Free user manual for iPad

I can follow a link from apple on my homepage to get to a small tutorial and a link for Apple Books and my operators manual download which it states is free. Once there it says free sample or you can purchase and lists no price for the manual. You can push get and from what I’ve read you will be charged 40$ .I would assume that apple would want people to be able to use all the interesting features they’ve expelled so much time and effort making.So I’m hoping that there is a way to get this free from apple. I would be much more likely to stay with apple if I was able to use and enjoy there products.I have found it difficult to get comfortable with apple as I’m used to android and not that technically savvy. Through experimentation I’ve figured out the basics but just the things I’ve discovered by accident let me know I know nothing about my iPad and I’ve had it 5 years. Its an iPad wi-fi .Thanks for any help .It’s very much appreciated