The Story of Doctor Dolittle
They think they’re so wonderful. The world has been going on now for
thousands of years, hasn’t it? And the only thing in animal-language
that _people_ have learned to understand is that when a dog wags his
tail he means ‘I’m glad!’—It’s funny, isn’t it? You are the very first
man to talk like us. Oh, sometimes people annoy me dreadfully—such
airs they put on—talking about ‘the dumb animals.’ _Dumb!_—Huh! Why I
knew a macaw once who could say ‘Good morning!’ in seven different
ways without once opening his mouth. He could talk every language—and
Greek. An old professor with a gray beard bought him. But he didn’t
stay. He said the old man didn’t talk Greek right, and he couldn’t
stand listening to him teach the language wrong. I often wonder what’s
become of him. That bird knew more geography than people will ever
know.—_People_, Golly! I suppose if people ever learn to fly—like any
common hedge-sparrow—we shall never hear the end of it!”
“You’re a wise old bird,” said the Doctor. “How old are you really? I
know 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 a
hundred and eighty-three or a hundred and eighty-two. But I know that
when I first came here from Africa, King Charles was still hiding in
the 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 had
to stay at the Doctor’s house for a week. And when they were getting
better they used to sit in chairs on the lawn.
And often even after they got well, they did not want to go away—they
liked the Doctor and his house so much. And he never had the heart to
refuse them when they asked if they could stay with him. So in this way
he went on getting more and more pets.
Once when he was sitting on his garden wall, smoking a pipe in the
evening, 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 and
that he was dirty and unhappy. So he took the monkey away from the
Italian, gave the man a shilling and told him to go. The organ-grinder
got awfully angry and said that he wanted to keep the monkey. But the
Doctor told him that if he didn’t go away he would punch him on the
nose. John Dolittle was a strong man, though he wasn’t very tall. So
the Italian went away saying rude things and the monkey stayed with
Doctor Dolittle and had a good home. The other animals in the house
called him “Chee-Chee”—which is a common word in monkey-language,
meaning “ginger.”
And another time, when the circus came to Puddleby, the crocodile
who had a bad toothache escaped at night and came into the Doctor’s
garden. The Doctor talked to him in crocodile-language and took him
into the house and made his tooth better. But when the crocodile
saw what a nice house it was—with all the different places for the
different kinds of animals—he too wanted to live with the Doctor. He
asked 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 take
him back he got so wild and savage that he frightened them away. But to
every 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 Doctor
Dolittle because of the crocodile; and the farmers wouldn’t believe
that he would not eat the lambs and sick calves they brought to be
cured. So the Doctor went to the crocodile and told him he must go back
to his circus. But he wept such big tears, and begged so hard to be
allowed 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 the
old ladies are afraid to send their animals to you—just as we were
beginning to be well off again. Now we shall be ruined entirely. This
is the last straw. I will no longer be housekeeper for you if you don’t
send 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 thing
to find under the bed. I won’t have it in the house.”
“But he has promised me,” the Doctor answered, “that he will not bite
any one. He doesn’t like the circus; and I haven’t the money to send
him back to Africa where he comes from. He minds his own business and
on the whole is very well behaved. Don’t be so fussy.”
“I tell you I _will not_ have him around,” said Sarah. “He eats the
linoleum. If you don’t send him away this minute I’ll—I’ll go and get
married!”
“All right,” said the Doctor, “go and get married. It can’t be
helped.” 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 was
left all alone with his animal family.
And very soon he was poorer than he had ever been before. With all
these mouths to fill, and the house to look after, and no one to do the
mending, and no money coming in to pay the butcher’s bill, things began
to 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 if
it had never been invented. What does money matter, so long as we are
happy?”
But soon the animals themselves began to get worried. And one evening
when the Doctor was asleep in his chair before the kitchen-fire they
began talking it over among themselves in whispers. And the owl,
Too-Too, who was good at arithmetic, figured it out that there was only
money enough left to last another week—if they each had one meal a day
and no more.
Then the parrot said, “I think we all ought to do the housework
ourselves. At least we can do that much. After all, it is for our sakes
that the old man finds himself so lonely and so poor.”
So it was agreed that the monkey, Chee-Chee, was to do the cooking and
mending; the dog was to sweep the floors; the duck was to dust and make
the beds; the owl, Too-Too, was to keep the accounts, and the pig was
to do the gardening. They made Polynesia, the parrot, housekeeper and
laundress, because she was the oldest.
Of course at first they all found their new jobs very hard to do—all
except Chee-Chee, who had hands, and could do things like a man. But
they soon got used to it; and they used to think it great fun to watch
Jip, the dog, sweeping his tail over the floor with a rag tied onto it
for a broom. After a little they got to do the work so well that the
Doctor said that he had never had his house kept so tidy or so clean
before.
In this way things went along all right for a while; but without money
they found it very hard.
Then the animals made a vegetable and flower stall outside the
garden-gate and sold radishes and roses to the people that passed by
along the road.
But still they didn’t seem to make enough money to pay all the
bills—and still the Doctor wouldn’t worry. When the parrot came to him
and told him that the fishmonger wouldn’t give them any more fish, he
said,
“Never mind. So long as the hens lay eggs and the cow gives milk we can
have omelettes and junket. And there are plenty of vegetables left in
the garden. The Winter is still a long way off. Don’t fuss. That was
the trouble with Sarah—she would fuss. I wonder how Sarah’s getting
on—an excellent woman—in some ways—Well, well!”
But the snow came earlier than usual that year; and although the old
lame 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 in
the garden were gone, and the rest were covered with snow; and many of
the animals were really hungry.
_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
A MESSAGE FROM AFRICA
THAT Winter was a very cold one. And one night in December, when they
were all sitting round the warm fire in the kitchen, and the Doctor
was reading aloud to them out of books he had written himself in
animal-language, the owl, Too-Too, suddenly said,
“Sh! What’s that noise outside?”
They all listened; and presently they heard the sound of some one
running. 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 in
Africa. There is a terrible sickness among the monkeys out there. They
are all catching it—and they are dying in hundreds. They have heard of
you, and beg you to come to Africa to stop the sickness.”
“Who brought the message?” asked the Doctor, taking off his spectacles
and 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 with
the cold. The swallows flew South six weeks ago!”
So the swallow was brought in, all huddled and shivering; and although
she was a little afraid at first, she soon got warmed up and sat on the
edge 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. But
I’m afraid we haven’t money enough to buy the tickets. Get me the
money-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 that
badger’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 I
shall be able to borrow a boat that will take us to Africa. I knew a
seaman once who brought his baby to me with measles. Maybe he’ll lend
us his boat—the baby got well.”
So early the next morning the Doctor went down to the sea-shore. And
when he came back he told the animals it was all right—the sailor was
going to lend them the boat.
Then the crocodile and the monkey and the parrot were very glad and
began 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 the
duck, 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 to
go back and live in the fields where they were born till we come home
again. But as most of them sleep through the Winter, they won’t mind
that—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, began
telling the Doctor all the things he would have to take with him on the
ship.
“You must have plenty of pilot-bread,” she said—“‘hard tack’ they call
it. 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. You
can’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 every
half-hour and then you know what time it is. And bring a whole lot of
rope—it always comes in handy on voyages.”
Then they began to wonder where they were going to get the money from
to buy all the things they needed.
“Oh, bother it! Money again,” cried the Doctor. “Goodness! I shall be