The Little Savage

“I intend to write a rather unusual story, which the reader will surely agree with after reading this book. There are plenty of tales about grown people who are abandoned on deserted islands—and they’re read with great interest. But I believe I represent the first example of a boy abandoned on an uninhabited island. Still, all of this really did happen to me—and I will tell nothing but my own story. My first dim memories of childhood take me back to this island and bring to mind a man I often walked with along the sea shore. In many places we had to climb laboriously over cliffs, and my companion had to carry me over the dangerous spots. He was very rough and unkind to me—which may seem somewhat strange, since I was his only companion on this island. But in general he was gloomy, sullen, and rude by nature. He often sat for hours in silence, huddled somewhere in a corner of our hut. Sometimes he stared at the sea for whole days, as if expecting something—exactly what, I didn’t know then. When I asked him about it, he wouldn’t answer. And if he was near me, I usually got a slap….”