Бесплатный фрагмент - The story of doctor John Crow

THE FIRST CHAPTER

Pubbleby

Long ago, there was a doctor named John Crow. He lived in a small town called Pubbleby-on-the-Marsh and was known by everyone. People would say he was clever and would follow him wherever he went, even the animals!

John loved animals and had many pets like ducks, dogs, pigs, and parrots. His sister, Jane, was not happy with all the animals in the house, but John took care of them and his garden too.

One day, an old lady who had rheumatism visited John, but she sat on a hedgehog who was sleeping on the sofa. She never came back and went to see another doctor in a different town. Sarah told John that people won’t come to see him if he has so many animals in the house. But John loved his pets and didn’t want to give them up.

He keeps getting more and more pets, and the people who used to come to him for medical help stop coming because they don’t like being around all the animals. The only person who still comes to see him is the Cat’s-meat Man, who is not very rich and only gets sick once a year. This makes it hard for the doctor to make a living, and he has to sell his things to buy food for his pets. He even becomes poor and has holes in his stockings. However, the dogs, cats, and children in the town still follow him because they like him.

THE SECOND CHAPTER

LANGUAGE of ANIMALS

One day, the Doctor was talking with the Cat’s-meatMan who had come to him with a stomach-ache. The Cat’s-meat-Man suggested that the Doctor should become an animal-doctor instead of a people’s doctor because he knew a lot about animals. The Cat’s-meatMan had read the Doctor’s book about cats and thought it was wonderful. He said the Doctor could make a lot of money by treating sick animals, and he could send all the old women who had sick cats or dogs to him. The Cat’s-meat-Man even suggested putting something in the meat he sold to make the animals sick if they weren’t sick already. The Doctor thought this was wrong, but the Cat’s-meatMan insisted that the animals would get sick anyway because people always overfeed them. The parrot, Polynesia, agreed with the Cat’s-meat-Man and encouraged the Doctor to become an animal-doctor instead.