1 Puddleby

CLASSIC STARTS The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle Retold from the Hugh Lofting original

CHAPTER 1 Puddleby A great many years ago, there lived a doctor called Dolittle. This was long before your

grandfathers were little boys or your grandmothers were little girls. His full name was John Dolittle, MD. The MD showed that he was a proper doctor. He was a very smart man who helped many sick people. Doctor Dolittle lived in a very small town called Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. Everyone in town knew him. After all, he was easy to recognize. He was a tall man and always wore a high hat. This made him look even taller. He also wore a long black coat with deep pockets. Doctor Dolittle kept many things in these pockets: a handkerchief, an apple in case he ran into a horse, and a notebook. Whenever he walked down Main Street, people would point and say, "Look! There goes the doctor! He's such a clever man." Children ran after him, laughing and asking questions. Doctor Dolittle always answered them. He never thought a question was silly. Dogs would wag their tails and follow him

down the street. Even the crows who lived in the church tower would fly over him, cawing to him and nodding. Doctor Dolittle lived in a little house at the edge of town. The house was small, but his garden was large. There was a lot of grass and many trees. A low wall surrounded his yard. There were many shady resting places. His sister Sarah lived with him. She took care of the house, and Doctor Dolittle took care of the garden. He also kept a lot of pets. Doctor Dolittle was very fond of animals, you see. There were goldfish in the pond at the bottom of his garden. He had rabbits in a little hutch beside his house. White mice lived in his piano. A squirrel stayed in his linen cabinet, and there was a hedgehog in the cellar. He even kept a cow as a pet. The cow and her calf shared the shed with an old horse. This horse had lived with Doctor Dolittle for more than twenty-five years, so they were quite good friends. There were chickens

and pigeons, two lambs, a goat, and many other animals living in the same yard. His favorite pets, though, were Dab-Dab the duck, Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the pig, Polynesia the parrot, and Too-Too the owl. His sister Sarah often complained about the animals. It was hard to keep a tidy house with so many animals running around, she said. It made it difficult for the doctor's patients when they came for appointments. One day, an old woman came in for a checkup and sat down on the hedgehog. He was sound asleep on the sofa and did not hear her come in. The poor woman was so surprised that she screamed and ran back out the door. She vowed never to see Doctor Dolittle again. Instead, she drove to a town ten miles away to see another doctor. Sarah Dolittle decided it was time to speak to her brother about his animals. "John," she said, "how can you expect your patients to visit with so many animals in the

house?" She placed her hands on her hips and spoke sternly. "That's the fourth patient the animals have driven away. Mr. Jenkins says that he won't come back. Even the minister has had enough! We cannot afford to lose any more. If you keep this up, we will lose all our best patients." Sarah was really quite angry. "But I like the animals better than our best patients," said the doctor. "You are ridiculous," said his sister. Then she walked out of the room. As time went on, the good doctor got more and more animals. More animals meant fewer people came to see him. Eventually he had only one patient—the butcher. The butcher did not mind being around all the animals but he only got sick once a year. This was not enough money for Doctor Dolittle and his sister to pay all their bills. Also, there were a lot of animals to feed! The doctor had some money saved. It could