The Swiss Family Robinson is a well-known adventure novel that people of many countries have enjoyed for more than two hundred years. It has also been made into graphic novels and films.
The Novel, written by the Swiss Clergyman Johann David Wyss, is not just an adventure. It aims at teaching young people values like self-reliance, determination, love for your family, co-operation and prudent (wise or judicious) use of resources. It also has good lessons relevant in natural sciences, good husbandry and even mathematics !
Some elements of the novel do stretch reality to a certain extent – but we must consider that it is a work of fiction and not a fact file. Given below is a synopsis – an outline of its basic story.
William, Elizabeth and their children had been
travelling in a ship when the ship was caught in a great
storm. The other passengers evacuated without them.
William, and his family including the young children
Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Franz, were left to survive alone.
They weathered the great storm waiting in the ship’s
hold. The ship survived the night and the family found
themselves within sight of a tropical desert island The
next morning, they decided to get to the island they could
see beyond the reef. With much effort, they constructed
a vessel out of tubs. After they filled the tubs with
food and ammunition and all other articles of value
they could safely carry, they rowed toward the island.
Two dogs from the ship named Turk and Juno swam
beside them. The ship’s cargo of livestock, guns and
powder, carpentry tools, books, a disassembled pinnace,
and provisions had also survived.
Over the next few days, William (father) attached
the floatable old kegs to one another and built a
bow that curved around them. The family had landed
successfully on the island. They set up a tent and
softened the floor with armloads of grass they cut and
spread to serve as their beds. They came to a grove
of trees. One tree grew what looked like gourds on its
trunk. The father told Fritz, the gourds would make
excellent bowls and spoons, and they cut them into
various utensils.
After some days, Elizabeth informed William that
she wanted the family to move to a safer place. Their
current camp was not only exposed but also very dry
and hot. If they built a house up in one of the large
trees, they would be safe from jackals. She described
a perfect tree for the project, one whose trunk was
nearly forty feet in diameter. The branches were very
long and extended straight out from the trunk, making
them perfect platforms for a structure. Later, when
determining the height of the lowest branches, the father
taught the boys geometry and how to use triangles to
measure big objects. He measured a defined distance
from the trunk, then he calculated angles using several
measured rods, determining that the lowest branch was
thirty feet off the ground.
The men knotted a rope at certain intervals and
attached pieces of bamboo in each knot. Thus, they
created their ladder. Father returned to the beach and
collected driftwood, thinking it would be perfect to
build a ‘sledge,’ on runners rather than wheels. Later,
they used it to transport materials.