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, Puddlebyon-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 sa…
All that I have written so far about Doctor Dolittle I heard long after it happened from those who had known him-- indeed a great deal of it took place before I was born. But I now come to set down that part of the great man's life which I myself saw and took part in. Many years ago the Doctor gave me permission to do this. But we were both of us so busy then voyaging around the world, hav…