Kitabı oku: «The Story of Doctor Dolittle / История Доктора Дулиттла. Уровень 1», sayfa 11

“What are you doing here?” asked the duck. “You were told to stay behind in Puddleby.”

“I didn’t want to be left behind,” said the mouse. “I wanted to see what Africa was like—I have relatives there—so I hid in the baggage. When the ship sank, I was terribly frightened because I cannot swim far. I swam as long as I could, but I soon got all exhausted. Luckily, the old man’s hat came floating by. So I got into it because I did not want to be drowned.”

So the duck took up the hat with the mouse in it and brought it to the Doctor on the shore. And they all gathered round to have a look.

They started looking for a place in the trunk where the white mouse could travel comfortably. Suddenly the monkey, Chee-Chee, said,

“Sh! I hear footsteps in the jungle!”

They all stopped talking and listened. And soon a black man came down out of the woods and asked them what they were doing there.

“My name is John Dolittle,” said the Doctor. “I was asked to come to Africa to cure the monkeys who are sick.”

“You must all come before the King,” said the black man.

“What king?” asked the Doctor, who didn’t want to waste any time.

“The King of the Jolliginki,” the man answered. “All these lands belong to him; and all strangers must be brought before him. Follow me.”

So they gathered up their baggage and followed the man through the jungle.

The Sixth Chapter
Polynesia and the King

They went through a thick forest and came to a wide, clear space. There they saw the King’s palace which was made of mud.

This was where the King lived with his Queen, Ermintrude, and their son, Prince Bumpo. The Prince was away fishing for salmon in the river. But the King and Queen were sitting under an umbrella before the palace door. And Queen Ermintrude was asleep.

When the Doctor came up to the palace the King asked him his business. And the Doctor told him why he came to Africa.

“You may not travel through my lands,” said the King. “Many years ago a white man came to these shores. And I was very kind to him. But after he dug holes in the ground to get the gold, and killed all the elephants to get their bones, he went away secretly in his ship. And he didn’t even say ‘Thank you.’ Never again shall a white man travel through the lands of Jolliginki.”

Then the King turned to some of the black men who were standing near and said, “Take away this medicine-man—with all his animals, and lock them up in my strongest prison.”

So six of the black men led the Doctor and all his pets away and shut them up in a stone prison.

The prison had only one little window, high up in the wall, with bars in it. And the door was strong and thick.

Then they all grew very sad. Gub-Gub, the pig, began to cry. But Chee-Chee said he would spank him if he didn’t stop that horrible noise; and he kept quiet.