James Baquet

When I was a boy, Disney released a popular film called “The Swiss Family Robinson.” Years later I learned that the film was based on a book of the same name, by the Swiss author Johann David Wyss.

The Disney version introduces pirates, a tiger and other sensational elements into the plot. Wyss’ book is more pedestrian, befitting his intention to educate his four sons in such virtues as family values, good husbandry, a proper relationship with nature, and above all, self-reliance. Incidentally, the family is never named in the book; “Robinson” is used in the title in reference to that greatest of all survivor stories, Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.”

Wyss’ story begins with a family — William, Elizabeth and their four sons Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Franz — being tossed about in the hold of a ship during a terrible storm as they immigrate to Australia. In their extremities, the crew abandons the ship, leaving the family to fend for themselves.

At last the storm abates, and the family finds themselves within sight of a tropical island. They fashion together some tubs, fill them with supplies — food, weapons, ammunition and so on — and row them to the island. Two dogs swim along beside them; a number of other animals — a cow, a pig, goats, chickens and more — have also survived, and are later transferred to the island.

The family sets up a camp and scouts the island. They return repeatedly to the ship to bring ashore tools, kitchenware and other necessities.

They build a treehouse, but find it inconvenient, so they settle in part of a cave. They find another castaway, a young Englishwoman named Jenny, living on the island, and take her into their “home.”

The family spends 10 years on the island. The story is told as a series of adventures, each with a moral point. The boys develop other homes and gardens around the island, as the father wonders if they will ever be rescued.

In the end, though, a British ship that has been searching for Jenny arrives. Perhaps surprisingly, most of the Robinsons choose to stay on the island, while two of the boys return to Europe. The journal of their time on the island is eventually published.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. storage area in the bottom of a ship

2. things that are needed

3. shipwrecked person

4. appropriate to

5. take care of

6. agriculture

7. by the way

8. commonplace, unexciting

9. serious difficulties

10. reduces, goes down