The Story of Dr Dolittle / История доктора Дулиттла. 5 класс - стр. 2

Sick animals told the Doctor 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 garden who really WAS a doctor. And all the sick animals wanted to see John Dolittle. So his big garden was always crowded and he had special doors for the different kinds. He wrote “HORSES” over the front door, “COWS” over the side door and “SHEEP” over the kitchen door. Each kind of animal had a separate door – even the mice had a tiny tunnel made for them into the cellar. And so, in a few years’ time, every living thing for miles and miles knew 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 doctor, who could understand their talk and help them in their troubles. In this way[1] he became famous among the animals – all over the world. And he was happy and liked his life very much.

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 stayed at the Doctor’s house for a week. 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 refused them. So in this way he got more pets.

Once an Italian organ-grinder came with a monkey on a string. The Doctor saw 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 some money and told him to go. The organ-grinder got angry and said that he wanted to keep the monkey. But the Doctor didn’t let him. John Dolittle was a strong man, though he wasn’t very tall. So the Italian didn’t want to fight with the Doctor, he went away 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.”

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, took him into the house and made his tooth better. But when the crocodile saw what a nice house it was, he wanted to live with the Doctor. He asked to let him sleep in the fish-pond, and promised not to eat the fish. And the Doctor agreed. But now the old ladies were afraid to send their lap-dogs to Doctor Dolittle because of the crocodile; and the farmers were also afraid of the crocodile. 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 stay, that the Doctor felt sorry for him and let him stay.

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. We will lose all the money! 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,