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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Volume 9: The Story of Doctor Dolittle

THE FIRST CHAPTER
PUDDLEBY

ONCE upon a time, many years ago—when our grand‧father 祖父 were little children—there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle—John Dolittle, M.D. “M.D.” means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot.

He lived in a little town called, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks 民间, young and old, knew him well by sight. And when‧ever 随时 he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, “There goes the Doctor!—He’s a clever 聪明的 man.” And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows 乌鸦 that lived in the church-tower 塔 would caw and nod their heads.

The house he lived in, on the edge of the town, was quite small; but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn 草坪 and stone seats and weeping 哭泣-willows 柳 hanging over. His sister 姐妹, Sarah Dolittle, was house‧keep 管家 for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself.

He was very fond 喜欢的 of animals and kept many kinds of pets 宠物. Besides the gold 金-fish in the pond 池塘 at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits 兔子 in the pantry, white mice in his piano 钢琴, a squirrel 松鼠 in the linen 麻布 closet 壁橱 and a hedgehog in the cellar 地窖. He had a cow 奶牛 with a calf 小牛 too, and an old lame 瘸 horse—twenty 二十-five years of age—and chickens 鸡, and pigeons 鸽子, and two lambs 羊肉, and many other animals. But his favorite 喜爱的 pets were Dab-Dab the duck 鸭子, Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the baby pig 猪, Polynesia the parrot 鹦鹉, and the owl 猫头鹰 Too-Too.

His sister 姐妹 used to grumble 叽 about all these animals and said they made the house untidy 襶. And one day when an old lady with rheumatism came to see the Doctor, she sat sit on the hedgehog who was sleeping on the sofa 沙发 and never came to see him any more, but drove drive every Saturday all the way to Oxenthorpe, another town ten 十 miles off, to see a different doctor.

Then his sister, Sarah Dolittle, came to him and said,

“John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It’s a fine doctor would have his parlor 客厅 full of hedgehogs and mice! That’s the fourth person‧age 人‧年龄 these animals have driven drive away. Squire Jenkins and the Parson say they wouldn’t come near your house again—no matter how sick they are. We are getting poorer every day. If you go on like this, none of the best people will have you for a doctor.”

“But I like the animals better than the ‘best people’,” said the Doctor.

“You are ridiculous 荒谬,” said his sister, and walked out of the room.

So, as time went on, the Doctor got more and more animals; and the people who came to see him got less and less. Till 到 at last he had no one left—except the Cat 猫’s-meat 肉-Man, who didn’t mind any kind of animals. But the Cat’s- meat-Man wasn’t very rich and he only got sick once a year—at Christmas 圣诞节-time, when he used to give the Doctor six‧pence 6‧便士 for a bottle of medicine 医学.

Sixpence a year wasn’t enough to live on—even in those days, long ago; and if the Doctor hadn’t had some money saved up in his money-box, no one knows what would have happened.

And he kept on getting still more pets; and of course it cost a lot to feed them. And the money he had saved up grew grow littler and littler.

Then he sold sell his piano 钢琴, and let the mice live in a bureau 局-drawer 抽屉. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he wore wear on Sundays and went on becoming poorer and poorer.

And now, when he walked down the street in his high hat, people would say to one another, “There goes John Dolittle, M.D.! There was a time when he was the best known doctor in the West Country—Look at him now—He hasn’t any money and his stockings are full of holes!”

But the dogs and the cats 猫 and the children still ran up and followed him through the town—the same as they had done when he was rich.

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THE SECOND CHAPTER
ANIMAL LANGUAGE

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 胃-ache 疼痛.

“Why don’t you give up being a people’s doctor, and be an animal-doctor?” asked the Cat’s-meat-Man.

The parrot 鹦鹉, Polynesia, was sitting in the window looking out at the rain and singing a sailor 水手-song to her‧self 她自己. 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 兽医 do. That book you wrote—about cats, why, it’s wonderful 精彩! I can’t read or write myself 我—or maybe I’d write some books. But my wife, Theodosia, she’s a scholar 学者, she is. And she read your book to me. Well, it’s wonderful 精彩—that’s all can be said—wonderful 精彩. You might have been a cat your‧self 你自己. You know the way they think. And listen: you can make a lot of money doctoring animals. Do you know that? You see, I’d send all the old women who had sick cats or dogs to you. And if they didn’t get sick fast enough, I could put something in the meat I sell ’em to make ’em sick, see?”

“Oh, no,” said the Doctor quickly. “You mustn’t do that. That wouldn’t be right.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean real sick,” answered the Cat’s-meat-Man. “Just a little something to make them droopy-like was what I had reference to. But as you say, maybe it ain’t quite fair on the animals. But they’ll get sick anyway 无论如何, because the old women always give ’em too much to eat. And look, all the farmers round about who had lame 瘸 horses and weak lambs 羊肉—they’d come. Be an animal-doctor.”

When the Cat’s-meat-Man had gone the parrot 鹦鹉 flew fly off the window on to the Doctor’s table and said,

“That man’s got sense. That’s what you ought to do. Be an animal-doctor. Give the silly 愚蠢 people up—if they haven’t brains enough to see you’re the best doctor in the world. Take care of animals instead—they’ll soon find it out. Be an animal-doctor.”

“Oh, there are plenty of animal-doctors,” said John Dolittle, putting the flower-pots 罐 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?”

“I knew that parrots 鹦鹉 can talk,” said the Doctor.

“Oh, we parrots 鹦鹉 can talk in two languages—people’s language and bird-language,” said Polynesia proudly. “If I say, ‘Polly wants a cracker 破裂,’ you understand me. But hear this: Ka-ka oi-ee, fee 费用-fee 费用?”

“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 屑 off her left wing 翅膀. “You wouldn’t have understood understand me if I had.”

“Tell me some more,” said the Doctor, all excited; and he rushed 仓促 over to the dresser-drawer 抽屉 and came back with the butcher 屠夫’s book and a pencil 铅笔. “Now don’t go too fast—and I’ll write it down. This is interesting—very interesting—something quite new. Give me the Birds’ A.B.C. first—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 him bird words to put down in the book.

At tea 茶水-time, when the dog, Jip, came in, the parrot 鹦鹉 said to the Doctor, “See, he’s talking to you.”

“Looks to me as though he were scratching 刮 his ear,” said the Doctor.

“But animals don’t always speak with their mouths,” said the parrot 鹦鹉 in a high voice, raising her eye‧brow 眉. “They talk with their ears, with their feet, with their tails 尾—with everything. Sometimes they don’t want to make a noise 噪音. Do you see now the way he’s twitching 抽搐 up one side of his nose?”

“What’s that mean?” asked the Doctor.

“That means, ‘Can’t you see that it has stopped raining?’” Polynesia answered. “He is asking you a question. Dogs nearly always use their noses for asking questions.”

After a while, with the parrot 鹦鹉’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 全部地.

As soon as the Cat’s-meat-Man had told every one that John Dolittle was going to become an animal-doctor, old ladies began to bring him their pet 宠物 pugs and poodles who had eaten too much cake 蛋糕; and farmers came many miles to show him sick cows 奶牛 and sheep 羊.

One day a plow 犁-horse was brought to him; and the poor thing was terribly glad 高兴的 to find a man who could talk in horse-language.

“You know, Doctor,” said the horse, “that vet 兽医 over the hill knows nothing at all. He has been treating me six weeks now—for spavins. What I need is spectacles 场面. I am going blind in one eye. There’s no reason why horses shouldn’t wear glasses, the same as people. But that stupid 愚蠢的 man over the hill never even looked at my eyes. He kept on giving me big pills 丸. I tried to tell him; but he couldn’t understand a word of horse-language. What I need is spectacles 场面.”

“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 犁 the Fifty-Acre Field.”

“Certainly,” said the Doctor. “Green ones you shall have.”

“You know, the trouble is, Sir 先生,” said the plow 犁-horse as the Doctor opened the front door to let him out—“the trouble is that any‧body 任何人 thinks he can doctor animals—just because the animals don’t complain 抱怨. As a matter of fact it takes a much cleverer 聪明的 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 brain as a potato 土豆-bug 虫；窃听器. He tried to put a mustard 芥末-plaster 灰泥 on me last week.”

“Where did he put it?” asked the Doctor.

“Oh, he didn’t put it any‧where 任何地方—on me,” said the horse. “He only tried to. I kicked 踢 him into the duck 鸭子-pond 池塘.”

“Well, well!” said the Doctor.

“I’m a pretty quiet creature 动物；生物 as a rule,” said the horse—“very patient with people—don’t make much fuss 小题大作. But it was bad enough to have that vet 兽医 giving me the wrong medicine 医学. And when that red-faced booby started to monkey 猴 with me, I just couldn’t bear it any more.”

“Did you hurt 损害 the boy much?” asked the Doctor.

“Oh, no,” said the horse. “I kicked him in the right place. The vet 兽医’s looking after him now. When will my glasses be ready?”

“I’ll have them for you next week,” said the Doctor. “Come in again Tuesday—Good morning!”

Then John Dolittle got a fine, big pair of green spectacles 场面; and the plow 犁-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 未知.

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 治愈 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 garden who really was a doctor. And when‧ever 随时 any creatures 动物；生物 got sick—not only horses and cows and dogs—but all the little things of the fields, like harvest 收割-mice and water-voles, badgers 獾 and bats 蝙蝠, they came at once to his house on the edge of the 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 羊” on the kitchen door. Each kind of animal had a separate door—even the mice had a tiny 小 tunnel 隧道 made for them into the cellar 地窖, where they waited patiently in rows 行 for the Doctor to come round to them.

And so, in a few years’ time, every living thing for miles and miles got to know about John Dolittle, M.D. And the birds who flew to other countries in the winter told the animals in foreign lands of the wonderful 精彩 doctor of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, who could understand their talk and help them in their troubles. In this way he became famous 著名 among the animals—all over the world—better known even than he had been among the folks 民间 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 高声.

“What is it, Polynesia?” asked the Doctor, looking up from his book.

“I was just thinking,” said the parrot 鹦鹉; and she went on looking at the leaves.

“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking about people,” said Polynesia. “People make me sick. They think they’re so wonderful 精彩. The world has been going on now for thou‧sand 千 of years, hasn’t it? And the only thing in animal-language that people have learned learn to understand is that when a dog wags 摇摆 his tail 尾 he means ‘I’m glad 高兴的!’—It’s funny 有趣的, isn’t it? You are the very first man to talk like us. Oh, sometimes people annoy 打扰 me dreadfully 可怕—such airs they put on—talking about ‘the dumb 哑 animals.’ Dumb!—Huh! Why I knew a macaw once who could say ‘Good morning!’ in seven 七 different ways without once opening his mouth. He could talk every language—and Greek. An old professor 教授 with a gray beard 胡须 bought buy 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 地理 than people will ever know.—People, Golly! I suppose if people ever learn to fly—like any common hedge 树篱-sparrow—we shall never hear the end of it!”

“You’re a wise 明智的；聪明的 old bird,” said the Doctor. “How old are you really? I know that parrots 鹦鹉 and elephants 象 sometimes live to be very, very old.”

“I can never be quite sure of my age,” said Polynesia. “It’s either a hundred 百 and eighty 八十-three or a hundred 百 and eighty 八十-two. But I know that when I first came here from Africa, King Charles was still hiding in the oak 橡木-tree—because I saw him. He looked scared 惊恐 to death.”

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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 草坪.

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 管子 in the evening, an Italian organ 器官；机构-grinder 磨碎 came round with a monkey 猴 on a string 绳子. The Doctor saw at once that the monkey’s collar 衣领 was too tight 紧的 and that he was dirty 肮脏 and unhappy 不快乐. So he took the monkey away from the Italian, gave the man a shilling 一毛钱 and told him to go. The organ-grinder got awfully 糟糕的 angry 生气的 and said that he wanted to keep the monkey 4. But the Doctor told him that if he didn’t go away he would punch 冲床 him on the nose. John Dolittle was a strong man, though he wasn’t very tall. So the Italian went away saying rude 粗鲁的 things and the monkey 5 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 生姜.”

And another time, when the circus 马戏团 came to Puddleby, the crocodile 鳄鱼 who had a bad tooth‧ache 牙‧疼痛 escaped at night and came into the Doctor’s garden. The Doctor talked to him in crocodile 鳄鱼-language and took him into the house and made his tooth better. But when the crocodile 鳄鱼 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 池塘 at the bottom of the garden, if he promised not to eat the fish. When the circus 马戏团-men came to take him back he got so wild and savage 野蛮人 that he frightened 使惊恐 them away. But to every one in the house he was always as gentle as a kitten 小猫.

But now the old ladies grew afraid to send their lap 膝部-dogs to Doctor Dolittle because of the crocodile 鳄鱼; and the farmers wouldn’t believe that he would not eat the lambs 羊肉 and sick calves they brought to be cured 治愈. So the Doctor went to the crocodile 鳄鱼 and told him he must go back to his circus 马戏团. But he wept weep such big tears, and begged 乞讨 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 动物；生物 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 破坏 entirely. This is the last straw 稻草. I will no longer be house‧keep 管家 for you if you don’t send away that alligator.”

“It isn’t an alligator,” said the Doctor—“it’s a crocodile 鳄鱼.”

“I don’t care what you call it,” said his sister. “It’s a nasty 讨厌 thing to find under the bed. I won win’t have it in the house.”

“But he has promised me,” the Doctor answered, “that he will not bite 咬 any one. He doesn’t like the circus 马戏团; 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 表现. 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 修理, and no money coming in to pay the butcher 屠夫’s bill, things began to look very difficult. But the Doctor didn’t worry at all.

“Money is a nuisance 讨厌事,” he used to say. “We’d all be much better off if it had never been invented 发明. 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 睡着的 in his chair before the kitchen-fire they began talking it over among themselves in whispers 低声说. And the owl 猫头鹰, Too-Too, who was good at arithmetic 算术, figured it out that there was only money enough left to last another week—if they each had one meal 餐 a day and no more.

Then the parrot 鹦鹉 said, “I think we all ought to do the house‧work 家务 ourselves 我们自己. At least we can do that much. After all, it is for our sakes 缘故 that the old man finds himself so lonely 孤独的 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 鸭子 was to dust and make the beds; the owl 猫头鹰, Too-Too, was to keep the accounts, and the pig 猪 was to do the gardening. They made Polynesia, the parrot 鹦鹉, house‧keep 管家 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 乐趣 to watch Jip, the dog, sweeping his tail 尾 over the floor with a rag 抹布 tied onto it for a broom 扫帚. 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 整洁的 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 蔬菜 and flower stall 摊子 outside the garden-gate 门 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 鹦鹉 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 母鸡 lay lie eggs 鸡蛋 and the cow 奶牛 gives milk 奶 we can have omelettes and junket. And there are plenty of vegetables 蔬菜 left in the garden. The Winter is still a long way off. Don’t fuss 小题大作. That was the trouble with Sarah—she would fuss 小题大作. 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 瘸 horse hauled 运输 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 饥饿.