Fireside Reading of The Story of Doctor Dolittle

By Hugo Lofting

Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugo Lofting to you and your family from beginning to end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666617962

Hugo Lofting

Hugh Lofting (1886–1947) is the creator of the beloved character Doctor Dolittle, a man who can converse with animals. The doctor first appeared in the illustrated letters that he sent to his children while he was fighting in the trenches of World War I.

Book preview

THE FIRST CHAPTER

PUDDLEBY

Once upon a time, many years ago—when our grandfathers 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, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, There goes the Doctor!—He’s a clever man. And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church-tower 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 and stone seats and weeping-willows hanging over. His sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself.

He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the gold-fish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet and a hedgehog in the cellar. He had a cow with a calf too, and an old lame horse—twenty-five years of age—and chickens, and pigeons, and two lambs, and many other animals. But his favorite pets were Dab-Dab the duck, Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the baby pig, Polynesia the parrot, and the owl Too-Too.

His sister used to grumble about all these animals and said they made the house untidy. And one day when an old lady with rheumatism came to see the Doctor, she sat on the hedgehog who was sleeping on the sofa and never came to see him any more, but drove every Saturday all the way to Oxenthorpe, another town ten 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 full of hedgehogs and mice! That’s the fourth personage these animals have driven 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, 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 at last he had no one left—except the Cat’s-meat-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-time, when he used to give the Doctor sixpence for a bottle of medicine.

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 littler and littler.

Then he sold his piano, and let the mice live in a bureau-drawer. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he wore 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 and the children still ran up and followed him through the town—the same as they had done when he was rich.

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-ache.

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

The parrot, Polynesia, was sitting in the window looking out at the rain and singing a sailor-song to herself. 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 do. That book you wrote—about cats, why, it’s wonderful! I can’t read or write myself—or maybe I’d write some books. But my wife, Theodosia, she’s a scholar, she is. And she read your book to me. Well, it’s wonderful—that’s all can be said—wonderful. You might have been a cat yourself. 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, because the old women always give’em too much to eat. And look, all the farmers round about who had lame horses and weak lambs—they’d come. Be an animal-doctor.

When the Cat’s-meat-Man had gone the parrot flew 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 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 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 can talk, said the Doctor.

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

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 off her left wing. You wouldn’t have understood me if I had.

Tell me some more, said the Doctor, all excited; and he rushed over to the dresser-drawer and came back with the butcher’s book and a pencil. 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

Reviews for Fireside Reading of The Story of Doctor Dolittle

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I would like to have known a real Doctor Dolittle. I can just imagine his house with its goldfish, dogs, rabbits, cats, mice, squirrels, hedgehog, cows, chickens, pidgins, horse, lambs, duck, pig, parrot, and owl...to name a few. You would think all of these animals would get in the way of Doctor Dolittle taking care of human patients when in reality, he preferred the animals to the people. When he learned to communicate with his furry and feathered friends it was game over. He gave up trying to cure the two-legged folks and concentrated on his true friends.It is pretty high praise to be compared to Lewis Carroll. Hugh Walpole does just that to Hugh Lofting in his introduction to The Story of Doctor Dolittle.Lofting wrote the Dolittle stories for his children while he was stationed overseas in the form of illustrated letters. He dedicated Dolittle to "all Children. Children in Years and Children in Heart." Very sweet.

[robinrowlesauthor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read The Story of Doctor Dolittle when I was a young child. It is definitely an all-time-favourite of mine. The storytelling is superb, and there are lots of great characters. I really liked Polynesia, the parrot, and the extraordinary 'PUSHMI-PULLYU' - What fantastic imagination! - I'm still hoping to meet one!

I'm going to read this story again soon! A complete review to follow.

Recommended reading for young children and fun-loving adults too!

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an abridged version of the classic story of the doctor who can talk to animals, and who embarks on a rescue mission to Africa. The illustrations are reminiscent of the book I recall, although not the same. The story, too, follows the same path but is less long-winded and somewhat more politically correct than the original. There are still some generalisations and more than a hint of the racism that rather dogged the books as originally written almost a century ago. Nonetheless it's an excellent story, one that has appealed to children (and adults!) for a long time. I read it aloud to my four-year-old grandson, who has heard it before and no doubt will hear it again. I thought it excellent as an adaptation, a great introduction to a series which I hope my grandson will read for himself when he's older.

[jane.oldaker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story of Dr. Dolittle who is abandoned by his human patients because of all his pets. He is then abandoned by his animal patients because he refuses to give up his pet crocodile. His money is all gone, his sister leaves him to get married, and he is on the point of being unable to feed his animals. He must get to Africa because the monkeys there are suffering from a terrible disease. The story is about his adventures in Africa and his eventual return to Puddleby-on-the-Marsh.I reread this as an adult and enjoyed it every bit as much as I did when I was a child. The magical notion of talking animals never gets tired for me. Some of the aspects of the story are noticeably dated, but it comes by it honestly enough.

[5eva5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first book in a series of children's novels about a man who learns to talk to animals and travels the world to help them out. I recently re-watched the 1967 movie since it was a childhood favorite of mine and it's still quite good (although why they cast Rex Harrison - who can't sing to save his life - in a musical is beyond me), but I realized I had never actually read any of the books so I picked this one up to give it a try. It's quite entertaining and especially the animals have some nice lines, but beware than it's quite racist by today's standards, e.g. featuring an African prince who asks Dolittle to turn him white since Sleeping Beauty won't marry him because he's black. It's not a series I mean to continue, but it was fun to have tried one installment. David Case is not a great reader, so I'd suggest not going for his audio-version.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable children's tale of the man who could talk to animals. I wasn't overwhelmed by David Case's narration, but perhaps that is because I grew up with the Rex Harrison musical film.

[capiam1234 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Yes there is some racial language found in this delightful story of a doctor who can talk with animals. But keeping in mind this was written in 1920 it is the perfect book to educate our children on how far or how little we've come since then.

[bostonian71 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Racist and not that well-written, and there's very little depth to the characters. And after dealing with in-laws who have a blase attitude toward money (i.e. more will just magically appear when you need it), I found the Doctor's passiveness and impracticality very frustrating. This merits a star only because there are a few charming moments, such as the horse who gets green sunglasses to wear in the fields. (Read out loud at bedtime, under duress.)

[norabelle414 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first book in the Doctor Dolittle series. Doctor Dolittle is a terrible physician. He's good at his job, but no patients will ever come visit him because he has too many animals. So, he decides to become a veterinarian. Unlike the Eddie Murphy version, the originial Doctor Dolittle gains the ability to speak to and understand animals through kindness (so the animals will be willing to talk to him) and a lot of hard work. One day, a monkey comes to visit and informs the doctor that all of the monkeys in Africa are getting sick. So, the doctor and a few of his favorite animal companions sail to Africa to help them.The whole Doctor Dolittle series is exactly what you'd expect it to be: great if you like classic kids' books; probably pretty boring if you don't.

[susanbevans · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting is the imaginative and humorous first novel in the Voyages of Doctor Dolittle series. Thanks to his intelligent parrot Polynesia, Doctor Dolittle learns how to talk to animals. Because he has these unique skills, he becomes an animal doctor, and along the way helps countless animals.Although a very simple story, written in a simple way - the way children would understand - The Story of Doctor Dolittle was excellent. Full of adventure and humor, you will not be able to put this book down. The characters, especially the animals, come to vivid life, and practically leap of the page to trot, swing, or pad through your living room! The Story of Doctor Dolittle is good for the young, and the young-at-heart..

[clurb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A classic children's adventure story; Dr Doolittle and his friends travel to Africa to help the monkeys. Beware though, this writing is very much of its age and the vocabulary used (and some of the opinions expressed) should be taken with a generous pinch of salt.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't fall in love with this book. I like to introduce our kids to lasting literature, classics, if you will. I want them to be well-rounded. To complete having read this book we will also watch the original movie with Rex Harrison and then also the newer version with Eddie Murphy.