Sec. 10. They say that this Roe liv’d in good Pasture so that she was fat, and had, such plenty of Milk, that she was very well able to maintain the Child; she took great care of him, and never left him, but when hunger forc’d her: and he grew so well acquainted with her, that if at any time she staid away from him a little longer than ordinary, he’d cry pitifully, and she, as soon as she heard him, came running instantly; besides all this, he enjoy’d this happiness, that there was no Beast of prey in the whole Island.
Sec. 11. Thus he went on, Living only upon what he Suck’d till he was Two Years Old, and then he began to step a little and Breed his Teeth. He always followed the Roe and she shew’d all the tenderness to him imaginable; and us’d to carry him to places where Fruit Trees grew, and fed him with the Ripest and Sweetest Fruits which fell from the Trees; and for Nuts or such like, she us’d to break the Shell with her Teeth, and give him the Kernel; still Suckling him, as often as he pleas’d, and when he was thirsty she shew’d him the way to the water. If the Sun shin’d too hot and scorch’d him, she shaded him; if he was cold she cherish’d him and kept him warm; and when Night came she brought him home to his old Place, and covered him partly with her own Body, and partly with some Feathers which were left in the Ark, which had been put in with him when he was first expos’d. Now, when they went out in the Morning, and when they came home again at Night, there always went with them an Herd of Deer, which lay in the same place where they did; so that the Boy being always amongst them learn’d their voice by degrees, and imitated it so exactly that there was scarce any sensible difference; nay, when he heard the voice of any Bird or Beast, he’d come very near it, being of a most excellent Apprehension. But of all the voices which he imitated, he made most use of the Deers, which he was Master of, and could express himself as they do, either when they want help, call their Mates, when they would have them come nearer, or go farther off. (For you must know that the Brute Beasts have different Sounds to express these different things.) Thus he contracted such an Acquaintance with the Wild Beasts, that they were not afraid of him, nor he of them.
Sec. 12. By this time he began to have the Ideas of a great many things fix’d in his mind, so as to have a desire to some, and an aversion to others, even when they were absent. In the mean while he consider’d all the several sorts of Animals, and saw that they were all clothed either with Hair, Wool, or several sorts of Feathers: he consider’d their great Swiftness and Strength, and that they were all arm’d with Weapons defensive, as Horns, Teeth, Hoofs, Spurs, Nails, and the like. But that he himself was Naked and Defenceless, Slow and Weak, in respect of them. For whenever there happened any Controversy about gathering of such ripe Fruits as fell from the Trees; he always came off by the worst, for they could both keep their own, and take away his, and he could neither beat them, off, nor run away from them.


