Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (version 3 Dramatic Reading) — Part 6 Chapters 1-3
NEW POPSIPETEL
JONG THINKALOT had not ruled over his new kingdom for more than a couple of days before my notions about kings and the kind of lives they led changed very considerably.
I had thought that all that kings had to do was to sit on a throne and have people bow down before them several times a day.
I now saw that a king can be the hardest-working man in the world—if he attends properly to his business.
From the moment that he got up, early in the morning, till the time he went to bed, late at night—seven days in the week—John Dolittle was busy, busy, busy.
First of all there was the new town to be built.
The village of Popsipetel had disappeared: the City of New Popsipetel must be made.
With great care a place was chosen for it—and a very beautiful position it was, at the mouth of a large river.
The shores of the island at this point formed a lovely wide bay where canoes—and ships too, if they should ever come—could lie peacefully at anchor without danger from storms.
In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians a lot of new ideas.
He showed them what town-sewers were, and how garbage should be collected each day and burnt.
High up in the hills he made a large lake by damming a stream.
This was the water-supply for the town.
None of these things had the Indians ever seen; and many of the sicknesses which they had suffered from before were now entirely prevented by proper drainage and pure drinking-water.
Peoples who don’t use fire do not of course have metals either; because without fire it is almost impossible to shape iron and steel.
One of the first things that John Dolittle did was to search the mountains till he found iron and copper mines.
Then he set to work to teach the Indians how these metals could be melted and made into knives and plows and water-pipes and all manner of things.
In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest to do away with most of the old-fashioned pomp and grandeur of a royal court.
As he said to Bumpo and me, if he must be a king he meant to be a thoroughly democratic one, that is a king who is chummy and friendly with his subjects and doesn’t put on airs.
And when he drew up the plans for the City of New Popsipetel he had no palace shown of any kind.
A little cottage in a back street was all that he had provided for himself.
But this the Indians would not permit on any account.
They had been used to having their kings rule in a truly grand and kingly manner;
and they insisted that he have built for himself the most magnificent palace ever seen.
In all else they let him have his own way absolutely;
but they wouldn’t allow him to wriggle out of any of the ceremony or show that goes with being a king.
A thousand servants he had to keep in his palace, night and day, to wait on him.
The Royal Canoe had to be kept up—a gorgeous, polished mahogany boat, seventy feet long, inlaid with mother-o’-pearl and paddled by the hundred strongest men in the island.
The palace-gardens covered a square mile and employed a hundred and sixty gardeners.
Even in his dress the poor man was compelled always to be grand and elegant and uncomfortable.
The beloved and battered high hat was put away in a closet and only looked at secretly.
State robes had to be worn on all occasions.
And when the Doctor did once in a while manage to sneak off for a short, natural-history expedition he never dared to wear his old clothes, but had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head and a scarlet cloak flying behind him in the wind.
There was no end to the kinds of duties the Doctor had to perform and the questions he had to decide upon—everything, from settling disputes about lands and boundaries, to making peace between husband and wife who had been throwing shoes at one another.
In the east wing of the Royal Palace was the Hall of Justice.
And here King Jong sat every morning from nine to eleven passing judgment on all cases that were brought before him.
[Illustration: “Had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head”] Then in the afternoon he taught school.
The sort of things he taught were not always those you find in ordinary schools.
Grown-ups as well as children came to learn.
You see, these Indians were ignorant of many of the things that quite small white children know—though it is also true that they knew a lot that white grown-ups never dreamed of.
Bumpo and I helped with the teaching as far as we could—simple arithmetic, and easy things like that.
But the classes in astronomy, farming science, the proper care of babies, with a host of other subjects, the Doctor had to teach himself.
The Indians were tremendously keen about the schooling and they came in droves and crowds; so that even with the open-air classes (a school-house was impossible of course) the Doctor had to take them in relays and batches of five or six thousand at a time and used a big megaphone or trumpet to make himself heard.
The rest of his day was more than filled with road-making, building water-mills, attending the sick and a million other things.
In spite of his being so unwilling to become a king, John Dolittle made a very good one—once he got started.
He may not have been as dignified as many kings in history who were always running off to war and getting themselves into romantic situations; but since I have grown up and seen something of foreign lands and governments I have often thought that Popsipetel under the reign of Jong Thinkalot was perhaps the best ruled state in the history of the world.
The Doctor’s birthday came round after we had been on the island six months and a half.
The people made a great public holiday of it and there was much feasting, dancing, fireworks, speechmaking and jollification.
Towards the close of the day the chief men of the two tribes formed a procession and passed through the streets of the town, carrying a very gorgeously painted tablet of ebony wood, ten feet high.
This was a picture-history, such as they preserved for each of the ancient kings of Popsipetel to record their deeds.
With great and solemn ceremony it was set up over the door of the new palace: and everybody then clustered round to look at it.
It had six pictures on it commemorating the six great events in the life of King Jong and beneath were written the verses that explained them.
They were composed by the Court Poet; and this is a translation: I
(_His Landing on The Island_) Heaven-sent, In his dolphin-drawn canoe From worlds unknown He landed on our shores.
The very palms Bowed down their heads In welcome to the coming King.
II
(_His Meeting With The Beetle_) By moonlight in the mountains He communed with beasts.
The shy Jabizri brings him picture-words Of great distress.
III
(_He liberates The Lost Families_) Big was his heart with pity;
Big were his hands with strength.
See how he tears the mountain like a yam!
See how the lost ones Dance forth to greet the day!
IV
(_He Makes Fire_) Our land was cold and dying.
He waved his hand and lo!
Lightning leapt from cloudless skies;
The sun leant down;
And Fire was born!
Then while we crowded round The grateful glow, pushed he Our wayward, floating land Back to peaceful anchorage In sunny seas.
V
(_He Leads The People To Victory in War_) Once only Was his kindly countenance Darkened by a deadly frown.
Woe to the wicked enemy That dares attack The tribe with Thinkalot for Chief!
VI
(_He Is Crowned King_) The birds of the air rejoiced;
The Sea laughed and gambolled with her shores;
All Red-skins wept for joy The day we crowned him King.
He is the Builder, the Healer, the Teacher and the Prince;
He is the greatest of them all.
May he live a thousand thousand years, Happy in his heart, To bless our land with Peace.
_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
THOUGHTS OF HOME
IN the Royal Palace Bumpo and I had a beautiful suite of rooms of our very own—which Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee shared with us.
Officially Bumpo was Minister of the Interior; while I was First Lord of the Treasury.
Long Arrow also had quarters there; but at present he was absent, traveling abroad.
One night after supper when the Doctor was away in the town somewhere visiting a new-born baby, we were all sitting round the big table in Bumpo’s reception-room.
This we did every evening, to talk over the plans for the following day and various affairs of state.
It was a kind of Cabinet Meeting.
To-night however we were talking about England—and also about things to eat.
We had got a little tired of Indian food.
You see, none of the natives knew how to cook; and we had the most discouraging time training a chef for the Royal Kitchen.
Most of them were champions at spoiling good food.
Often we got so hungry that the Doctor would sneak downstairs with us into the palace basement, after all the cooks were safe in bed, and fry pancakes secretly over the dying embers of the fire.
The Doctor himself was the finest cook that ever lived.
But he used to make a terrible mess of the kitchen; and of course we had to be awfully careful that we didn’t get caught.
Well, as I was saying, to-night food was the subject of discussion at the Cabinet Meeting; and I had just been reminding Bumpo of the nice dishes we had had at the bed-maker’s house in Monteverde.
“I tell you what I would like now,” said Bumpo: “a large cup of cocoa with whipped cream on the top of it.
In Oxford we used to be able to get the most wonderful cocoa.
It is really too bad they haven’t any cocoa-trees in this island, or cows to give cream.
” “When do you suppose,” asked Jip, “the Doctor intends to move on from here?
” “I was talking to him about that only yesterday,” said Polynesia.
“But I couldn’t get any satisfactory answer out of him.
He didn’t seem to want to speak about it.
” There was a pause in the conversation.
“Do you know what I believe?
” she added presently.
“I believe the Doctor has given up even thinking of going home.
” “Good Lord!
” cried Bumpo.
“You don’t say!
” “Sh!
” said Polynesia.
“What’s that noise?
” We listened; and away off in the distant corridors of the palace we heard the sentries crying, “The King!
—Make way!
—The King!
” “It’s he—at last,” whispered Polynesia—“late, as usual.
Poor man, how he does work!
—Chee-Chee, get the pipe and tobacco out of the cupboard and lay the dressing-gown ready on his chair.
” When the Doctor came into the room he looked serious and thoughtful.
Wearily he took off his crown and hung it on a peg behind the door.
Then he exchanged the royal cloak for the dressing-gown, dropped into his chair at the head of the table with a deep sigh and started to fill his pipe.
“Well,” asked Polynesia quietly, “how did you find the baby?
” “The baby?
” he murmured—his thoughts still seemed to be very far away—“Ah yes.
The baby was much better, thank you—It has cut its second tooth.
” Then he was silent again, staring dreamily at the ceiling through a cloud of tobacco-smoke; while we all sat round quite still, waiting.
“We were wondering, Doctor,” said I at last,—“just before you came in—when you would be starting home again.
We will have been on this island seven months to-morrow.
” The Doctor sat forward in his chair looking rather uncomfortable.
“Well, as a matter of fact,” said he after a moment, “I meant to speak to you myself this evening on that very subject.
But it’s—er—a little hard to make any one exactly understand the situation.
I am afraid that it would be impossible for me to leave the work I am now engaged on....
You remember, when they first insisted on making me king, I told you it was not easy to shake off responsibilities, once you had taken them up.
These people have come to rely on me for a great number of things.
We found them ignorant of much that white people enjoy.
And we have, one might say, changed the current of their lives considerably.
Now it is a very ticklish business, to change the lives of other people.
And whether the changes we have made will be, in the end, for good or for bad, is our lookout.
” He thought a moment—then went on in a quieter, sadder voice: “I would like to continue my voyages and my natural history work; and I would like to go back to Puddleby—as much as any of you.
This is March, and the crocuses will be showing in the lawn....
But that which I feared has come true: I cannot close my eyes to what might happen if I should leave these people and run away.
They would probably go back to their old habits and customs: wars, superstitions, devil-worship and what not; and many of the new things we have taught them might be put to improper use and make their condition, then, worse by far than that in which we found them....
They like me; they trust me; they have come to look to me for help in all their problems and troubles.
And no man wants to do unfair things to them who trust him....
And then again, _I_ like _them_.
They are, as it were, my children—I never had any children of my own—and I am terribly interested in how they will grow up.
Don’t you see what I mean?
—How can I possibly run away and leave them in the lurch?...
No. I have thought it over a good deal and tried to decide what was best.
And I am afraid that the work I took up when I assumed the crown I must stick to.
I’m afraid—I’ve got to stay.
” “For good—for your whole life?
” asked Bumpo in a low voice.
For some moments the Doctor, frowning, made no answer.
“I don’t know,” he said at last—“Anyhow for the present there is certainly no hope of my leaving.
It wouldn’t be right.
” The sad silence that followed was broken finally by a knock upon the door.
With a patient sigh the Doctor got up and put on his crown and cloak again.
“Come in,” he called, sitting down in his chair once more.
The door opened and a footman—one of the hundred and forty-three who were always on night duty—stood bowing in the entrance.
“Oh, Kindly One,” said he, “there is a traveler at the palace-gate who would have speech with Your Majesty.
” “Another baby’s been born, I’ll bet a shilling,” muttered Polynesia.
“Did you ask the traveler’s name?
” enquired the Doctor.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the footman.
“It is Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow.
” _THE THIRD CHAPTER_
THE RED MAN’S SCIENCE
“LONG ARROW!
” cried the Doctor.
“How splendid!
Show him in—show him in at once.
” “I’m so glad,” he continued, turning to us as soon as the footman had gone.
“I’ve missed Long Arrow terribly.
He’s an awfully good man to have around—even if he doesn’t talk much.
Let me see: it’s five months now since he went off to Brazil.
I’m so glad he’s back safe.
He does take such tremendous chances with that canoe of his—clever as he is.
It’s no joke, crossing a hundred miles of open sea in a twelve-foot canoe.
I wouldn’t care to try it.
” Another knock; and when the door swung open in answer to the Doctor’s call, there stood our big friend on the threshold, a smile upon his strong, bronzed face.
Behind him appeared two porters carrying loads done up in Indian palm-matting.
These, when the first salutations were over, Long Arrow ordered to lay their burdens down.
“Behold, oh Kindly One,” said he, “I bring you, as I promised, my collection of plants which I had hidden in a cave in the Andes.
These treasures represent the labors of my life.
” The packages were opened; and inside were many smaller packages and bundles.
Carefully they were laid out in rows upon the table.
It appeared at first a large but disappointing display.
There were plants, flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, nuts, beans, honeys, gums, bark, seeds, bees and a few kinds of insects.
The study of plants—or botany, as it is called—was a kind of natural history which had never interested me very much.
I had considered it, compared with the study of animals, a dull science.
But as Long Arrow began taking up the various things in his collection and explaining their qualities to us, I became more and more fascinated.
And before he had done I was completely absorbed by the wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom which he had brought so far.
“These,” said he, taking up a little packet of big seeds, “are what I have called laughing-beans.
’” “What are they for?
” asked Bumpo.
“To cause mirth,” said the Indian.
Bumpo, while Long Arrow’s back was turned, took three of the beans and swallowed them.
“Alas!
” said the Indian when he discovered what Bumpo had done.
“If he wished to try the powers of these seeds he should have eaten no more than a quarter of a one.
Let us hope that he does not die of laughter.
” The beans’ effect upon Bumpo was most extraordinary.
First he broke into a broad smile; then he began to giggle; finally he burst into such prolonged roars of hearty laughter that we had to carry him into the next room and put him to bed.
The Doctor said afterwards that he probably would have died laughing if he had not had such a strong constitution.
All through the night he gurgled happily in his sleep.
And even when we woke him up the next morning he rolled out of bed still chuckling.
Returning to the Reception Room, we were shown some red roots which Long Arrow told us had the property, when made into a soup with sugar and salt, of causing people to dance with extraordinary speed and endurance.
He asked us to try them; but we refused, thanking him.
After Bumpo’s exhibition we were a little afraid of any more experiments for the present.
There was no end to the curious and useful things that Long Arrow had collected: an oil from a vine which would make hair grow in one night; an orange as big as a pumpkin which he had raised in his own mountain-garden in Peru; a black honey (he had brought the bees that made it too and the seeds of the flowers they fed on) which would put you to sleep, just with a teaspoonful, and make you wake up fresh in the morning; a nut that made the voice beautiful for singing;
a water-weed that stopped cuts from bleeding; a moss that cured snake-bite; a lichen that prevented sea-sickness.
The Doctor of course was tremendously interested.
Well into the early hours of the morning he was busy going over the articles on the table one by one, listing their names and writing their properties and descriptions into a note-book as Long Arrow dictated.
“There are things here, Stubbins,” he said as he ended, “which in the hands of skilled druggists will make a vast difference to the medicine and chemistry of the world.
I suspect that this sleeping-honey by itself will take the place of half the bad drugs we have had to use so far.
Long Arrow has discovered a pharmacopæia of his own.
Miranda was right: he is a great naturalist.
His name deserves to be placed beside Linnæus.
Some day I must get all these things to England—But when,” he added sadly—“Yes, that’s the problem: when?
” _THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
