Robinson Crusoe — Chapter 14 in French
By Daniel Defoe
Alors ma vie commençait à être si douce que je me disais : si je n’avais pas à redouter les Sauvages, volontiers je demeurerais en ce lieu aussi long-temps que je vivrais. Trois ou quatre jours après mon retour au château je pensai que, pour détourner Vendredi de son horrible nourriture accoutumée et de son appétit cannibale, je devais lui faire goûter d’autre viande : je l’emmenai donc un matin dans les bois. After I had been two or three days returned to my castle, I thought that, in order to bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding, and from the relish of a cannibal's stomach, I ought to let him taste other flesh; so I took him out with me one morning to the woods. J’y allais, au fait, dans l’intention de tuer un cabri de mon troupeau pour l’apporter et l’apprêter au logis ; mais, chemin faisant, je vis une chèvre couchée à l’ombre, avec deux jeunes chevreaux à ses côtés. I went, indeed, intending to kill a kid out of my own flock; and bring it home and dress it; but as I was going I saw a she-goat lying down in the shade, and two young kids sitting by her. Là dessus j’arrêtai Vendredi. Holà ! I catched hold of Friday. ne bouge pas, lui dis-je en lui faisant signe de ne pas remuer. Au même instant je mis mon fusil en joue, je tirai et je tuai un des chevreaux. “Hold,” said I, “stand still;” and made signs to him not to stir: immediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed one of the kids. Le pauvre diable, qui m’avait vu, il est vrai, tuer à une grande distance le Sauvage son ennemi, mais qui n’avait pu imaginer comment cela s’était fait, fut jeté dans une étrange surprise. Il tremblait, il chancelait, et avait l’air si consterné que je pensai le voir tomber en défaillance. The poor creature, who had at a distance, indeed, seen me kill the savage, his enemy, but did not know, nor could imagine how it was done, was sensibly surprised, trembled, and shook, and looked so amazed that I thought he would have sunk down. Il ne regarda pas le chevreau sur lequel j’avais fait feu ou ne s’apperçut pas que je l’avais tué, mais il arracha sa veste pour s’assurer s’il n’était point blessé lui-même. Il croyait sans doute que j’avais résolu de me défaire de lui ; car il vint s’agenouiller devant moi, et, embrassant mes genoux, il me dit une multitude de choses où je n’entendis rien, sinon qu’il me suppliait de ne pas le tuer. He did not see the kid I shot at, or perceive I had killed it, but ripped up his waistcoat to feel whether he was not wounded; and, as I found presently, thought I was resolved to kill him: for he came and kneeled down to me, and embracing my knees, said a great many things I did not understand; but I could easily see the meaning was to pray me not to kill him.
J'eus bientôt trouvé un moyen de le convaincre que je ne lui ferais aucun mal ; et le prenant par la main, je ris de lui, et lui montrant du doigt le cabri que j'avais tué, je lui fis signe de courir le chercher, ce qu'il fit : et tandis qu'il s'émerveillait et cherchait à voir comment la créature avait été tuée, je rechargeai mon fusil. I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm; and taking him up by the hand, laughed at him, and pointing to the kid which I had killed, beckoned to him to run and fetch it, which he did: and while he was wondering, and looking to see how the creature was killed, I loaded my gun again. Tandis qu’il s’émerveillait et cherchait à voir comment cet animal avait été tué, je rechargeai mon fusil, et au même instant j’apperçus, perché sur un arbre à portée de mousquet, un grand oiseau semblable à un faucon. Afin que Vendredi comprît un peu ce que j’allais faire, je le rappelai vers moi en lui montrant l’oiseau ; c’était, au fait, un perroquet, bien que je l’eusse pris pour un faucon. By-and-by I saw a great fowl, like a hawk, sitting upon a tree within shot; so, to let Friday understand a little what I would do, I called him to me again, pointed at the fowl, which was indeed a parrot, though I thought it had been a hawk; I say, pointing to the parrot, and to my gun, and to the ground under the parrot, to let him see I would make it fall, I made him understand that I would shoot and kill that bird; accordingly, I fired, and bade him look, and immediately he saw the parrot fall. Je conjecturai qu’il était épouvanté ainsi parce qu’il ne m’avait rien vu mettre dans mon fusil, et qu’il pensait que c’était une source merveilleuse de mort et de destruction propre à tuer hommes, bêtes, oiseaux, ou quoi que ce fût, de près ou de loin. on étonnement fut tel, que de long-temps il n’en put revenir ; et je crois que si je l’eusse laissé faire il m’aurait adoré moi et mon fusil. He stood like one frightened again, notwithstanding all I had said to him; and I found he was the more amazed, because he did not see me put anything into the gun, but thought that there must be some wonderful fund of death and destruction in that thing, able to kill man, beast, bird, or anything near or far off; and the astonishment this created in him was such as could not wear off for a long time; and I believe, if I would have let him, he would have worshipped me and my gun. Quant au fusil lui-même, il n’osa pas y toucher de plusieurs jours ; mais lorsqu’il en était près il lui parlait et l’implorai comme s’il eût pu lui répondre. C’était, je l’appris dans la suite, pour le prier de ne pas le tuer. As for the gun itself, he would not so much as touch it for several days after; but he would speak to it and talk to it, as if it had answered him, when he was by himself; which, as I afterwards learned of him, was to desire it not to kill him. Lorsque sa frayeur se fut un peu dissipée, je lui fis signe de courir chercher l’oiseau que j’avais frappé, ce qu’il fit ; mais il fut assez long-temps absent, car le perroquet, n’étant pas tout-à-fait mort, s’était traîné à une grande distance de l’endroit où je l’avais abattu. Toutefois il le trouva, le ramassa et vint me l’apporter. Well, after his astonishment was a little over at this, I pointed to him to run and fetch the bird I had shot, which he did, but stayed some time; for the parrot, not being quite dead, had fluttered away a good distance from the place where she fell: however, he found her, took her up, and brought her to me; and as I had perceived his ignorance about the gun before, I took this advantage to charge the gun again, and not to let him see me do it, that I might be ready for any other mark that might present; but nothing more offered at that time: so I brought home the kid, and the same evening I took the skin off, and cut it out as well as I could; and having a pot fit for that purpose, I boiled or stewed some of the flesh, and made some very good broth. Après que j’eus tâté de cette viande, j’en donnai à mon serviteur, qui en parut très-content et trouva cela fort de son goût. Mais ce qui le surprit beaucoup, ce fut de me voir manger du sel avec la viande. After I had begun to eat some I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad of it, and liked it very well; but that which was strangest to him was to see me eat salt with it. Il me fit signe que le sel n’était pas bon à manger, et, en ayant mis un peu dans sa bouche, son cœur sembla se soulever, il le cracha et le recracha, puis se rinça la bouche avec de l’eau fraîche. À mon tour je pris une bouchée de viande sans sel, et je me mis à cracher et à crachoter aussi vite qu’il avait fait ; mais cela ne le décida point, et il ne se soucia jamais de saler sa viande ou son bouillon, si ce n’est que fort long-temps après, et encore ce ne fut que très-peu. He made a sign to me that the salt was not good to eat; and putting a little into his own mouth, he seemed to nauseate it, and would spit and sputter at it, washing his mouth with fresh water after it: on the other hand, I took some meat into my mouth without salt, and I pretended to spit and sputter for want of salt, as much as he had done at the salt; but it would not do; he would never care for salt with meat or in his broth; at least, not for a great while, and then but a very little.
Après lui avoir fait ainsi goûter du bouilli et du bouillon, je résolus de le régaler le lendemain d’une pièce de chevreau rôti. Pour la faire cuire je la suspendis à une ficelle devant le feu, — comme je l’avais vu pratiquer à beaucoup de gens en Angleterre, — en plantant deux pieux, un sur chaque côté du brasier, avec un troisième pieu posé en travers sur leur sommet, en attachant la ficelle à cette traverse et en faisant tourner la viande continuellement. Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, I was resolved to feast him the next day by roasting a piece of the kid: this I did by hanging it before the fire on a string, as I had seen many people do in England, setting two poles up, one on each side of the fire, and one across the top, and tying the string to the cross stick, letting the meat turn continually. Vendredi s’émerveilla de cette invention ; et quand il vint à manger de ce rôti, il s’y prit de tant de manières pour me faire savoir combien il le trouvait à son goût, que je n’eusse pu ne pas le comprendre. Enfin il me déclara que désormais il ne mangerait plus d’aucune chair humaine, ce dont je fus fort aise. This Friday admired very much; but when he came to taste the flesh, he took so many ways to tell me how well he liked it, that I could not but understand him: and at last he told me, as well as he could, he would never eat man's flesh any more, which I was very glad to hear.
Le jour suivant je l’occupai à piler du blé et à bluter, suivant la manière que je mentionnai autrefois. Il apprit promptement à faire cela aussi bien que moi, après surtout qu’il eut compris quel en était le but, et que c’était pour faire du pain, car ensuite je lui montrai à pétrir et à cuire au four. The next day I set him to work beating some corn out, and sifting it in the manner I used to do, as I observed before; and he soon understood how to do it as well as I, especially after he had seen what the meaning of it was, and that it was to make bread of; for after that I let him see me make my bread, and bake it too; and in a little time Friday was able to do all the work for me as well as I could do it myself.