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Hugh Lofting: Doctor Dolittle's Circus

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Hugh Lofting Doctor Dolittle's Circus
  • Название:
    Doctor Dolittle's Circus
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  • Издательство:
    epubBooks Classics
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  • Год:
    2014
  • Язык:
    Английский
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    3 / 5
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Doctor Dolittle's Circus: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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The doctor needs money to pay off a voyage to Africa, so he joins the circus with the pushmi-pullyu as his attraction. He enlightens a circus owner who cares little for animals, fights against the practice of fox hunting and helps other creatures such as a circus seal and cart horses too old to work.

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But he had expected the Doctor to change his mind and give in. And he hadn't been gone more than ten minutes before he rang the door–bell and said that he had come back to talk it over.

Well, the upshot of it was that the showman finally consented to all the Doctor asked. The pushmi–pullyu and his party were to be provided with a new wagon all to themselves and, although traveling as part of the circus, were to be entirely free and independent. The money made was to be divided equally between the Doctor and the manager. Whenever the pushmi–pullyu wanted a day off he was to have it, and whatever kind of food he asked for was to be provided by Blossom.

When all the arrangements had been gone into, the man said he would send the caravan here next day, and prepared to go.

"By the way," he said, pausing at the front door. "What's your name?"

The Doctor was just about to tell him, when he remembered Sarah's request.

"Oh, well, call me John Smith," said he.

"All right, Mr. Smith," said the showman. "Have your party ready by eleven in the morning. Good night."

"Good night," said the Doctor.

As soon as the door had closed Dab–Dab, Gub–Gub, Jip, Too–Too and the white mouse, who had been hiding and listening in various corners of the house, all came out into the hall and started chattering at the top of their voices.

"Hooray!" grunted Gub–Gub. "Hooray for the circus!"

Фото

"'Hooray for the circus!'"

"My," said Matthew to the Doctor, "you're not such a bad business man after all! You got Blossom to give in to everything. He wasn't going to let the chance slip. Did you see how quickly he came back when he thought the deal was off? I'll bet he expects to make a lot of money out of us."

"Poor old home," sighed Dab–Dab, affectionately dusting off the hat–rack. "To leave it again so soon!"

"Hooray!" yelled Gub–Gub, trying to stand on his hind legs and balance the Doctor's hat on his nose—"Hooray for the circus!— To–morrow!—Whee!"

The Fourth Chapter

The Doctor is Discovered

Very early the next morning Dab–Dab had the whole house astir. She said breakfast must be eaten and the table cleared before seven, if everything was to be got in readiness for their departure by eleven.

As a matter of fact, the diligent housekeeper had the house closed and everybody waiting outside on the front steps hours before the wagon arrived. But the Doctor, for one, was still kept busy. For up to the last minute animal patients were still coming in from all parts of the countryside, with various ailments to be cured.

At last Jip, who had been out scouting, came rushing back to the party gathered in the garden.

"The wagon's coming," he panted—"all red and yellow—it's just around the bend."

Then everybody got excited and began grabbing their parcels. Gub–Gub's luggage was a bundle of turnips; and just as he was hurrying down the steps to the road the string broke and the round, white vegetables went rolling all over the place.

The wagon, when it finally came in sight, was certainly a thing of beauty. It was made like a gypsy caravan, with windows and door and chimney. It was very gayly painted and quite new.

Фото

"Waiting on the front steps"

Not so the horse; he was quite old. The Doctor said that never had he seen an animal so worn out and weary. He got into conversation with him and found out that he had been working in the circus for thirty–five years. He was very sick of it he said. His name was Beppo. The Doctor decided he would tell Blossom that it was high time Beppo should be pensioned off and allowed to live in peace.

In spite of the newness of the van, Dab–Dab swept it out before she put the packages in it. She had the Doctor's bedding tied up in a sheet, like a bundle of clothes for the laundry. And she was most careful that this should not get dirty.

When the animals and the baggage were all in, the Doctor got terribly afraid that the load would be too much for the old horse to pull. And he wanted to push behind, to help. But Beppo said he could manage it all right. However, the Doctor would not add to the weight by getting in himself. And when the door was shut and the window curtains drawn, so no one should see the pushmi–pullyu on the way, they set out for Grimbledon, with the man who had brought the wagon driving and the Doctor and the Cat's–Meat–Man walking behind.

On the way through Puddleby Market–place the driver stopped to get something at a shop. And while the caravan waited outside a crowd gathered about the wagon, wanting to know where it was going and what was inside. Matthew Mugg, his chest now swelling with pride, was dying to tell them, but the Doctor wouldn't let him make any speeches.

They reached the Grimbledon Fair–grounds about two o'clock in the afternoon and entered the circus enclosure by a back gate. Inside they found the great Blossom himself, waiting to welcome them.

He seemed quite surprised, on the van's being opened, to find the odd collection of creatures the Doctor had brought with him— he was particularly astonished at the pig. However, he was so delighted to have the pushmi–pullyu that he didn't mind.

He at once led them to what he called their stand—which, he said, he had had built for them that very morning. This the Doctor found to be similar to the place where he had first spoken with Blossom. It was a platform raised three feet from the ground, so that the board–and–canvas room on the top of it could be seen. It had steps up to it, and a little way back from the front edge of the platform curtains covered the entrance to the room, so no one could see inside unless they paid to go in.

Across the front of it was a sign:

THE PUSHMI–PULLYU! COME AND SEE THE MARVELOUS TWO–HEADED ANIMAL FROM THE JUNGLES OF AFRICA! ADMISSION SIXPENCE

The red and yellow wagon (in which the Doctor's party, with the exception of the pushmi–pullyu, were to live) was backed behind the "stand". And Dab–Dab immediately set about making up beds and arranging the inside so it would be homelike.

Blossom wanted to have the pushmi–pullyu put on show at once, but the Doctor refused. He said any wild animal would need to rest after the journey from Puddleby. And he wished the timid beast to get used to the noisy bustle of circus life before he was stared at by a crowd of holiday–makers.

Blossom was disappointed, but he had to give in. Then, to the animals' delight, he offered to show the Doctor around the circus and introduce him to the various performers. So after the pushmi–pullyu had been moved to his new home in the stand and the Doctor had seen that he was provided with hay and water and bedding, the Puddleby party started out to make a tour of the circus under the guidance of the great Alexander Blossom, ringmaster.

The main show took place only twice a day (at two in the afternoon and at six thirty at night), in a big tent in the middle of the enclosure. But all around this there were smaller tents and stands, most of which you had to pay extra to get into. Of these the Doctor's establishment was now to form one. They contained all manner of wonders: shooting galleries; guessing games; wild men of Borneo; bearded ladies; merry–go–rounds; strong men, snake charmers; a menagerie and many more.

Blossom took the Doctor and his friends to the menagerie first. It was a dingy third–rate sort of collection. Most of the animals seemed dirty and unhappy. The Doctor was so saddened he was all for having a row with Blossom over it. But the Cat's–Meat–Man whispered in his ear:

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