CHAPTER II 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 animaldoctor?" 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.

I wish  you a Happy  Easter in 2023. 

"That means, 'Can't you see that it has stopped raining?'" Polynesia answered. "He is asking you a question. Dogs nearly always use their noses for asking questions." After a while, with the parrot's help, the Doctor got to learn the language of the animals so well that he could talk to them himself and understand everything they said. Then he gave up being a people's doctor altogether. As soon as the Cat's-meat-Man had told every one that John Dolittle was going to become an animal-doctor, old ladies began to bring him their pet pugs and poodles who had eaten too much cake; and farmers came many miles to show him sick cows and sheep.

"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 birdlanguage," 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!

V "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.

v Chapter I 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.

CHAPTER 28 – DEPARTURE

“Here is the place. Let me continue alone,” says the little prince.

And he sits down because he is scared.

Then he says, “My flower is on my planet. I am responsible for her. And she is so weak! She has only four thorns which can’t protect her enough.”

I sit down too because I can’t stand.

“It is all,” he says.

He waits for some time. Then he stands up. He takes one step. I can’t move.

I see something yellow which moves quickly near his leg.

CHAPTER 27 – BELLS

“I am not sure if I understand,” I say. “Your laugh is a present?”

“People look at stars, but the stars are not the same for everybody. For people who travel, the stars are guides. For other people the stars are nothing, only small lights in the sky. For scientists, they are problems. For my businessman, the stars are important because they make him rich. But all these stars are quiet stars. For you, it is different.

You have stars like nobody else. When you look at the sky at night, there is one star where I live.

I know that something strange is happening. I am holding the little prince in my arms like a little child. But I feel that he is falling down into a big hole. And I know that I can’t help him.

His face is very serious now. He says, “I have the sheep. And I have the box for the sheep. And I have the fence.” And he smiles sadly.

I wait for a long time. I see that he is feeling a little better. Then I say, “Dear little man, you are scared.”

Yes, he is scared, but he laughs a little, “I am scared of tonight.”

It is difficult for me.