Doctor Know-All
A poor woodcutter, a load of firewood, and a sign that turned him into the cleverest doctor in the land
Page 1
There was once a poor peasant named Crabb who had nothing in the world but a small wooden cart, two old oxen, and a few acres of field. One morning he loaded his cart high with firewood he had cut and split himself, hitched up his oxen, and set off down the long dirt road toward town to sell it. The road wound between dry autumn fields, past low stone walls and a scattering of bare trees, with the town's grey walls and rooftops rising ahead in the distance. Crabb walked beside his cart the whole way, flicking the oxen now and then with a switch, thinking of nothing grander than the few coins the wood might bring him and what Grete might cook with them that night.
Page 2
In town, Crabb sold his whole load of wood to a doctor who lived in a fine stone house, and was paid two silver talers for it. Just as the coins changed hands, the doctor sat down to his midday meal, and Crabb saw the white bread, the roast meat, and the good wine on the table, and his heart longed for a life like that. He lingered at the doorway a while, turning his hat in his hands, and at last he asked whether a man like himself might ever become a doctor too. The doctor laughed, but not unkindly, and said it could be managed easily enough. "Buy yourself an ABC book, the kind with a rooster on the cover," he said. "Turn your cart and your oxen into money for proper clothes. And have a sign painted: I am Doctor Knowall. Nail it over your door, and the patients will come."
Page 3
Crabb went home and did exactly as the doctor had told him. He sold his cart and his two faithful oxen to a neighbor, and with the money he bought a long black coat, a pair of round spectacles, and the little ABC book with the rooster printed on its cover. He had a sign painted in bold letters — I AM DOCTOR KNOWALL — and climbed up on a stool to nail it above his own cottage door, with Grete steadying the stool below him and shaking her head in wonder at what her husband had become. By evening the ox-pen stood empty, but Crabb stood tall in his new black coat, feeling for the first time in his life like a man of learning, though he had not read a single page of his own book.
Page 4
Not far away stood a great stone castle, where a rich lord lived. A large sum of money had gone missing from his strongbox, and though he had questioned everyone in his household, no one would confess to taking it. The lord grew more and more troubled, for it was a very great sum indeed, and he began to ask around the countryside whether there was anyone clever enough to find out the truth. Before long, word reached him of a wonderful new doctor in a nearby village who called himself Doctor Knowall, and who was said to know everything there was to know. The lord, desperate for an answer, ordered his carriage brought round at once and sent word that this Doctor Knowall should be fetched to the castle without delay.
Page 5
The lord's carriage came for Crabb that very afternoon. When the servant explained what was wanted of him, Crabb's stomach turned cold with fright, for he knew perfectly well he was no doctor at all and did not have the first idea how to find stolen money. But he dared not refuse a lord's summons, so he agreed to go — on the condition that his wife Grete come along with him. The servant saw no harm in it, and so the two of them climbed up into the fine carriage together and set off down the long road toward the castle, rattling past hedgerows and fields, with Crabb gripping his little ABC book tightly in his lap the whole way, wondering what in the world he was going to do when they arrived.
Page 6
At the castle, Crabb and Grete were seated at the lord's own table, for Crabb had insisted his wife sit beside him. Dinner was served course by course, and as the first servant came through the doorway carrying in a steaming dish, Crabb leaned toward Grete and murmured, "Grete, that was the first," meaning only that it was the first course of the meal. But this servant happened to be the very one who had stolen the lord's money — he was the first thief, and when he heard the doctor say the words "that was the first," his knees went weak with terror, for he was certain the doctor meant him. He hurried back out through the doorway and whispered frantically to the others waiting in the corridor that the doctor knew everything already.
Page 7
Dinner went on, and the second servant was pushed forward to carry in the next dish, though he did not want to go anywhere near that table. As he passed through the corridor and into the hall, Crabb murmured again to Grete, "Grete, that is the second" — and the second servant, who had indeed helped steal the money, nearly dropped his dish in fright. Then came the third servant's turn, and he fared no better, for Crabb said once more, quite innocently, "Grete, that is the third." By now all three servants were huddled together back in the corridor outside the kitchen, white-faced and trembling, utterly convinced that this doctor could see straight through them and knew their crime down to the last coin.
Page 8
Then the fourth servant was sent in carrying a covered dish, and the lord, eager to test this famous doctor's powers once and for all, asked Crabb to guess what was hidden beneath the lid without lifting it. Crabb had no idea in the world what might be under there. He stared at the covered dish, scratched his head, and finally sighed to himself, "Ah, poor Crabb," meaning nothing more than his own sorry self, caught once again with no answer at all. But when the lid was lifted, the dish was found to be full of crabs — and the lord leapt up, astonished, certain the doctor had read the very contents of the dish through the lid itself. "He has guessed it exactly!" the lord cried. "Surely he must know who has stolen my money too!"
Page 9
Before long, one of the servants slipped out and beckoned urgently for the doctor to step outside a moment. Crabb followed him into the corridor, where all four servants were waiting, trembling, and the moment he appeared they fell over themselves confessing everything — admitting they had stolen the lord's money between them and begging him not to betray them, for they feared being thrown out in disgrace and shut away if the truth came out. They promised to return every coin, and more besides, if only Doctor Knowall would keep silent, and they led him at once to the very spot where the stolen money lay hidden. Crabb, greatly relieved to have stumbled onto the truth by such pure accident, agreed readily to say nothing of who had done it.
Page 10
Crabb returned to his seat at the table and announced grandly that he would now consult his book to find where the money was hidden. He opened the little ABC book and turned its pages back and forth, searching for the rooster printed on its cover, and as he searched he muttered under his breath. Unknown to him, a fifth servant had crept into the great stove to listen in on everything the doctor said, and when he heard Crabb mutter, "Come out, I know you're in there," meaning only the rooster he could not find, the servant in the stove was certain he had been discovered and leapt out with a cry, confessing on the spot. Crabb then told the lord exactly where the stolen money was hidden, though he never once said who had taken it. The lord, overjoyed, rewarded him richly, and Doctor Knowall went home a famous man, with a fortune nobody had ever expected a poor woodcutter to earn.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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