The Story Of Doctor Dolittle By Hugh Lofting - Chapter Three

Tonight's story is a reading of the third chapter of Hugh Lofting's "The Story of Doctor Dolittle." This is a favorite story for my family, which I often read to my daughter when she was young. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Transcript

Hello,

I'm Samson Trebark and I'll be reading another chapter of the story of Dr.

Doodlettle for you today.

But before we begin,

I would like you to free yourself from today's worries and allow your mind to be left with only one ability,

The ability to hear,

To be moved only through the sense of what you hear and nothing more.

Listen,

And you shall hear.

The story of Dr.

Doodlettle,

Written by Hugh Lofting and read by Samson Trebark.

That's me!

When we last left Dr.

Doodlettle,

He had given up being a people doctor altogether and had become an animal doctor instead.

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 had 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 pets.

Once when he was sitting on his garden wall smoking a pipe in the evening,

An 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 bought the monkey from the organ grinder and the monkey stayed with Dr.

Doodlettle 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 all the different 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 everyone in the house,

He was always as gentle as a kitten.

But now the old ladies grew afraid to send their lap dogs to Dr.

Doodlettle because of the crocodile.

And the farmers wouldn't believe that he would not eat their lambs and sick calves that they brought to be cured.

So the doctor went to the crocodile and told him he must go back to the circus.

But he wept with 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 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,

And I will no longer be housekeeper for you if you don't send that alligator away.

It isn't an alligator,

Said the doctor.

It's a crocodile.

I don't care what you call it,

Said his sister.

That's a nasty thing to find under the bed.

I won't have it in this house.

But he has promised me,

The doctor answered,

That he will not bite anyone.

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,

And if you don't send him away this minute,

I'll go and get married.

Oh,

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 Doolittle packed up her things and went off,

And the doctor was left 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 for 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 tutu,

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.

The parrot said,

I think we all ought to do the housework ourselves.

At least we can get that much done.

After all,

It is for our sake that doctor finds himself so lonely and so poor.

It was agreed that the monkey chichi was to do the cooking and the mending.

The dog was to sweep the floors.

The duck was to dust and make the beds.

The owl tutu was to keep the accounts and the pig was to do the gardening.

They made Polynesia the parrot housekeeper in Londres because she was the oldest.

Of course,

At first they all found their new jobs very hard to do,

All except chichi,

Who had hands and could do things like a human.

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 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 omelets 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.

Hmm,

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.

Reviews

I enjoyed this chapter very much. I also enjoy your reading of it; you do a good job in giving the animal characters their individual voice. Thank you. 🙏🏻❤️🕊️

Good book it really helps me to go to sleep at night

Very enjoyable! I hope you are able to add some more chapters. 🙏

More chapters to come?
Xo

Your voice is the best! The Oscar goes to…for you!

Such a fun old story and so well read. I hope there are more chapters coming.

That was great! We are really enjoying this story. We hope to hear more.🙏📚❤

Please Sampson continue with this beautiful story of Dr Doolittle it’s so enjoyable.... you are the perfect story teller 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️

Lovely! Thank you for sharing this chapter of the story! And can you please make more? And stay safe to! ❤️🐾❤️

Please do another chapter! This is my favorite way to fall asleep!

Finally o-o nvm (never mind ) chapter 3 has been out for three months OMG I AM LATE chapter 3 is ready 😱. That big HELLO at the start told me that this mediation is going to be great. But at the end I didn’t know wether it Wass the end or not other then that it was a great meditation. Namaste 🙏🏼

🥇👍👍👍👍👍👍🏻👍🏻👍👍🏻👍💞💞💞💞😺😺👵😺😺😺😻😻😻😻🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

I am really enjoying this story. One from my childhood. Please read more chapters soon. You read it very well. Thank you 🦋

all these stories are wonderful and definitely put you to sleep

Loved it please do another one as soon as u can