The Adventurous Simplicissimus being the description of the Life of a Strange vagabond named Melchior Sternfels von Fuchshaim Part 24

The success of "Simplicissimus" induced Grimmelshausen to publish a "Continuatio" or sequel, which certainly does not seem to have been contemplated when he wrote the last chapter of the original work. It, as well as three lesser "continuations" which were published later, is entirely unworthy of the author, though all four seem to be genuine products of his pen. It is a string of allegories, ghost stories, fables, and monotonous chronicles of adventure, not redeemed from dulness by occasional gross filth. For one reason only it deserves our attention; viz., the curious antic.i.p.ation of the story of Robinson Crusoe which is contained in chapters xix. to xxii. A subjoined "relation" of Jean Cornelissen of Harlem gives an account of his finding Simplicissimus and leaving him on his island well provided with necessaries: but this narrative is so overloaded with childish stories of the castaway's miraculous powers and performances that an abstract of it only is here given at the end.

From the middle of chapter xix. to the end of chapter xxiii. is fully translated.

CONTINUATION

_Chap. xix._: HOW SIMPLICISSIMUS AND A CARPENTER ESCAPED FROM A s.h.i.+PWRECK WITH THEIR LIVES AND WERE THEREAFTER PROVIDED WITH A LAND OF THEIR OWN

So taking s.h.i.+p and coming from the Sinus Arabicus or Red Sea into the ocean, and having a fair wind, we held our course to pa.s.s by the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed for some weeks so happily that way that we could have desired no other weather: but when we deemed that we were now over against the isle of Madagascar there suddenly arose such a hurricane that we had scarce time to take in sail. And the storm increasing, we must needs cut down the mast and leave the s.h.i.+p to the mercy of the waves, which carried us up, as it were, to the clouds, and in a trice plunged us down again to the depths; all which lasted a full half-hour and taught us all to pray most piously. At length were we cast upon a sunken reef with such force that the s.h.i.+p with a terrible crack broke all in pieces, at which there arose a lamentable and piteous outcry. Then was the sea in a moment strown with chests, bales, and fragments of the s.h.i.+p, and then one could hear and see the unlucky folk, here and there, some on and some under the waves, clinging to anything that in such need came first within their grasp, and with dismal cries lamenting their ruin and commending of their souls to G.o.d.

But I, with the s.h.i.+p's carpenter, lay upon a great timber of the vessel which had certain cross-pieces yet fast to it, to which we clung and spake to one another. And little by little the dreadful wind abated; the raging waves of the angry sea grew calmer and less; yet on the other hand there followed pitch-dark night with terrible rain, till it seemed as if we should be drowned from above in the midst of the sea.

And this endured till midnight, by which time we had been in sore straits; but then was the sky clear again, so that we could see the stars, by which we perceived that the wind drove us more and more from the coast of Africa towards the open sea and the unknown land of Australia, which troubled us both greatly. Now towards daybreak it grew dark again, so that we could not see each other though we lay close at hand: and in this darkness and piteous plight we drove ever onward, till of a sudden we were aware that we were aground and stuck fast. So the carpenter, which had an axe hanging to his girdle, tried with it the depth of the water and found it on the one side of us not a foot deep, which heartily rejoiced us and gave us sure hope that G.o.d had in some way helped us to land, as we perceived by a sweet odour that we smelt as soon as we came to ourselves a little. Yet because 'twas dark and we both wearied out, and in especial looked presently for daylight, we had not courage enough to commit ourselves to the sea and make for land, notwithstanding we already thought to hear at a distance the song of divers birds, which indeed was so. But as soon as the blessed daylight shewed itself in the east, we saw through the dusk a small island overgrown with bushes lying close before us; whereupon we betook ourselves to the water on that side, which grew shallower and shallower till at length, with great joy, we came to dry land. So there we fell on our knees and kissed the ground, and thanked G.o.d above for His fatherly care in bringing of us to land; and in such fas.h.i.+on did I come to my island. As yet could we not know whether we were in an inhabited or an uninhabited land and whether on the mainland or an island: but this we marked at once, that it must be a right fertile soil; for all was overgrown thick with shrubs and trees like a hemp-field, so that we could hardly come through it. But when it was now broad day, and we had made our way through the shrubs some quarter of an hour's march from the sh.o.r.e, we could not only find no trace of human dwelling, but moreover lighted here and there upon many strange birds that had no fear of us, but suffered us to take them with our hands, from all which we might judge we were on an uninhabited island, yet most fruitful.

There did we find citrons, pomegranates, and cocoanuts, with which fruits we refreshed ourselves right well; and when the sun rose we came to a plain covered with palm-trees, from which palm wine is made; the which was but too pleasing to my comrade, who loved the same more than was good for him. So there we set ourselves down in the sun to dry our clothes, which we stripped off and to that end hung them on the trees, but for our own parts walked about in our s.h.i.+rts: and my carpenter cutting a palm-tree with his axe, found it was full of wine: yet had we no vessel to catch it in, and for our hats, we had lost them both in the s.h.i.+pwreck.

So the kindly sun having dried our clothes again, we put them on and climbed up the high, rocky mountain that lieth on the right hand towards the north between this plain and the sea, and looking about us found that we were on no mainland but on this island, which in circuit exceeded not an hour and a half's journey. And because we could see neither near nor far off any land but only sea and sky, we were both troubled, and lost all hope ever to see mankind again; yet contrariwise it did comfort us that the goodness of G.o.d had brought us to this land both safe and most fruitful, and not to a place that belike would prove barren or inhabited of man-eaters. So we began to consider of our way to act; and because we must live even as prisoners on this island with one another we did swear perpetual fidelity each to each.

Now on the said mountain there not only sat and flew many birds of divers kinds, but it was so full of nests with eggs that we could not sufficiently marvel thereat. Of these eggs we did eat some and took still more with us down the hill, on which we found the spring of sweet water which flows into the sea towards the east with such force that it might well turn a small mill-wheel; at which we rejoiced anew and resolved to set up our abode beside the said spring. Yet for our new housekeeping we had no other furniture but an axe, a spoon, three knives, a p.r.o.ng or fork, and a pair of scissors: and nothing more. 'Tis true my comrade had some thirty ducats about him, but these we had gladly bartered for a tinder-box had we known where to buy one: for they were of no use to us at all; yea, less than my powder-horn, which was still full of priming; this did I dry, for it was all like a soft cake, in the sun, scattered some upon a stone, covered it with easy-burning stuff such as the moss and cotton which the cocoanut-trees furnished in plenty, and then drawing a knife sharply through the powder, kindled it, which rejoiced us as much as our rescue from the sea: and had we but had salt and bread and vessels to hold our drink we had esteemed ourselves the luckiest fellows in the world, though four-and-twenty hours before we might have been counted among the most miserable; so good and faithful and merciful is G.o.d, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.

Then we caught some birds forthwith, of which whole flocks flew about us, plucked, washed, and stuck them on a wooden spit, and so I began to turn the roast, while my comrade fetched me wood and prepared a shelter that, if it should come on to rain again, might protect us from the same, for these Indian rains in the parts towards Africa are wont to be very unhealthy; but our lack of salt we supplied with lemon-juice to give a flavour to our food.

_Chap. xx._: HOW THEY HIRED A FAIR COOKMAID AND BY G.o.d'S HELP WERE RID OF HER AGAIN

This was the first meal of which we partook upon our island; and having ended it, we had naught else to do but gather dry wood to keep up our fire. We would fain have explored the whole island at once, but by reason of the fatigue we had pa.s.sed through, sleep so overpowered us that we must needs lie down to rest and sleep till broad daylight. And finding it so, we walked down the brook or glade as far as its mouth where it flows into the sea, and saw with amazement how a great mult.i.tude of fish of the size of middling salmon or large carp swam up the little river into the fresh water, so that it seemed as a great herd of swine were driven violently in; and finding also certain bananas and sweet potatoes, which be excellent fruits, we said to each other we had surely found the Land of Cocaigne or Monkeys' Paradise, (though no four-footed beast there) if we had but company to help us to enjoy both the fruitfulness of this n.o.ble island and also the plenty of birds and fishes on it: yet could we find no single sign that ever men had been there.

But as we began to take counsel how we should further order our housekeeping and whence we might have vessels wherein both to cook and to catch the juice from the palms and let it ferment in its own fas.h.i.+on, that we might have the full enjoyment of it, and as we walked on the sh.o.r.e in talk of this, we saw far out at sea something that tossed about, which we at a distance could not make out, though it seemed bigger than it really was. For when it came near and was driven ash.o.r.e on the coast of the island it proved to be a woman, half-dead, lying on a chest, and with both hands fast clasped to the handles of it. Her for Christian charity we drew to dry land; and dreaming her to be a Christian woman of Abyssinia both by her clothing and certain marks she had on her face, we were the more busy to bring her to, to which end (yet with all honesty, as becomes them that deal with modest women in such a case) we set her on her head till a good deal of water had run out of her, and albeit we had no cordial to revive her more than our citron-juice, yet we ceased not to press under her nose that spirituous liquor which is found at the very end of the lemon-peel and to shake and move her about, till at last she began to stir of herself and to speak in Portuguese: which as soon as my comrade heard, and as a lively colour began to shew itself in her face, he said to me, "This Abyssinian was once on our s.h.i.+p as maid to a Portuguese lady of quality; for I knew them both well: they dwelt at Macao and were purposed to sail with us to the Isle of Annabon." And she, so soon as she heard him speak, shewed herself right glad, and called him by name, and told us not only of her whole journey, but how she was rejoiced both that he and she were still alive, as also that they had as old acquaintances met on dry land and out of all danger. At that my carpenter asked what manner of wares might be in the chest. To which she answered they were certain parcels of Chinese apparel with firearms and weapons, besides divers vessels of porcelain both small and great, that should have been sent by her master to a great prince in Portugal.

At which news we rejoiced greatly, seeing that these were the things which we most needed. Then did she beg of us that we would shew her kindness and keep her with us: for she would gladly serve us in cooking, was.h.i.+ng, and other duties of a maid and obey us as a slave, if we would but keep her under our protection and suffer her to partake with us of the sustenance which fortune and nature provided in that place.

So with great toil and trouble we dragged the chest to that place which we had chosen for our dwelling; where we did open it, and found therein things so fitted to our needs that we could have desired nothing better for our then condition and for the use of our household. These goods we unpacked and dried them in the sun, in which business our new maid shewed herself diligent and serviceable; and thereafter we began to slay, boil, and roast birds, and while my carpenter went to fetch palm-wine I climbed up the mountain to gather eggs for us, meaning to boil them hard and to use them in place of good bread. And as I went I considered with hearty grat.i.tude the great gifts and goodness of G.o.d, that had with such fatherly kindness caused His Providence to watch over us and gave us the promise of further help. There did I fall upon my face, and stretching out my arms and lifting up my heart to G.o.d I prayed thus: "O heavenly Father of all mercies, now do I find indeed that Thou art more ready to give than we to ask; yea, dearest Lord, Thou hast with the fulness of Thy divine riches supplied us more quickly and more plentifully than we poor creatures ever thought to ask of Thee at all. O faithful Father, may it please Thy infinite compa.s.sion to grant to us that we may never use these Thy gifts and favours otherwise than as is agreeable to thy Holy will and pleasure, and as may tend to the honour of Thy great and unspeakable Name, that we, with all the Elect, may ever praise, honour, and glorify Thee here on earth and hereafter in heaven for ever and for evermore." And with these and the like words, which flowed from the very depth of my soul, with hearty and true faith, I went on till I had gathered all the eggs we needed, and with them came back to our hut even as our supper stood excellently well served upon the chest we had that day fished out of the sea with our cook-maid, and which my comrade had made use of for a table.

Now while I was absent seeking for eggs, my comrade, which was a lad of some twenty odd years, I being now over forty, had struck a bargain with our maid that should be both for his ruin and mine; for finding themselves alone in my absence, and talking together of old times and also of the fruitfulness and great delight of this blessed, yea more than fortunate isle, they had grown so familiar that they had begun to speak of a match between them, of which the pretended Abyssinian would not hear, unless 'twere agreed that my comrade the carpenter should make himself master of the island and rid them of me; for, said she, it were impossible for them to dwell in peace in wedlock so long as an unmarried man lived by them.

"For bethink thyself," says she, "how would not suspicion and jealousy plague thee, if thou wert my husband, and yet the old fellow talking with me day by day, even if he should never think to make a cuckold of thee! Nay, but I know a better plan: if I be to be married on this island, that well can feed a thousand or more persons to increase the human race, then let the old fellow marry me; for were it so 'twere but a year to count on, or perhaps twelve or at most fourteen, in which time he and I might breed a daughter and marry her to thee, who would not then be of the age that the old man is now; and in the meantime ye might cherish the certain hope that the one should be the other's father-in-law and the other his son-in-law, and so do away all evil suspicions and deliver me from all dangers which otherwise I might encounter with. Doubtless 'tis true that a young woman like me would sooner wed with a young man than an old: yet must we suit ourselves to the circ.u.mstance as our present plight doth require, to provide that I and she that may be born of me shall be in safety."

By this discourse, which lasted much longer and was more fully set forth than I have here described, and also by the beauty of the pretended Abyssinian (which in the light of the fire did s.h.i.+ne more perfect than ever in my comrade's eyes) and by her lively actions, my good carpenter was so captivated and befooled that he was not ashamed to say he would sooner throw the old man (meaning me) into the sea and send the whole island to the devil than deliver over to him so fair a lady: and thereupon was the bargain I spoke of concluded between them, namely, that he should slay me with his axe from behind or in my sleep; for he was afeared of my great strength of body, as well as of my staff, which he had himself fas.h.i.+oned for me as strong as a weaver's beam.[45]

So this compact being made, she shewed my comrade close to our dwelling a kind of fine potter's earth, of which she promised to make fine earthen vessels after the manner of the Indian women on the Guinea coast, and laid all manner of plans how she would maintain herself and her family on this island, rear them and provide for them a peaceful and sufficient livelihood, yea even to the hundredth generation: and could not boast enough of what profit she could make of the cocoanut-trees and the cotton which the same do bear or produce, out of which she would provide herself and all her children's children with clothing.

But I, poor wretch, came knowing no word of this foul business, and sat down to enjoy what was yet before me, saying moreover, according to the wors.h.i.+pful Christian usage, the Benedicite; yet no sooner had I made the sign of the Cross over the meats and over my companions at table and asked G.o.d's blessing, when our cookmaid vanished away with the chest and all that had been in it, and left behind her such an horrible stench that my comrade fainted clean away because of it.

_Chap. xxi._: HOW THEY THEREAFTER KEPT HOUSE TOGETHER AND HOW THEY SET TO WORK

Now as soon as he was recovered and come to his senses, he knelt down before me and folded his hands, and for a full quarter of an hour continually said nothing but "Oh, my father! O my brother! O my father!

O my brother!" and then began with the repeating of these words to weep so bitterly that for very sobbing he could utter no word that could be understood, until I conceived that by reason of the fear and the stench he had lost his reason. But when he would not cease this behaviour and continually besought my forgiveness, I answered him, "Dear friend, what have I to forgive thee that hast never harmed me in thy life? Do but tell me how I can help thee." "Nay," says he, "I seek for pardon; for I have sinned against G.o.d and thee and myself": and therewith began again his former lamentations, and went on so long that at last I said I knew no evil of him, and if he had done any such that weighed upon his conscience, I would not only from my heart forgive and condone anything that concerned myself, but also, so far as he might have sinned against G.o.d, would with him beseech the divine mercy for pardon. At which words he embraced my knees and kissed them, and looked upon me so sorrowfully that I was as one dumb, and could not conceive or guess what ailed the lad; but when I had taken him to my arms and embraced him, begging him to tell me what troubled him and how I could help him, he confessed to me in every particular his discourse with the pretended Abyssinian, and the resolve he had formed in respect of me in despite of G.o.d and of Nature and of Christian love and of the laws of true friends.h.i.+p which we had solemnly sworn one to another: and this he did with such words and behaviour that from it his sincere repentance and contrite heart might easily be guessed and presumed.

So I comforted him as well as I could, and said: G.o.d had peradventure sent us this as a warning, that we might in time to come be better aware of the devil's snares and temptations and live in the constant fear of G.o.d: that he had of a surety cause enough to pray G.o.d heartily for forgiveness for his evil intent, yet even greater cause to thank Him for His goodness and mercy, seeing that He had in such fatherly wise plucked him forth from wicked Satan's traps and snares and so saved him from destruction now and eternally: and that we must perforce here walk more circ.u.mspectly than if we dwelt in the midst of the world among other men; for should one or the other or both fall into temptation, there would be none at hand to help us but G.o.d Himself, whom we must therefore the more diligently keep before our eyes and without ceasing pray for His help and a.s.sistance.

By talk of such things he was, 'tis true, somewhat cheered, yet would not be altogether content, but humbly besought me to lay upon him a penance for his sin. So to raise up his prostrate spirit as far as might be, I said that he being a carpenter, and having yet his axe by him, should in the same place where we, as well as our h.e.l.lish cookmaid, had come to land, set up a cross on the sh.o.r.e; whereby he would not only perform a penance well pleasing to G.o.d, but also bring it to pa.s.s that in time to come the evil spirit, who doth ever fear the sign of Holy Cross, would not again so easily attack our island. He answered, "Not only a cross on the sh.o.r.e but two also on the mountain will I make ready and set up, if only, my father, I may again possess thy grace and favour and be a.s.sured of G.o.d's forgiveness." In which fervour he went away straightway and ceased not to toil till he had made ready three crosses, whereof we set up one on the sea-sh.o.r.e and the other two apart on the highest top of the hill, with the inscription that followeth:

"To the honour of G.o.d Almighty and in despite of the enemy of mankind, Simon Meron, of Lisbon in Portugal, with counsel and help of his faithful friend Simplicius Simplicissimus, a High German, did fas.h.i.+on and here set up this token of our Saviour's sufferings, for Jesus Christ His sake."

Thenceforward we began to live somewhat more religiously than before; and in order to our reverencing and keeping of the Sabbath, I every day, in place of an almanack, cut a notch in a post and on Sundays a cross; and then would we sit together and talk of holy and G.o.dly things; and this fas.h.i.+on must I use because I had not yet invented anything to serve me in the stead of ink and paper, by means of which I might set down somewhat in writing to keep count of our life.

And now to end this chapter I must make mention of a strange adventure that did greatly terrify and distress us on the evening after our cook her vanis.h.i.+ng; for the first night we perceived it not, because sleep overpowered us at once by reason of fatigue and great weariness. And this was it. We having still before our eyes the thousand snares by which the accursed devil would have wrought our ruin in the form of the Abyssinian, could not sleep, but pa.s.sed the time in watching, and indeed for the most part in prayer; and so soon as it became a little dark we saw floating around us in the air an innumerable quant.i.ty of lights, which gave forth such a bright glow that we could discern the fruit on the trees from the leaves: this we deemed to be another invention of the enemy to torment us, and therefore kept still and quiet, but in the end found 'twas but a kind of firefly or glow-worm, as we call them in Germany, which are generated by a particular kind of rotten wood that is found in this island, and s.h.i.+ne so bright that one can well use them in place of a lighted candle; for I have written this book for the most part thus: and if they were as common in Europe, Asia, and Africa as they be here, the candle-sellers would do a poor trade.

_Chap. xxii._: FURTHER SEQUEL OF THE ABOVE STORY, AND HOW SIMON MERON LEFT THE ISLAND AND THIS LIFE, AND HOW SIMPLICISSIMUS REMAINED THE SOLE LORD OF THE ISLAND

And now seeing we must perforce remain where we were, we began to order our housekeeping accordingly. So my comrade made out of a black wood that is almost like to iron mattocks and shovels for us both, with the help of which we first dug holes for the three crosses before mentioned, and secondly drew the sea-water into trenches, where, as I had seen at Alexandria in Egypt, it turned into salt; and thirdly we began to make us a cheerful garden; for we deemed that idleness would be for us the beginning of destruction; fourthly, we dug another channel for the brook, into which we could at pleasure turn it off, and so leave the old river-bed dry, and take out as many fish and crayfish as we would with hands and feet dry: fifthly, we found near the said brook a most beautiful potter's clay; and though we had neither lathe nor wheel and, most of all, no borer or other instruments so as to make anything of the kind and so mould for ourselves vessels, and though we had never learned the craft, yet we devised a plan by which we got what we wanted; for having kneaded and prepared the clay as it should be, we made rolls of it of the thickness and length of English tobacco-pipes, and these we stuck one upon another like a snail's sh.e.l.l and formed out of such whatever vessels we would, both great and small, pots and dishes, for cooking and drinking: and when our first baking of these prospered, we had no longer reason to complain of lack of anything; 'tis true we had no bread; but yet plenty of dried fish which we used in its stead. And in time our scheme for getting salt turned out well, so that now we had nothing to complain of but lived like the folk in the golden age of the world: and little by little we learned how with eggs, dried fish, and lemon peel, which two last we ground to a soft meal between two stones, and birds' fat, which we got from the birds called b.o.o.bies and noddies, to bake savoury cakes in place of bread: likewise did my comrade devise how to draw off the palm-wine very cleverly into great pots and let it stand for a few days till it fermented; and then would he drink of it till he reeled, and this at last he came to do every day, and G.o.d knoweth how I dissuaded him therefrom. For he said if 'twas allowed to stand longer 'twould turn to vinegar; in which there was some truth; yet I answered him, he should not at one time draw so much but only enough for our needs; to which he replied that 'twas a sin to despise the gifts of G.o.d, and that the palm-trees must have a vein opened at proper times lest they should be choked with their own blood: and so must I give a loose rein to his appet.i.tes unless I would be told that I grudged him that of which we had plenty.

And so, as I have said, we lived like the first men in the golden age, when a bountiful heaven produced for them all good things from the earth without labour on their part; but even as in this world there is no life so sweet and happy that is not at times made bitter by the gall of suffering, so happened it with us: for the richer we grew daily in larder and cellar, the more threadbare did our clothes from day to day become, till at last they rotted on our bodies. And 'twas well for us indeed that we thus far had had no winter; no, not the slightest cold; although by this time, when we began to go naked, we had by my notch-calendar spent more than a year and a half on the island, but all the year round 'twas such weather as is wont to be in Europe in May and June, save that about August and a little before it used to rain mighty hard and there were great thunderstorms: moreover from one solstice to another the days did not vary in length more than an hour and a quarter. But although we were alone upon the island, yet would we not go naked like brute beasts, but clothed as became honest Christians of Europe: and had we but had four-footed beasts it had been easy to help ourselves by using their hides for clothing; for lack of which we skinned the birds we took, such as b.o.o.bies and penguins, and made clothes of this; yet because for want of the needful tools and other material for the purpose we could not dress them so as to last, they became stiff and uneasy and fell away in pieces from our bodies before we were ware of it. 'Tis true the cocoanut-trees bore cotton enough for us, yet could we neither weave nor spin: but my comrade, that had been some years in India, shewed me on the leaves at the very tip a thing like a sharp thorn; which if it be broken off and drawn along the stem of the leaf, as we do with the bean-pods called Faseoli to strip them of their rind, there will remain hanging on the said pointed thorn a string as long as the stem or the leaf is, so that one can use the same for needle and thread too; and this provided me with opportunity to make for us breeches of those leaves and sew them together with the threads of their own growing.

But while we thus lived together, and had so improved our condition that we had no longer any cause to trouble for overwork, waste, want, or calamity, my comrade went on daily tippling at his palm-wine as he had begun, and now had made a habit of it, till at last he so inflamed his lungs and liver that, before I was rightly ware of it, he by his untimely death left me and the island and palm-wine and all. Him did I bury as well as I was able; and as I pondered upon the uncertainty of human life and other the like matters, I wrote for him this epitaph that followeth:

"That I am buried here and not in ocean deep.

Nor in the flames of h.e.l.l (from which may G.o.d us keep!) The cause was this: three things did for my soul contend: The first the raging sea: the next the infernal fiend.

These two did I escape by G.o.d His help and grace: The third was wine of palms, which brought me to this place."

So I became lord of the whole island and began again a hermit's life, for which I had now not only opportunity more than enough but also a fixed desire and purpose thereto. 'Tis true I made all use of the good things and gifts of this place, with hearty thanks to G.o.d, whose goodness and might alone had so richly provided for me, but withal I was careful not to misuse this superfluity. And often did I wish that I had Christian men with me that elsewhere must suffer poverty and need, to profit with me by the gifts that G.o.d had given: but because I knew that for His Almighty power 'twas more than possible, if it were but His divine will, to bring thither more folk in easier and more miraculous fas.h.i.+on than I had been brought, it often gave me cause humbly to thank Him for His divine Providence in that He had in such fatherly wise cared for me more than many thousands of other men, and set me in a place so full of content and peace.

_Chap. xxiii._: IN WHICH THE HERMIT CONCLUDES HIS STORY AND THEREWITH ENDS THESE HIS SIX BOOKS

Now had my comrade hardly been a week dead when I marked that my abode was haunted. "Yea, yea," I thought, "Simplicissimus, thou art now alone, and so 'twas to be expected that the evil one should endeavour to torment thee. Didst not look that that malicious spirit would make thy life hard for thee? Yet why take count of him, when thou hast G.o.d to thy friend? Thou needest but somewhat wherein to exercise thyself; else wilt thou come to thy ruin from mere idleness and superfluity; for besides him thou hast no enemy but thine own self and the plenty and pleasaunce of this island; therefore make thy resolve to strive against him who in his own conceit is the strongest of all. For be he overcome by G.o.d his help, then shouldst thou, if G.o.d will, by His grace remain master of thyself."

And with these thoughts I went my way for a day or two, and they made of me a better and a piouser man; for I did prepare myself for that encounter which without doubt I must endure with the evil spirit; yet herein did I for this time deceive myself; for as on a certain evening I perceived a somewhat that could be heard, I went out of my hut, which stood close beneath a spur of that mountain, beneath which was the spring of that sweet water that floweth through the island into the sea; and there saw I my comrade that scrabbled with his fingers in a cleft of the rock. Then may ye easily understand that I was afeared; yet quickly I plucked up heart and commended myself to G.o.d's protection with the sign of Holy Cross, and thought, "this thing must be; 'twere better to-day than to-morrow."

With that I went up to the spirit and used to him such words as be customary in such a case. And then forthwith I understood that 'twas my deceased comrade, which in his lifetime had there concealed his ducats, as thinking that if, sooner or later, a s.h.i.+p should come to the island, he would recover them and take them away with him; yea, and he gave me to know that he had trusted more in this handful of money, whereby he hoped again to come to his home, than on G.o.d; for which cause he must now do penance by such unrest after his death, and moreover against his will be a cause of uneasiness to myself. So at his desire I took forth the money, yet held it as less than naught, as will the sooner be believed because I had nothing on which to employ it. And this was now the first affright that I had after I was left alone; yet afterwards was plagued by spirits of other sorts than this one; whereof I will say no more, but this only, that by G.o.d's help and grace I attained to this, that I found no single enemy more, save only mine own thoughts, which were oft troubled enough; for these go not scot-free before G.o.d, as men do vainly talk, but in His good time a reckoning must be paid for these also.

So that these might the less stain my soul with sins, I busied myself not only in the avoiding of that which profited naught, but did impose on myself a bodily task the which to perform with my customary prayer; for as man is born for work like the bird for flying, so on the other hand doth idleness inflict her sicknesses both on soul and body, and in the end, when we be least ware of it, eternal ruin. For this cause I planted me a garden, of which indeed I had less need than the waggon hath of a fifth wheel, seeing that the whole island might well be called one lovely pleasure-garden; so was my work of no other avail but that I brought this and that into completer order, albeit to many the natural disorder of the plants as they grew mingled together might appear more pleasing, and again that, as aforesaid, I shunned idleness.

O how oft did I wish, when I had wearied out my body and must give it rest, that I had G.o.dly books wherein to comfort, to delight, and to edify myself! But such I could not come by. Yet as I had once read of a holy man that he said the whole wide world was to him one great book; wherein to recognise the wondrous works of G.o.d and to be cheered to praise Him, so I thought to follow him therein, howbeit I was, so to speak, no longer in the world. For that little island must be my whole world, and in the same, every thing, yea, every tree, an incitement to G.o.dliness and a reminder of such thoughts as a good Christian should have. Thus, did I see a p.r.i.c.kly plant, forthwith I thought on Christ his crown of thorns; saw I an apple or a pomegranate, then I reflected on the fall of our first parents and mourned therefore; when I did draw palm-wine from a tree, I fancied to myself how mercifully my Redeemer had shed His blood for me on the tree of the Holy Cross; when I looked on sea or on mountain, then I remembered this or that miracle which our Saviour had wrought in such places; and when I found one or more stones that were convenient for casting, I had before mine eyes the picture of the Jews that would have stoned Christ; and when I walked in my garden I thought on the prayer of agony in Mount Olivet, or on the grave of Christ, and how after His Resurrection He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden. Such thoughts were my daily occupation; never did I eat but that I thought on the Last Supper, and never cooked my food without the fire reminding me of the eternal pains of h.e.l.l.

At last I found that with Brazil-juice, of which there be several sorts on this island, when mixed with lemon-juice, 'twas easy to write on a kind of large palm-leaves; which rejoiced me greatly; for now could I devise and write out prayers in order; yea, in the end, considering with hearty repentance my whole life and my knavish tricks that I had committed from my youth up, and how the merciful G.o.d, despite all such gross sins, had not only thus far preserved me from everlasting d.a.m.nation, but had given me time and opportunity to better myself and to be converted, to beg His forgiveness and to thank Him for His mercies, I did write down all that had befallen me in this book made of the afore-mentioned palm-leaves, and laid them together with my comrade's ducats in this place, to the end that if at any time folk should come hither, they might find such, and therefrom learn who it was that before inhabited this island. And whoso shall find this and read it, be it to-day or to-morrow, either before or after my death, him I beg that if he meet therein with words which be not becoming, for one that would do better, to speak, much less to write, he will not be angered thereat, but will consider that the telling of light actions and stories demands words fitting thereto; and even as the houseleek cannot easily be soaked by any rain, that so a true and devout spirit cannot forthwith be infected, poisoned, and corrupted by any discourse, though it seem as wanton as you will. The honourably minded Christian reader will rather wonder, and praise the divine mercy, when he shall find that so knavish a companion as I have been yet hath had such grace of G.o.d as to resign the world and to live in such a condition that therein he hopeth to come to eternal glory and to attain to everlasting blessedness by the sufferings of his Redeemer, through a pious