer jack was the smallest so he was working at the lowest part of the rock one morning he cried out i've done it i've done it i've made a hole right through the rock don't be so silly said fritz i don't believe you but i have said jack i have fritz went to look he soon came back saying it's true father jack's right i can't understand it jack has made a hole in the rock and there's nothing behind it i was very surprised i took a long piece of bamboo and put it through the hole yes i said there's nothing behind there let's make the hole bigger said fritz then one of us can go through i said that's dangerous if the hole's very deep you'll fall we must be very careful let's make the hole a little bigger then i can put my head in and look so we made the hole bigger and i put my head in suddenly i felt very ill i moved away you mustn't go into the cave boys if it's a cave i said the air's really bad and dangerous i'm sure you can die in there first we must drive out the bad air how can we do that asked fritz we must light a fire i replied so we put burning grass and sticks into the hole but the fire went out immediately perhaps said ernest if we light a fire just in front of the hole the hot air will pull the cold air out of the cave yes that's possible i said but i think that will be slow and perhaps dangerous i think this time we should use some of our gunpowder so i took some coconut shells tied some rope around them and filled them with gunpowder then i lit one and threw it quickly into the cave there was a very loud noise and the bad air came out with the smoke i did the same with two more coconut shells and then we tried to light a fire again this time the fire burned it didn't burn very well but the smoke and hot air came out through the hole and soon the fire was burning better at last it began to burn brightly as brightly inside the cave as in the open air run to the tree house i said to ernest bring all the small pieces of wood that we've got we can use them as light when we go into the cave while he was gone we made the mouth of the cave bigger then we could see the walls that were nearest the doorway jack looked in and said the walls are covered with beautiful stones in lots of different colours it's wonderful i looked into the cave jack was right the walls were covered with things that looked like stones that's very strange i said what are they then ernest came back from the treehouse bringing the wood i went into the cave first i wanted to be sure that the air was good i looked at the stones some were lying on the floor because of the gunpowder i took one and tasted it it was salt salt look boys i cried we'll never have to look for salt again next winter we'll have plenty of salt and we'll have meat through all the bad months we looked round the cave it was very big i saw that we could make a room at one end for all our things with a bedroom next to it we could have another big room as a kitchen and sitting room but i said there's one thing that we must make now i don't think this end of the cave is very far from the outside air i'll hit the rock inside the cave i want you fritz to go outside and listen tell me where you hear me most clearly put a stick there to show the place so fritz went out and i started to knock on the inside of the cave wall in different places after a time he came back and said i found the best place i can hear you quite well ah i said then we'll make a hole through there from the outside we need fresh air in the cave it'll be hard work but we must do it it was hard work but after two days fritz was able to put bamboo through the hole the other end of it came into the cave then we made the hole bigger from inside the cave now i said we can make a fireplace with a hole for the smoke so we started work using stones and earth we made a good fireplace with a hole for the smoke now i said we'll see if this idea really works so we lit a fire but the smoke came out into the cave i saw that the boys were very sad they thought that all their work was for nothing no i said don't worry when the hole gets warm the air will go up it it'll be all right keep the fire going for two days and it'll work very well and that was what happened on the second evening the air began to go up the hole and it took all the smoke out of the cave now i said we don't have to fear the next winter my wife was very pleased she said now i can cook and dry your clothes and we can sit round a nice bright fire on winter evenings we'll be very happy yes i said but we'll have to do a lot more work next winter we'll have more animals we must build a farm between the treehouse and the cave then the animals can live there in the summer and winter and we'll need a lot more food said fritz yes i said we can use the plow to make fields and we must grow lots of vegetables to work to work so we all had a very busy summer we put lots of salt meat dried fish and coconuts in the cave when the end of the year came we added potatoes and sweet potatoes then we made a hut at the farm and put dried grass and other food in it for the animals we built a small hut there for someone to live in they could look after the farm at night and drive away wild animals what are we going to do about clothes asked my wife the boys clothes are in a terrible state and the clothes from the sailor's box aren't very useful when we found them they were full of sea water now they're falling to pieces they'll be alright for another year but not longer i must make cloth how can you make cloth said fritz from what we've only got two sheep there are plants i said that we can use for cloth i won't tell you about all our problems with those plants but in the end my wife was able to make cloth it wasn't very good and it wasn't very white but she was happy but until then the boys wore animal skins they caught the animals and we now had plenty of salt so we prepared the skins and my wife was able to make clothes out of them so the year passed our second year on the island the boys were getting big and strong fritz was now nearly 16 and ernest was 14. i thought about the future one evening i said to them you two are the oldest soon i'll have two fine strong men to help me in our work on the island as i become older you'll be able to do the harder work jack is a quick learner and he can help your mother little france isn't very helpful yet but he's a good little boy and doesn't give us much trouble yes we are very lucky chapter 15 the canoe as the years passed we made our houses better we put a wooden roof on the tree house the rain didn't come through in winter after that but it still wasn't a good home for the rainy season we also built a place in front of the cave we could sit out there and enjoy the sea air and the sunlight the farm became bigger and bigger the buffaloes pulled the plow and they gave us all our milk we were able to make butter from it too we got more eggs from our chickens than we could eat in the spring and the summer in the winter we had just enough eggs for our needs the wild donkey had a baby it was very pretty and it was easier to teach than its mother of course we had problems one morning jack came running back from the farm oh father father come and see he cried i went down there everything in the farm buildings was broken and the plants from the fields were everywhere monkeys laughed at us from the trees oh no i said they've destroyed everything we must be sure that this never happens again turk and flora's babies were now old enough for us to teach them we made a rule that one of us fritz ernest or i always slept down at the farm with the dogs they were quick to learn about the monkeys we showed them that they must always run after a monkey when they did the monkeys ran away soon the monkeys stopped coming to the farm as i watched my boys grow up i was very pleased with them fritz was very strong and tall ernest wasn't as big and he was quieter but he wasn't as lazy as before he wrote down the names of all the plants on the island and drew pictures of them he made some paper out of plants like the egyptians many thousands of years ago france was more sensible than jack he always did what he promised to do but jack was a good son too and he did a lot of work on the farm france liked helping his mother while jack spent more time with me one day fritz said to me i'd like to go away alone i want to visit the parts of the island that we haven't seen the ship's boat is too heavy for one person i want to make a canoe i think we can make a canoe i said i've seen canoes made from the bark of tall trees i'll try to help you we found a big tree and i cut a ring round the bark at the bottom then i tied a rope ladder to one of the branches i told fritz to cut round the tree about 20 feet up from the ring then i made a cut from top to bottom between the two circles we took the bark off very carefully and it fell away in one piece we tied pieces of bamboo to our canoe to hold it in the right shape then we nailed together the sides at each end of the boat a sweet juice from one of the trees dried quickly and went hard we use this to fill the holes i think said fritz that the water will come in over the front of the canoe and perhaps over the back perhaps we should cover those places we can leave a place in the middle where i can sit yes i said you're right we must put a light cover over it we also found a long flat piece of wood fritz could use that as a paddle to move the boat along when the canoe was ready we waited for a few days then it was dry and we tried it in the water at first fritz had problems in the canoe it turned over and he often fell out but he practiced and after a few days he was able to travel safely even in rough sea chapter 16 jenny one day fritz went away in his little canoe he stayed away all day in the evening my wife became very worried i'm afraid that something has happened to him she said we couldn't do anything so we went to bed but we didn't sleep very much the next day we went up to the top of a hill but we couldn't see him then ernest pointed look he said is that him we looked it was fritz in his canoe we all ran down to the water to meet him oh fritz cried his mother i thought you were dead while he was having breakfast fritz told us his story i've always wanted to know more about the west of the island so i decided to look there i took my gun and some gunpowder a fishing line and my knife i came to the place where we found shellfish for the first time i went for a swim there and i found a lot more i brought some up onto the beach and opened them inside one of them i found this he held out his hand in it there was a large pearl i opened some more and i found a lot of pearls look if you make holes through them mother can wear them around her neck said jack no no said my wife i don't want them who wants to wear pearls on this island perhaps one day i said a ship will come and take you home you can sell these for a lot of money we'll put them in a safe place i haven't told you the most important thing said fritz i went on farther to the west in the evening i sat on the beach and had a meal as i was sitting there a big bird flew over me it was flying very slowly so i shot it then i saw why it was flying so slowly it was hurt and this was tied around its leg he showed us a little piece of cloth with writing on it i looked at the writing help sailor on smoking island the person wrote the message in blood i said yes said fritz but where is the smoking island i went up the hill behind me and i looked out to sea there far out at sea there was a little smoke going into the sky it came from a small island i went out to the island and climbed up to the top in a little wood i saw a small hut made of branches in front of the hut there was a fire and fish was cooking in a big shell i hid behind a tree and waited then someone came out of the hut she was wearing the coat of a ship's officer she went to the fire i came out of the trees and she turned round she i said did you say she yes it was a young woman i told her not to be afraid i told her about us she can live with us can't she we will bring her here won't we yes of course we will but tell us about her her father's william montrose an officer who lives in india her mother died when she was born her father was going back to england in a ship with his men so jenny had to travel in another ship her ship was lost in a storm a year ago she got away in a boat with a ship's officer and some sailors the officer gave her his coat he told her to watch for another ship or for land then another storm came a big wave covered the boat she doesn't know what happened after that when she opened her eyes she was on that little island how has she lived there for more than a year i asked her that she's got shellfish and there are coconuts on the trees she made a fishing line from her hair and she catches small fish she uses stones to make a fire she's made a little hut for birds from bamboo but she can only catch small ones when the big bird came down on the island it hurt its leg so she was able to tie that piece of cloth around it with her call for help and the bird came to you yes said fritz i sat with her and listened to her story then i told her to stay on the island i promised to return as quickly as possible i couldn't come all the way home that day i slept on the beach and started again this morning can we go to jenny today yes i said yes if we start immediately i asked my wife to make preparations for jenny then taking a day's food with us fritz and i left in the ship's boat jenny was waving from the beach as we came near we stepped out of the boat onto the beach and she threw her arms around my neck and cried we sailed back home along the coast mother and the three boys were waiting on the beach to meet jenny my wife said i'll have to dress you like one of my sons because these are our only clothes jenny had a bath and dressed in sailors clothes then she joined us for a large lunch and jack put flowers in her hair perhaps my boys thought that they could teach jenny a lot of things but she could shoot better than they could my father taught me in india she said she was very good at catching fish she was able to tell ernest the real names of many of his plants i learned all that at school she told him very soon she and the boys were close friends jenny thought about her father all the time i'm sure that ships are looking for me she said fritz said if a ship comes we'll hear a gun we'll answer with our guns then they'll know that we're here a ship will come one day and take me back to father jenny said i'm very happy with you but he's probably very sad he doesn't know if i am alive or dead the summer ended and the winter past early one morning fritz went out in his canoe he was looking for a nice big fish for our lunch then suddenly we saw him turn round and come back quick quick he cried there's a ship we ran up to the top of a hill with our guns bang there was an answering shot from far away we waited then used the gun again and the answer came louder and nearer then we saw a boat coming towards the beach we ran down to meet it an officer stepped out i am officer littleton he said of the unicorn is miss jenny montrose here some of the sailors from her ship the dorkers told me to try these islands because the ship was lost near here yes i said miss jenny montrose is here and she's safe he looked at me in my family and at jenny in sailors clothes but he said i told him my name and this is my wife my sons fritz ernest jack france and this i said is jenny our jenny chapter 17 the end i am writing this chapter with a sad heart the unicorn's boat is waiting to take this story of our life here to england there perhaps it will become a book other people will learn about our beautiful island and perhaps some will want to join us in this quiet simple happy life i asked my children do you want to go back to europe boys or to stay here ernest said i want to stay and learn more about the plants but the officer must send me books jack and france were too small to go i turned to fritz and you fritz do you want to go back to europe he took jenny's hand in his yes he said we want to go now but we'll come back officer littleton left us some things and we gave him our pearls i'll send you more from europe he promised i'll sell the pearls for you to pay for them and for fritz's school i must stop the boat is waiting goodbye my boy goodbye jenny until we meet again

Channel: MOE - Master Of English

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Id: pur5iY6rCqg

Length: 98min 15sec (5895 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021