The Story Of Doctor Dolittle By Hugh Lofting - Chapter Two

Hello,

I'm Samson Trebark.

Today I'll be reading another chapter of the story of Dr.

Doolittle.

As you sit calmly in your chair or your couch or as you lie on your bed getting ready for today's story,

I ask you to stop for just one moment and look straight ahead of you through the wall or through a window as far as you can see and slowly close your eyes.

Be prepared to droop your body like the flexible branches of a weeping willow tree.

And now,

Since you have rooted yourself firmly into this metaphor,

Droop your feet branches,

Droop your leg branches,

Droop your hip branches.

Droop your chest,

Rib and arm branches.

Droop your shoulder branches,

Your face branches.

And without resistance,

As the beautiful flexible tree you have become,

Allow a soft breeze to flutter through your leaves and take you wherever it commands you to go.

Listen and you shall hear.

The story of Dr.

Doolittle written by Hugh Lofting and read by Samson Trebark.

That's me.

It happened one day that the doctor was sitting in his kitchen talking with the cat's meat man who had come to see him with a stomach ache.

Why don't you give up being a people's doctor and be an animal doctor,

Asked the cat's meat man.

Polynesia the parrot was sitting in the window looking out at the rain and singing a sailor song to herself.

She stopped singing and started to listen.

You see,

Doctor,

The cat's meat man went on,

You know all about animals,

Much more than what these here vets do.

And that book you wrote about cats,

Why it's wonderful.

I can't read or write myself or maybe I'd write some books.

But my wife Theodosia,

She's a scholar she is and she read your book to me.

Well,

It's wonderful.

It's all can be said.

Wonderful.

You might have been a cat yourself.

You know the way they think.

And listen,

You can make lots of money doctor and animals.

Do you know that?

You see,

I'd send all the old women who had sick cats or dogs here.

And if they didn't get sick fast enough,

I could put something in the meat I sell them and make them sick,

You see.

Oh,

No,

Said the doctor quickly.

You mustn't do that.

That would not be right.

Oh,

Well,

I didn't mean real sick.

To the cat's meat man.

Just a little something to make him droopy like was what I had referenced to.

But as you say,

Maybe it ain't quite right.

But they'll get sick anyway,

Because the old women always give him too much to eat.

And look all the farmers round about who had lame horses and weak lambs.

They'd come.

Be an animal doctor.

When the cat's meat man had gone,

The parrot flew off the window onto the doctor's table and said,

And that man's got sense.

That's what you ought to do.

Be an animal doctor.

Give the silly people up.

They haven't brained enough to see you're the best doctor in the world.

Take care of animals instead.

They'll soon find out.

Be an animal doctor.

Oh,

There are plenty of animal doctors,

Said John Doolittle,

Putting the flower pots outside on the window sill to get the rain.

Yes,

There are plenty,

Said Polynesia.

But none of them are any good at all.

Now listen,

Doctor,

And I'll tell you something.

Did you know that animals can talk?

Well,

I knew that parrots can talk,

Said the doctor.

Oh,

Well,

We parrots can talk two languages.

Animals language and bird language,

Said Polynesia proudly.

If I say,

Poly,

Want a cracker?

You understand me.

But hear this.

Good gracious,

Cried the doctor.

What does that mean?

That means,

Is the porridge hot yet?

In bird language.

My,

You don't say so,

Said the doctor.

You never talked that way to me before.

What would have been the good,

Said Polynesia,

Dusting some cracker crumbs off her left wing?

You wouldn't have understood me if I had.

Oh,

Well,

Tell me more,

Said the doctor,

All excited.

And he rushed over to the dresser drawer and came back with a book and a pencil.

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Don't go too fast,

And I'll write it down.

Oh,

This is interesting,

Very interesting,

Something quite new.

Now,

Give me the bird's ABCs first.

Oh,

Oh,

And slowly now.

So that was the way the doctor came to know that animals had a language of their own and could talk to one another.

And all that afternoon,

While it was raining,

Polynesia sat on the kitchen table,

Giving her bird words to put down in the book.

At tea time,

When the dog,

Jip,

Came in,

The parrot said to the doctor,

See,

He's talking to you.

Well,

Hmm,

It looks to me as though he were scratching his ear,

Said the doctor.

Oh,

But animals don't always speak with their mouths,

Said the parrot,

In a high voice,

Raising her eyebrows.

They talk with their ears,

Their feet,

With their tails,

With everything.

Sometimes they don't want to make a noise.

Do you see how he is twitching up on one side of his nose?

Hmm,

What's that mean,

Asked the doctor.

That means can't you see that it has stopped raining,

Polynesia answered.

He's asking you a question.

Animals nearly always use their noses to ask questions.

After a while,

With the parrot's help,

The doctor got to learn the language of the animals so well that he could talk to them himself and understand everything they said.

Then he gave up being a people's doctor altogether.

As soon as the cat's meat man had told everyone that John Doolittle was going to become an animal doctor,

Old ladies began to bring him their pet pugs and poodles who had eaten too much cake,

And farmers came many miles to show him sick cows and sheep.

One day a plow horse was brought to him,

And the poor thing was terribly glad to find a man who could talk in horse language.

You know,

Doctor,

Said the horse.

That vet over the hill knows nothing at all.

He's been treating me six weeks now for spavans.

What I need is spectacles.

I'm going blind in one eye,

And there's no reason why horses shouldn't wear glasses,

The same as people.

But that stupid man over the hill never even looked at my eyes.

He kept on giving me big pills.

I tried to tell him,

But he couldn't understand a word of horse 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'll keep the sun out of my eyes while I'm plowing the fifty-acre field.

Oh,

Certainly,

Said the doctor.

Green ones you shall have.

You know,

The trouble is,

Sir,

Said the plow horse,

As the doctor opened the front door to let him out.

The trouble is that anybody thinks he can be an animal doctor just because the animals don't complain.

As a matter of fact,

It takes a much cleverer man to be a really good animal doctor than it does to be a good people's doctor.

My farmer's boy thinks he knows all about horses.

I wish you could see him.

His face is so fat.

He looks as though he had no eyes.

And he has got as much brains as a potato bug.

He tried to put a mustard plaster on me last week.

Oh,

Where did he put it,

Asked the doctor.

Oh,

He didn't put it anywhere.

On me,

Said the horse.

He only tried to.

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 patient with people.

Don't make much fuss.

But it was bad enough to have the vet giving me the wrong medicine.

And when that red-faced booby started to monkey with me,

I just couldn't bear it any more.

Oh,

Did you hurt the boy much,

Asked the doctor.

Oh,

No,

Said the horse.

I kicked him in the right place.

The vet's looking after him now.

When will my glasses be ready?

Ah,

Well,

I'll have them for you next week,

Said the doctor.

Come again on Tuesday.

Good morning.

Then John Doolittle got a fine big pair of green spectacles.

And the plow 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 glasses in 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.

As soon as they found that he could talk their language,

They told him where the pain was and how they felt.

And of course,

It was easy for him to cure them.

Now all these animals went back and told their brothers and friends that there was a doctor in the little house with the big green garden who really was a doctor.

And whenever any creatures got sick,

Not only horses and cows and dogs,

But all the little things of the fields like harvest mice and water voles,

Badgers and bats,

They came at once to his house on the edge of town so that his big garden was nearly always crowded with animals trying to get in to see him.

There were so many that came that he had to have special doors made for the different kinds.

He wrote horses over the front door,

Cows over the side door,

And sheep on the kitchen door.

Each kind of animal had a separate door.

Even the mice had a tiny tunnel made for them into the cellar where they waited patiently in rows for the doctor to come around to them.

And so in a few years' time,

Every living thing from miles and miles got to know about Dr.

John Doolittle,

M.

D.

And the birds who flew to other countries in the winter told the animals in foreign lands of the wonderful doctor of Puddle-Beyond-the-Marsh,

Who could understand their talk and help them in their troubles.

In this way,

He became famous among the animals all over the world,

Better known even than he had been among the folks of the West Country.

And he was happy and liked his life very much.

One afternoon,

When the doctor was busy writing in a book,

Polynesia sat in the window,

As she nearly always did,

Looking out at the leaves blowing about in the garden.

Presently she laughed aloud.

Oh,

What is it,

Polynesia?

Asked the doctor,

Looking up from his book.

Well,

I was just thinking,

Said the parrot,

And she went on looking at the leaves.

Oh,

Well,

What were you thinking?

Oh,

I was thinking about people,

Said Polynesia.

People make me sick.

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 when a dog wags his tail,

He means I'm glad.

It's funny,

Isn't it?

You're 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?

Huh,

Golly.

I suppose if people ever learn to fly,

Like any common hedge sparrow,

We shall never hear the end of it.

Oh,

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 183 or 182.

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.