Swiss Family Robinson (5 page)

T
oward evening, we gathered for supper. Mr. Wolston joined us. The rest he had enjoyed seemed to have given him new life. He told us he wanted to stay on the island with his wife and their eldest daughter.

I welcomed this idea, saying that my wife and I wished to remain for the rest of our days in New Switzerland.

“Hurrah! New Switzerland forever!” the company shouted. They raised their glasses.

“Long life and happiness to all who make New Switzerland their home!” added Ernest.

To my great surprise, he leaned forward to ring his glass with mine, his mother’s, and Mr. Wolston’s. “I wish to remain here, Father,” he said.

“Won’t somebody wish long life for those who go away?” asked Jenny

“Three cheers for England and Colonel Montrose,” cried Fritz. “Success and happiness to us who sail to Europe—I among them!” The roofs rang with cheering

“Well,” I said, “since Fritz is going to England, he must bring happiness to Jenny’s mourning father and return his dear daughter to him. Ernest chooses to stay with me. His mother and I rejoice at this decision. And now what is Jack’s choice?”

“I mean to stay here,” Jack replied. “When Fritz is gone, I will be best rider in New Switzerland! The fact is,” he added with a laugh, “I expect I’d be sent to school if I returned.”

“A good school is exactly what I want,” said Franz.

“You may go, my dear son,” I told him. “And God bless all our plans.”

The captain agreed with our decisions. “Three cheers for New Switzerland!” he cried.

Deep emotion stirred every heart. Many of us were beginning a new life. As for
myself, a weight rolled from my heart. I thanked God that it had worked out this way.

After this, we prepared for the departure of the dear ones bound for England. Everything was provided and packed up that could add to our children’s comfort and help them in England. Large shares of coral, furs, pearls, spices, and other valuables would give them a good position in the world.

To my and my wife’s delight, Fritz told me of the attachment between himself and Jenny. My wife and I had suspected it. We loved the girl dearly and gladly gave our consent for their engagement.

On the evening before we parted, I gave Fritz the journal I had written since the shipwreck. I hoped that it might be published.

“Our story shows the benefits of knowledge and of loving families,” I said. “It brings me pleasure to think that others might see it.”

Night came. For the last time my whole family slept under my care. Tomorrow, this closing chapter of our journey will pass into the hands of my eldest son.

From far away, I greet thee, Europe!

Like thee, may New Switzerland prosper— good, happy, and free!

Johann David Wyss
was born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1743 and became a pastor as an adult. When his four sons were little, he told them imaginative stories of a shipwrecked family. His tales were based on the 1719 book by Daniel Defoe,
Robinson Crusoe
, about a man cast away on an island. One of his sons collected Johann Wyss’s stories together and edited them, and in 1812,
The Swiss Family Robinson
was published. It became famous almost right away and since then has been translated into many languages.

If you liked this thrilling adventure,
you won’t want to miss …

by Robert Louis Stevenson
adapted by Lisa Norby

I
scrambled onto the deck. Israel Hands lay nearby, alive but wounded.

“I am taking over the ship,” I told him.

Mr. Hands looked up at me. “Very well, Captain Hawkins,” he said. “I’ll obey you. I have no choice.”

For a few minutes I was so busy that I almost forgot that Mr. Hands was just pretending to be badly hurt. But all of a sudden something made me turn around. He had sneaked up behind me! He pulled out the knife. Then he charged.

BY
JULES UERNE

ADAPTED BY
JUDITH CONAWAY

A
volcano burned in the distance. Lava poured from the volcano. The red-hot rocks lit up an entire city.

For it was a city I saw there. I could see towers, palaces, houses, stores. All were lying in ruin. Beyond the city I could see what was left of a large wall.

Captain Nemo picked up a soft rock. With it he wrote on a piece of flat black stone:

ATLANTIS

by Mark Twain

Adapted by Monica Kulling

T
he next day Tom and Huck walked back to the haunted house.

Inside was a dirt floor with weeds growing everywhere. The fireplace was crumbling, and cobwebs hung from the ceiling like curtains!

The boys climbed a rickety staircase to look upstairs. They peeked in a closet in the corner. But nothing was in it. As they turned to go back downstairs, Tom heard a noise.

The boys lay on the floor and peered through a knothole. Two men were entering the house!

Text copyright © 2006 by Daisy Alberto. Illustrations copyright © 2006
by Robert Hunt. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by
Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alberto, Daisy.
Swiss family Robinson / by Johann Wyss; adapted by Daisy Alberto;
illustrated by Robert Hunt. — 1st ed.
        p.   cm.
“A Stepping Stone Book.”
SUMMARY
: Relates the fortunes of a shipwrecked family as they imaginatively
adapt to life on an island with abundant animal and plant life.
eISBN: 978-0-307-56046-9
[1. Survival—Fiction. 2. Family life—Fiction. 3. Islands—Fiction.]
I. Hunt, Robert, ill. II Wyss, Johann David, 1743-1818. Schweizerische
Robinson. III. Title.
PZ7.A3217Swi 2006       [Fic]—dc22       2006001099

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