Robinson Crusoe — Chapter 14 in Italian
By Daniel Defoe
Dopo due o tre giorni ch’era tornato nella mia fortezza, pensai che per isvogliare affatto Venerdì degli orridi suoi appetiti di cannibale, avrei dovuto fargli assaggiare carni diverse da quelle cui sciaguratamente era avvezzato. Una mattina pertanto lo condussi meco ai boschi. 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. Io andava veramente con intenzione di ammazzare un capretto della mia greggia e portarmelo a casa per cucinarlo; ma camminando vidi una capra salvatica che stava all’ombra con a lato i suoi due capretti. 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. Afferrai Venerdì. I catched hold of Friday. gli diss’io, non ti movere!» e immediatamente presa la mira e sparato il mio archibugio, stesi morto uno dei due capretti. “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. Quel povero selvaggio che dianzi m’avea veduto, veramente in distanza, uccidere il selvaggio suo nemico, ma non seppe o non potè immaginare come ciò fosse avvenuto, or rimase immerso in una più penosa sorpresa. 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. Egli pensò, come non tardai ad avvedermene, che io avessi voluto ucciderlo, perchè venne a prostrarmisi innanzi e a dirmi, abbracciandomi le ginocchia, una quantità di cose che non poteva intendere, ma il significato delle quali era facile capirlo: si riduceva a prieghi perchè non lo ammazzassi. 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.
Ben presto trovai il modo di convincerlo che non gli avrei fatto male; e presolo per mano, risi di lui, e additandogli il capretto che avevo ucciso, gli feci cenno di correre a prenderlo, il che egli fece: e mentre egli stava stupefatto a guardare come la creatura fosse morta, ricaricai il mio schioppo. 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. Di lì a poco mi capitò a tiro un grande uccello che credei un falco appollaiato su un albero. Allora chiamatomi nuovamente da presso Venerdì per dargli in qualche modo a capire che cosa volessi fare, presi la mira al supposto falco che si trovò poi essere un pappagallo: ciò non fa nulla. 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. Volsi dunque nel tempo stesso l’attenzione di Venerdì sul mio schioppo, su l’uccello e sul terreno che gli stava sotto, perchè notasse il luogo ove io divisava che cadesse la preda, dopo sparai facendogli subito osservare come l’effetto avesse pienamente corrisposto alle mie predizioni. Rimase sbigottito una seconda volta malgrado di tutto quello che gli avea detto; e m’accorsi che il suo sbalordimento era tanto più grande, in quanto non m’avendo veduto introdurre la carica entro al moschetto, s’immaginò che quest’ordigno avesse in sè stesso una virtù di distruzione, e potesse quindi a suo grado uccidere uomini, quadrupedi, volatili, così da vicino come da lontano; terrore nato in lui, e che bisognò del tempo assai prima che se ne liberasse: e credo bene che, se lo avessi lasciato fare, avrebbe adorato me e il mio schioppo come due divinità. 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. Quanto allo schioppo, si guardò ben dal toccarlo per molti dì appresso. Unicamente quando si credea solo gli parlava, come se lo schioppo avesse potuto rispondergli, e seppi da poi dal medesimo Venerdì che que’ borbottamenti erano preghiere di non ammazzarlo. 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. Poichè questo primo terrore fu alcun poco chetato, gli comandai di andare a prendere il pappagallo ucciso, la qual cosa egli fece; ma indugiò alcun poco a portarmelo, perchè quell’uccello non essendo morto del tutto svolazzo un bel tratto lontano dal sito ove cadde; ciò non ostante giunse a trovarlo. Mentre aspettava che tornasse con la preda, io, già accortomi dei falsi giudizi fermati da Venerdì intorno allo schioppo, profittai di quest’intervallo per ricaricarlo senza essere veduto da lui per trovarmi lesto al primo tiro che capitasse; ma niun altro se ne presentò lungo la via nel nostro tornare a casa. 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. Dopo aver cominciato a mangiar io un poco di questo lesso o stufato che fosse, ne diedi al mio galantuomo, che lo gradì e gustò grandemente. 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. Sol gli parve una stravaganza il vedermi salarlo prima d’accostarmelo alla bocca; e per farmi comprendere che il sale non era cosa buona da mangiare se ne mise un pochino in bocca, poi si diede a sputare e a far tutti i moti che derivano dalla nausea; e terminò la sua azione mimica risciaquandosi le fauci con acqua fresca. 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.
Dopo avergli fatto gustare il lesso ed il brodo volli il dì appresso regalarlo di un arrosto di capretto, al qual fine ne attaccai un quarto ad una funicella sospesa sul focolare, come ho veduto fare al popolo presso diverse nazioni europee, piantando due pali in piedi, uno a ciascun lato del fuoco ed uno per traverso appoggiato su la cima di essi. 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. Finalmente potei capirlo a discrezione, e ne fui soddisfattissimo. Quel che volea soprattutto farmi comprendere, era, che d’allora in poi la carne umana non gli avrebbe fatto gola menomamente. 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.
Nel giorno appresso lo misi all’opera di tritare il grano e di vagliar la farina nel modo ch’io faceva, e che ho già spiegato dianzi. 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.