He was sitting on the bank of a stream,
and at first I took him to be one who had been shipwrecked like
myself. I went toward him and saluted him, but he only slightly bowed
his head. I asked him why he sat so still; but instead of answering
me, he made a sign for me to take him upon my back, and carry him over
the brook.
I believed him really to stand in need of my assistance, took him upon
my back, and having carried him over, bade him get down, and for that
end stooped, that he might get off with ease; but instead of doing so
(which I laugh at every time I think of it), the old man, who to me
appeared quite decrepit, threw his legs nimbly about my neck. He sat
astride upon my shoulders, and held my throat so tight that I thought
he would have strangled me, and I fainted away.
Notwithstanding my fainting, the ill-natured old fellow still kept his
seat upon my neck. When I had recovered my breath, he thrust one of
his feet against my side, and struck me so rudely with the other that
he forced me to rise up, against my will. Having arisen, he made me
carry him under the trees, and forced me now and then to stop, that he
might gather and eat fruit. He never left his seat all day; and when I
lay down to rest at night he laid himself down with me, still holding
fast about my neck. Every morning he pinched me to make me awake, and
afterward obliged me to get up and walk, and spurred me with his feet.
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