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ROBINSON CRUSOE

Chapter One： I Leave England

　I was born in 1632 in the English city of York. I came from a good family who were from Holland. My father was a Dutch merchant who left Holland when he was young. His business did very well in England. First he worked in the city of Hull, and then in York. In York, he met and married my mother. Before she married my father, her name was Miss Robinson, and I was named Robinson Kreutznaer, after her.
　Unfortunately, the English people in York thought it was too difficult to pronounce our Dutch name “Kreutznaer”, so they began to call our family “Crusoe,” and so today I am Robinson Crusoe.
　I was the third son of the family, but at the time my story begins I was the only one left. My eldest brother was a soldier and was killed fighting the Spanish. My other brother disappeared—we do not know what happened to him.
　Although my father’s business was doing well, I felt that the life of a merchant was not very interesting. I wanted to go to sea and have a life of adventure, sailing the oceans and exploring new countries.
　“Robinson, you can’t go!” my father cried when I told him my plans.
　“But Father, there is nothing for me to do here. I want to see the world.” I said.
　“How can you say that there is nothing for you to do here?” my father replied. “You could go into trade, as I did. And look how well I have done!”
　“Father, I am not good at business.” I said. I didn’t want to tell him that being a merchant was boring.
　“Robinson,” said my father, “wait for a year. I’ll do all I can to teach you how to be a good business man. If after one year, you still want to go to sea, I will let you go.” It seemed as though he was begging me to stay. Perhaps he was afraid to lose another son.
　At that time, I was seventeen years old, young and full of energy. A year seemed like a long time to me, but I agreed to stay, because I did not want to upset my father.
　During that year, I studied hard and tried to learn about business, but it was no use. Perhaps I was born with ocean water in my veins instead of blood! I simply had to go to sea.
　But after a year had passed my father still would not let me go. Father was a quiet and serious man, and he had many strong opinions. He told me that life at sea was dangerous and only for very poor or very rich men, who were probably all crazy anyway. “It is likely,” he said, “that if you go to sea you’ll be drowned or a drunk man before a month is gone!”
　My family was in a middle position, neither very poor nor very rich. My father thought this was the best kind of family to belong to. I decided to ask my mother for help. She was a wonderful woman, and had always understood me. “Mother,” I said, “I still want to go to sea. Please help me to convince Father that I’ll be all right.
　She looked at me sternly. “Robinson, you know what your father thinks of life at sea.”
　“Please, mother,” Icried. I was desperat. “Ask him to let me go for just one year. If after a year I don’t like the life at sea, I’ll come home and become the best business man in the family, I promise!”
　Mother looked at me for a moment. “Robinson,” she said, “I will tell your father what you have told me, but you must understand that I cannot change his mind.”
　Mother went and spoke to Father, but he still would not let me go.
　Three weeks after this, my nineteenth birthday came. Just after this, I decided to go to the city of Hull for a few days. I wanted to get away from my life of business in York.
　I sat by the town’s harbor, watching the ships go out to sea. The ocean shone brightly in the golden sunlight. How I wished I could have been one of the sailors! I dreamed of standing at the front of a ship, feeling the wind on my face as we traveld to strange and mysterious lands. It seemed it would never happen now.
　I was feeling sadder than ever when a voice interrupted my thoughs. “Why, it’s Robinson Crusoe! What are you doing here in Hull?”
　I looked around and saw Tom Bentley, an old friend of mine, standing before me.
　“Tom!” I said, jumping up to shake his hand. “How are you?”
　“I’m better, Robinson, now that we”ve met!” he said.
　“We should celebrate our meeting with a glass of beer! Come on, there’s an inn over there,” I said.
　“Unfortunately, I can’t,” said Tom. “I’m sailing to London on my father’s ship!”
　“Your father’s ship? That sounds exciting!” I said.
　Tom smiled. “Robinson,you should come with me! You look like you have nothing to do , and it won’t cost any money. What do you say?”
　And so I wrote my father and mother a letter telling them what I was about go do, and in September, 1651 I left England to go to sea.

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