Welcome to Restful Journeys,
In this track I will continue reading the story of Dr.
Doolittle by Hugh Lofting.
This will be chapters 19,
20 and 21,
The end.
Please find a comfortable place to sit or lie down and relax.
Take a few moments to clear your mind and allow yourself to listen to these words and help you become calm.
Let's continue with chapter 19,
The Rock.
Up they got early next morning,
Out of the silken beds,
And they saw that the sun was shining brightly and that the wind was blowing from the south.
Jip smelt the south wind for half an hour,
Then he came to the doctor,
Shaking his head.
I smell no snuff as yet,
He said,
We must wait till the wind changes to the east.
But even when the east wind came at three o'clock that afternoon,
The dog could not catch the smell of snuff.
The little boy was terribly disappointed and began to cry,
Saying that no one seemed to be able to find his uncle for him.
But all Jip said to the doctor was,
Tell him that when the wind changes to the west,
I'll find his uncle,
Even though he be in China,
So long as he is still taking black rappy snuff.
Three days they had to wait before the west wind came.
This was only on Friday morning,
Early,
Just as it was getting light.
A fine rainy mist lay on the sea,
Like a thin fog,
And the wind was soft and warm and wet.
As soon as Jip awoke,
He ran upstairs and poked his nose in the air.
Then he got most frightfully excited and rushed down again to wake the doctor up.
Doctor,
He cried,
I've got it.
Doctor,
Doctor,
Wake up,
Listen,
I've got it.
The wind's from the west and it smells of nothing but snuff.
Come upstairs and start the ship,
Quick.
So the doctor tumbled out of bed and went to the rudder to steer the ship.
Now I'll go up to front,
Said Jip,
And you watch my nose,
Whichever way I point,
You turn the ship that same way.
The man cannot be far off with the smell as strong as this,
And the wind's all lovely and wet.
Now watch me.
So all that morning,
Jip stood in the front part of the ship,
Sniffing the wind and pointing the way for the doctor to steer,
While all the animals and the little boy stood round with their eyes wide open,
Watching the dog and wonder.
About lunchtime,
Jip asked Dab Dab to tell the doctor that he was getting worried and wanted to speak to him.
So Dab Dab went and fetched the doctor from the other end of the ship,
And Jip said to him,
The boy's uncle is starving,
We must make the ship go fast as we can.
How do you know he is starving?
Asked the doctor.
Because there is no other smell in the west wind but snuff,
Said Jip.
If the man were cooking or eating food of any kind,
I would be bound to smell it too,
But he hasn't even fresh water to drink,
All he is taking is snuff and large pinches.
We are getting nearer to him all the time,
Because the smell grows stronger every minute,
But make the ship go as fast as you can,
For I am certain that the man is starving.
All right,
Said the doctor,
And he sent Dab Dab to ask the swallows to pull the ship the same as they had done when the pirates were chasing them.
So the stout little birds came down,
And once more,
Harnessed themselves to the ship.
And now the boat went bounding through the waves at a terrible speed.
It went so fast that the fishes in the sea had to jump for their lives to get out of the way and not be run over.
And all the animals got tremendously excited,
And they gave up looking at Jip and turned to watch the sea in front,
To spy out any land or islands where the starving man might be.
But hour after hour went by,
And still the ship went rushing on over the same flat,
Flat sea,
And no land anywhere came in sight.
And now the animals gave up chattering and sat around silent,
Anxious and miserable.
The little boy again grew sad.
And on Jip's face,
There was a worried look.
At last,
Late in the afternoon,
Just as the sun was going down,
The owl,
Tutu,
Who was perched on the tip of the mast,
Suddenly startled them all by crying out at the top of his voice.
Jip,
Jip,
I see a great,
Great rock in front of us.
Look,
Way out there where the sky and the water meet.
See the sunshine on it,
Like gold.
Is the smell coming from there?
And Jip called back,
Yes,
That's it,
That is where the man is,
At last,
At last.
And when they got nearer,
They could see that the rock was very large,
As large as a big field.
No trees grew on it,
No grass,
Nothing.
The great rock was as smooth and as bare as the back of a tortoise.
Then the doctor sailed the ship right round the rock,
But nowhere on it could a man be seen.
All the animals screwed up their eyes and looked as hard as they could,
And John Dolittle got a telescope from downstairs.
But not one living thing could they spy,
Not even a gull,
Nor a starfish,
Nor a shred of seaweed.
They all stood still and listened,
Straining their ears for any sound,
But the only noise they heard was the gentle lapping of the little waves against the side of their ship.
Then they all started calling,
Hello there,
Hello,
To their voices were hoarse,
But only the echo came back from the rock and the little boy burst into tears and said,
I am afraid I shall never see my uncle anymore,
What shall I tell them when I get home?
But Jip called to the doctor,
He must be here,
He must,
He must,
The smell goes no further,
He must be there,
I tell you,
Sail the ship close to the rock and let me jump out on it.
So the doctor brought the ship as close as he could and let down the anchor.
Then he and Jip got out of the ship onto the rock.
Jip at once put his nose down close to the ground and began to run all over the place.
Up and down he went,
Back and forth,
Zigzagging,
Twisting,
Doubling and turning,
And everywhere he went the doctor ran behind him,
Close at his heels,
Till he was terribly out of breath.
At last Jip let out a great bark and sat down,
And when the doctor came running up to him he found the dog staring into a big,
Deep hole in the middle of the rock.
The boy's uncle is down there,
Said Jip quietly,
No wonder those silly eagles couldn't see him,
It takes a dog to find a man.
So the doctor got down into the hole,
Which seemed to be a kind of cave or tunnel running a long way under the ground.
Then he struck a match and started to make his way along the dark passage with Jip following behind.
The doctor's match soon went out,
And he had to strike another,
And another,
And another.
At last the passage came to an end,
And the doctor found himself in a kind of tiny room with walls of rock.
And there,
In the middle of the room,
His head resting on his arms,
Lay a man with very red hair,
Fast asleep.
Jip went up and sniffed at something lying on the ground beside him,
The doctor stooped and picked it up.
It was an enormous snuff box,
And it was full of black wrappy.
That concludes chapter 19,
The Rock.
Chapter 20,
The Fisherman's Town Gently then,
Very gently,
The doctor woke up the man,
But just at that moment the match went out again,
And the man thought it was bin Ali coming back,
And he began to punch the doctor in the dark.
But when John Doolittle told him who he was,
And that he had his little nephew safe on his ship,
The man was tremendously glad,
And he said he was sorry he had fought the doctor.
He had not hurt him much though,
Because it was too dark to punch properly,
Then he gave the doctor a pinch of snuff,
And the old man told how the Barbary dragon had put him onto this rock and left him there when he wouldn't promise to become a pirate,
And how he used to sleep down in this hole because there was no house on the rock to keep him warm.
And then he said,
For days I have had nothing to eat or drink,
I have lived on snuff.
There you are,
Said Jip,
What did I tell you?
So they struck some more matches and made their way out through the passage into the daylight,
And the doctor hurried the man down to the boat to get some soup.
When the animals and the little boy saw the doctor and Jip coming back to the ship with a red-headed man,
They began to cheer and yell and dance about the boat,
And the swallows up above started whistling at the top of their voices,
Thousands and millions of them,
To show that they were too glad that the boy's brave uncle had been found.
The noise they made was so great that sailors far out at sea thought that a terrible storm was coming.
Hark to that gale howling in the east,
They said,
And Jip was awfully proud of himself,
Though he tried hard not to look conceited.
When Dab-Dab came to him and said,
Jip,
I had no idea you were so clever,
He just tossed his head and answered,
Oh,
That's nothing special,
But it takes a dog to find a man,
You know,
Birds are no good at a game like that.
Then the doctor asked the red-haired fisherman where his home was,
And when he had told him,
The doctor asked the swallows to guide the ship there first.
And when they had come to the land which the man had spoken of,
They saw a little fishing town at the foot of a rocky mountain,
And the man pointed out the house where he lived.
And while they were letting down the anchor,
The little boy's mother,
Who was also the man's sister,
Came running down to the shore to meet them,
Laughing and crying at the same time.
She had been sitting on a hill for twenty days,
Watching the sea and waiting for them to return.
And she kissed the doctor many times,
So that he giggled and plushed like a schoolgirl.
And she tried to kiss Jip too,
But he ran away and hid inside the ship.
It's a silly business,
This kissing,
He said.
I don't hold by it.
Let her go and kiss Gub-Gub if she must kiss something.
The fisherman and his sister didn't want the doctor to go away again in a hurry.
They begged him to spend a few days with them.
So John Dolittle and his animals had to stay at their house a whole Saturday and Sunday and half of Monday.
And all the little boys of the fishing village went down to the beach and pointed at the great ship anchored there and said to one another in whispers,
Look,
That was a pirate ship,
Ben Ali's,
The most terrible pilot that ever sailed the seven seas.
That old gentleman with the high hat,
Who's staying up there with Mrs.
Trevelins,
He took the ship away from the Barbary dragon and made him into a farmer.
Who'd have thought of him,
Him so gentle,
Like and all.
Look at the great red sails,
Ain't she the wicked looking ship,
And fast,
My!
All those two days and a half that the doctor stayed at the little fishing town,
The people kept asking him out to teas and luncheons and dinners and parties.
All the ladies sent him boxes of flowers and candies,
And the village band played tunes under his window every night.
At last the doctor said,
Good people,
I must go home now.
You have really been most kind.
I shall always remember it,
But I must go home,
For I have things to do.
Then,
Just as the doctor was about to leave,
The mayor of the town came down the street and a lot of other people in grand clothes with him,
And the mayor stopped before the house where the doctor was living,
And everybody in the village gathered round to see what was going to happen.
After six page boys had blown on shining trumpets to make the people stop talking,
The doctor came out on to the steps and the mayor spoke.
Dr.
John Doolittle,
Said he,
It is a great pleasure for me to present the man who rid the seas of the dragon of Barbary,
This little token from the grateful people of our worthy town.
And the mayor took from his pocket a little tissue paper packet,
And opening it,
He handed to the doctor a perfectly beautiful watch with real diamonds in the back.
Then the mayor pulled out of his pocket a still larger parcel and said,
Where is the dog?
Then everybody started to hunt for Jip,
And at last Dab Dab found him on the other side of the village in a stable yard where all the dogs of the countryside were standing round him,
Speechless with admiration and respect.
When Jip was brought to the doctor's side,
The mayor opened the larger parcel,
And inside was a dog collar made of solid gold,
And a great murmur of wonder went up from the village folk as the mayor bent down and fastened it round the dog's neck with his own hands.
For written on the collar in big letters were these words,
Jip,
The cleverest dog in the world.
Then the whole crowd moved down to the beach to see them off,
And after the red-haired fisherman and his sister and the little boy had thanked the doctor and his dog over and over again,
The great swift ship with red sails was turned once more towards Puddleby,
And they sailed out to sea while the village band played music on the shore.
That concludes the twentieth chapter,
The Fisherman's Town.
Chapter 21,
The Last Chapter,
Home Again March winds had come and gone,
April showers were over,
Maize buds had opened into flowers,
And the June sun was shining on the pleasant fields when John Doolittle at last got back to his own country,
But he did not yet go home to Puddleby.
First he went traveling through the land with the push-me-pull-you and a gypsy wagon,
Stopping at all the country fairs,
And there,
With the acrobats on one side of them and the Punch and Judy show on the other,
They would hang out a big sign which read,
Come and see the marvelous two-headed animal from the jungles of Africa,
Admission six pence,
And the push-me-pull-you would stay inside the wagon while the other animals would lie about underneath.
The doctor sat in a chair in front,
Taking the six pences and smiling on the people as they went in,
And Dab-Dab was kept busy all the time scolding him because he would let the children in for nothing when she wasn't looking,
And menagerie keepers and circus men came and asked the doctor to sell them the strange creature,
Saying they would pay a tremendous lot of money for him,
But the doctor always shook his head and said,
No,
The push-me-pull-you shall never be shut up in a cage,
He shall be free always to come and go like you and me.
Many curious sights and happenings they saw in this wandering life,
But they all seemed quite ordinary after the great things they had seen and done in foreign lands.
It was very interesting at first,
Being part of a circus,
But after a few weeks they all got dreadfully tired of it,
And the doctor and all of them were longing to go home,
But so many people came flocking to the little wagon and paid the six pence to go inside and see the push-me-pull-you that very soon the doctor was able to give up being a showman.
And one fine day,
When the hollyhocks were in full bloom,
He came back to Puddleby,
A rich man,
To live in the little house with the big garden.
And the old lame horse in the stable was glad to see him,
And so were the swallows,
Who had already built their nest under the eaves of his roof and had young ones.
And Dab-Dab was glad,
Too,
To get back to the house she knew so well,
Although there was a terrible lot of dusting to be done,
And cobwebs everywhere.
And after Chip had gone and shown his golden collar to the conceited collie next door,
He came back and began running round the garden like a crazy thing,
Looking for the bones he had buried long ago,
And chasing the rats out of the toolshed,
While Gub-Gub dug up the horseradish,
Which had grown three feet high in the corner by the garden wall.
And the doctor went and saw the sailor who had lent them the boat,
And he bought two new ships for him and a rubber doll for his baby,
And he paid the grocer for the food he had lent him for the journey to Africa,
And he bought another piano and put the white mice back in it,
Because they said the bureau drawer was drafty.
And even when the doctor had filled the old money box on the dresser's shelf,
He still had a lot of money left,
And he had to get three more money boxes just as big to put the rest in.
Money,
He said,
Is a terrible nuisance,
But it's nice to not have to worry.
Yes,
Said Dab-Dab,
Who was toasting muffins for his tea,
It is indeed.
And when the winter came,
And the snow flew against the kitchen window,
The doctor and his animals would sit round the big warm fire after supper,
And he would read aloud to them,
Out of his books.
But far away in Africa,
Where the monkeys chattered in the palm trees,
Before they went to bed under the big yellow moon,
They would say to one another,
I wonder what the good man's doing now over there,
In the land of the white men.
Do you think he will ever come back?
And Polynesia would squeak out from the vines,
I think he will,
I guess he will,
I hope he will,
And then the crocodile would grunt up at them from the black mud of the river,
I'm sure he will,
Go to sleep.
That concludes the story of Dr.
Dolittle by Hugh Lofting.
Thank you for listening,
I hope you have enjoyed this story and hopefully become relaxed and possibly fallen asleep.
