At tea-time, when the dog, Jip, came in, the parrot said to the Doctor,“See, _he_’s talking to you.”
“Looks to me as though he were scratching his ear,” said the Doctor.
“But animals don’t always speak with their mouths,” said the parrot ina high voice, raising her eyebrows. “They talk with their ears, withtheir feet, with their tails—with everything. Sometimes they don’t_want_ to make a noise. Do you see now the way he’s twitching up oneside of his nose?”
“What’s that mean?” asked the Doctor.
“That means, ‘Can’t you see that it has stopped raining?’” Polynesiaanswered. “He is asking you a question. Dogs nearly always use theirnoses for asking questions.”
After a while, with the parrot’s help, the Doctor got to learn thelanguage of the animals so well that he could talk to them himselfand understand everything they said. Then he gave up being a people’sdoctor altogether.
As soon as the Cat’s-meat-Man had told every one that John Dolittle wasgoing to become an animal-doctor, old ladies began to bring him theirpet pugs and poodles who had eaten too much cake; and farmers came manymiles to show him sick cows and sheep.
One day a plow-horse was brought to him; and the poor thing wasterribly glad to find a man who could talk in horse-language.
“You know, Doctor,” said the horse, “that vet over the hill knowsnothing at all. He has been treating me six weeks now—for spavins. WhatI need is _spectacles_. I am going blind in one eye. There’s no reasonwhy horses shouldn’t wear glasses, the same as people. But that stupidman over the hill never even looked at my eyes. He kept on giving mebig pills. I tried to tell him; but he couldn’t understand a word ofhorse-language. What I need is spectacles.”
“Of course—of course,” said the Doctor. “I’ll get you some at once.”
“I would like a pair like yours,” said the horse—“only green. They’llkeep the sun out of my eyes while I’m plowing the Fifty-Acre Field.”
“Certainly,” said the Doctor. “Green ones you shall have.”
“You know, the trouble is, Sir,” said the plow-horse as the Doctoropened the front door to let him out—“the trouble is that _anybody_thinks he can doctor animals—just because the animals don’t complain.As a matter of fact it takes a much cleverer man to be a really goodanimal-doctor than it does to be a good people’s doctor. My farmer’sboy thinks he knows all about horses. I wish you could see him—his faceis so fat he looks as though he had no eyes—and he has got as muchbrain as a potato-bug. He tried to put a mustard-plaster on me lastweek.”
“Where did he put it?” asked the Doctor.
“Oh, he didn’t put it anywhere—on me,” said the horse. “He only triedto. I kicked him into the duck-pond.”
“Well, well!” said the Doctor.
“I’m a pretty quiet creature as a rule,” said the horse—“very patientwith people—don’t make much fuss. But it was bad enough to have thatvet giving me the wrong medicine. And when that red-faced booby startedto monkey with me, I just couldn’t bear it any more.”
“Did you hurt the boy much?” asked the Doctor.
“Oh, no,” said the horse. “I kicked him in the right place. The vet’slooking after him now. When will my glasses be ready?”
“I’ll have them for you next week,” said the Doctor. “Come in againTuesday—Good morning!”
“He could see as well as ever”]
Then John Dolittle got a fine, big pair of green spectacles; and theplow-horse stopped going blind in one eye and could see as well as ever.
And soon it became a common sight to see farm-animals wearing glassesin the country round Puddleby; and a blind horse was a thing unknown.
And so it was with all the other animals that were brought to him. Assoon as they found that he could talk their language, they told himwhere the pain was and how they felt, and of course it was easy for himto cure them.
“They came at once to his house on the edge of the town”]
Now all these animals went back and told their brothers and friendsthat there was a doctor in the little house with the big garden whoreally _was_ a doctor. And whenever any creatures got sick—not onlyhorses and cows and dogs—but all the little things of the fields, likeharvest-mice and water-voles, badgers and bats, they came at once tohis house on the edge of the town, so that his big garden was nearlyalways crowded with animals trying to get in to see him.
There were so many that came that he had to have special doors made forthe different kinds. He wrote “HORSES” over the front door, “COWS” overthe side door, and “SHEEP” on the kitchen door. Each kind of animalhad a separate door—even the mice had a tiny tunnel made for them intothe cellar, where they waited patiently in rows for the Doctor to comeround to them.
And so, in a few years’ time, every living thing for miles and milesgot to know about John Dolittle, M.D. And the birds who flew to othercountries in the winter told the animals in foreign lands of thewonderful doctor of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, who could understand theirtalk and help them in their troubles. In this way he became famousamong the animals—all over the world—better known even than he hadbeen among the folks of the West Country, And he was happy and likedhis life very much.
One afternoon when the Doctor was busy writing in a book, Polynesiasat in the window—as she nearly always did—looking out at the leavesblowing about in the garden. Presently she laughed aloud.
“What is it, Polynesia?” asked the Doctor, looking up from his book.
“I was just thinking,” said the parrot; and she went on looking at theleaves.
“What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking about people,” said Polynesia. “People make me sick.They think they’re so wonderful. The world has been going on now forthousands of years, hasn’t it? And the only thing in animal-languagethat _people_ have learned to understand is that when a dog wags histail he means ‘I’m glad!’—It’s funny, isn’t it? You are the very firstman to talk like us. Oh, sometimes people annoy me dreadfully—suchairs they put on—talking about ‘the dumb animals.’ _Dumb!_—Huh! Why Iknew a macaw once who could say ‘Good morning!’ in seven differentways without once opening his mouth. He could talk every language—andGreek. An old professor with a gray beard bought him. But he didn’tstay. He said the old man didn’t talk Greek right, and he couldn’tstand listening to him teach the language wrong. I often wonder what’sbecome of him. That bird knew more geography than people will everknow.—_People_, Golly! I suppose if people ever learn to fly—like anycommon hedge-sparrow—we shall never hear the end of it!”
“You’re a wise old bird,” said the Doctor. “How old are you really? Iknow that parrots and elephants sometimes live to be very, very old.”
“I can never be quite sure of my age,” said Polynesia. “It’s either ahundred and eighty-three or a hundred and eighty-two. But I know thatwhen I first came here from Africa, King Charles was still hiding inthe oak-tree—because I saw him. He looked scared to death.”
_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
MORE MONEY TROUBLES
AND soon now the Doctor began to make money again; and his sister,Sarah, bought a new dress and was happy.
Some of the animals who came to see him were so sick that they hadto stay at the Doctor’s house for a week. And when they were gettingbetter they used to sit in chairs on the lawn.
“They used to sit in chairs on the lawn”]
And often even after they got well, they did not want to go away—theyliked the Doctor and his house so much. And he never had the heart torefuse them when they asked if they could stay with him. So in this wayhe went on getting more and more pets.
Once when he was sitting on his garden wall, smoking a pipe in theevening, an Italian organ-grinder came round with a monkey on a string.The Doctor saw at once that the monkey’s collar was too tight andthat he was dirty and unhappy. So he took the monkey away from theItalian, gave the man a shilling and told him to go. The organ-grinderg
ot awfully angry and said that he wanted to keep the monkey. But theDoctor told him that if he didn’t go away he would punch him on thenose. John Dolittle was a strong man, though he wasn’t very tall. Sothe Italian went away saying rude things and the monkey stayed withDoctor Dolittle and had a good home. The other animals in the housecalled him “Chee-Chee”—which is a common word in monkey-language,meaning “ginger.”
And another time, when the circus came to Puddleby, the crocodilewho had a bad toothache escaped at night and came into the Doctor’sgarden. The Doctor talked to him in crocodile-language and took himinto the house and made his tooth better. But when the crocodilesaw what a nice house it was—with all the different places for thedifferent kinds of animals—he too wanted to live with the Doctor. Heasked couldn’t he sleep in the fish-pond at the bottom of the garden,if he promised not to eat the fish. When the circus-men came to takehim back he got so wild and savage that he frightened them away. But toevery one in the house he was always as gentle as a kitten.
But now the old ladies grew afraid to send their lap-dogs to DoctorDolittle because of the crocodile; and the farmers wouldn’t believethat he would not eat the lambs and sick calves they brought to becured. So the Doctor went to the crocodile and told him he must go backto his circus. But he wept such big tears, and begged so hard to beallowed to stay, that the Doctor hadn’t the heart to turn him out.
So then the Doctor’s sister came to him and said,
“John, you must send that creature away. Now the farmers and theold ladies are afraid to send their animals to you—just as we werebeginning to be well off again. Now we shall be ruined entirely. Thisis the last straw. I will no longer be housekeeper for you if you don’tsend away that alligator.”
“It isn’t an alligator,” said the Doctor—“it’s a crocodile.”
“I don’t care what you call it,” said his sister. “It’s a nasty thingto find under the bed. I won’t have it in the house.”
“But he has promised me,” the Doctor answered, “that he will not biteany one. He doesn’t like the circus; and I haven’t the money to sendhim back to Africa where he comes from. He minds his own business andon the whole is very well behaved. Don’t be so fussy.”
“I tell you I _will not_ have him around,” said Sarah. “He eats thelinoleum. If you don’t send him away this minute I’ll—I’ll go and getmarried!”
“All right,” said the Doctor, “go and get married. It can’t behelped.” And he took down his hat and went out into the garden.
So Sarah Dolittle packed up her things and went off; and the Doctor wasleft all alone with his animal family.
“‘All right,’ said the Doctor, ‘go and get married’”]
And very soon he was poorer than he had ever been before. With allthese mouths to fill, and the house to look after, and no one to do themending, and no money coming in to pay the butcher’s bill, things beganto look very difficult. But the Doctor didn’t worry at all.
“Money is a nuisance,” he used to say. “We’d all be much better off ifit had never been invented. What does money matter, so long as we arehappy?”
“One evening when the Doctor was asleep in his chair”]
But soon the animals themselves began to get worried. And one eveningwhen the Doctor was asleep in his chair before the kitchen-fire theybegan talking it over among themselves in whispers. And the owl,Too-Too, who was good at arithmetic, figured it out that there was onlymoney enough left to last another week—if they each had one meal a dayand no more.
Then the parrot said, “I think we all ought to do the houseworkourselves. At least we can do that much. After all, it is for our sakesthat the old man finds himself so lonely and so poor.”
So it was agreed that the monkey, Chee-Chee, was to do the cooking andmending; the dog was to sweep the floors; the duck was to dust and makethe beds; the owl, Too-Too, was to keep the accounts, and the pig wasto do the gardening. They made Polynesia, the parrot, housekeeper andlaundress, because she was the oldest.
Of course at first they all found their new jobs very hard to do—allexcept Chee-Chee, who had hands, and could do things like a man. Butthey soon got used to it; and they used to think it great fun to watchJip, the dog, sweeping his tail over the floor with a rag tied onto itfor a broom. After a little they got to do the work so well that theDoctor said that he had never had his house kept so tidy or so cleanbefore.
In this way things went along all right for a while; but without moneythey found it very hard.
Then the animals made a vegetable and flower stall outside thegarden-gate and sold radishes and roses to the people that passed byalong the road.
But still they didn’t seem to make enough money to pay all thebills—and still the Doctor wouldn’t worry. When the parrot came to himand told him that the fishmonger wouldn’t give them any more fish, hesaid,
“Never mind. So long as the hens lay eggs and the cow gives milk we canhave omelettes and junket. And there are plenty of vegetables left inthe garden. The Winter is still a long way off. Don’t fuss. That wasthe trouble with Sarah—she would fuss. I wonder how Sarah’s gettingon—an excellent woman—in some ways—Well, well!”
But the snow came earlier than usual that year; and although the oldlame horse hauled in plenty of wood from the forest outside the town,so they could have a big fire in the kitchen, most of the vegetables inthe garden were gone, and the rest were covered with snow; and many ofthe animals were really hungry.
_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
A MESSAGE FROM AFRICA
THAT Winter was a very cold one. And one night in December, when theywere all sitting round the warm fire in the kitchen, and the Doctorwas reading aloud to them out of books he had written himself inanimal-language, the owl, Too-Too, suddenly said,
“Sh! What’s that noise outside?”
They all listened; and presently they heard the sound of some onerunning. Then the door flew open and the monkey, Chee-Chee, ran in,badly out of breath.
“Doctor!” he cried, “I’ve just had a message from a cousin of mine inAfrica. There is a terrible sickness among the monkeys out there. Theyare all catching it—and they are dying in hundreds. They have heard ofyou, and beg you to come to Africa to stop the sickness.”
“Who brought the message?” asked the Doctor, taking off his spectaclesand laying down his book.
“A swallow,” said Chee-Chee. “She is outside on the rain-butt.”
“Bring her in by the fire,” said the Doctor. “She must be perished withthe cold. The swallows flew South six weeks ago!”
So the swallow was brought in, all huddled and shivering; and althoughshe was a little afraid at first, she soon got warmed up and sat on theedge of the mantelpiece and began to talk.
When she had finished the Doctor said,
“I would gladly go to Africa—especially in this bitter weather. ButI’m afraid we haven’t money enough to buy the tickets. Get me themoney-box, Chee-Chee.”
So the monkey climbed up and got it off the top shelf of the dresser.
There was nothing in it—not one single penny!
“I felt sure there was twopence left,” said the Doctor.
“There _was_” said the owl. “But you spent it on a rattle for thatbadger’s baby when he was teething.”
“Did I?” said the Doctor—“dear me, dear me! What a nuisance money is,to be sure! Well, never mind. Perhaps if I go down to the seaside Ishall be able to borrow a boat that will take us to Africa. I knew aseaman once who brought his baby to me with measles. Maybe he’ll lendus his boat—the baby got well.”
“‘I felt sure there was twopence left’”]
So early the next morning the Doctor went down to the sea-shore. Andwhen he came back he told the animals it was all right—the sailor wasgoing to lend them the boat.
Then the crocodile and the monkey and the parrot were very glad andbegan to sing, because they were going back to Africa, their real home.And the Doctor said,
“I
shall only be able to take you three—with Jip the dog, Dab-Dab theduck, Gub-Gub the pig and the owl, Too-Too. The rest of the animals,like the dormice and the water-voles and the bats, they will have togo back and live in the fields where they were born till we come homeagain. But as most of them sleep through the Winter, they won’t mindthat—and besides, it wouldn’t be good for them to go to Africa.”
So then the parrot, who had been on long sea-voyages before, begantelling the Doctor all the things he would have to take with him on theship.
“You must have plenty of pilot-bread,” she said—“‘hard tack’ they callit. And you must have beef in cans—and an anchor.”
“I expect the ship will have its own anchor,” said the Doctor.
“Well, make sure,” said Polynesia. “Because it’s very important. Youcan’t stop if you haven’t got an anchor. And you’ll need a bell.”
“What’s that for?” asked the Doctor.
“To tell the time by,” said the parrot. “You go and ring it everyhalf-hour and then you know what time it is. And bring a whole lot ofrope—it always comes in handy on voyages.”
Then they began to wonder where they were going to get the money fromto buy all the things they needed.
“Oh, bother it! Money again,” cried the Doctor. “Goodness! I shall beglad to get to Africa where we don’t have to have any! I’ll go and askthe grocer if he will wait for his money till I get back—No, I’ll sendthe sailor to ask him.”
So the sailor went to see the grocer. And presently he came back withall the things they wanted.