PUSHMI-PULLYUS are now extinct. That means, there aren’t any more. But
long ago, when Doctor Dolittle was alive, there were some of them still
left in the deepest jungles of Africa; and even then they were very,
very scarce. They had no tail, but a head at each end, and sharp horns
on each head. They were very shy and terribly hard to catch. The black
men get most of their animals by sneaking up behind them while they are
not looking. But you could not do this with the pushmi-pullyu—because,
no matter which way you came towards him, he was always facing you.
And besides, only one half of him slept at a time. The other head
was always awake—and watching. This was why they were never caught
and never seen in Zoos. Though many of the greatest huntsmen and
the cleverest menagerie-keepers spent years of their lives searching
through the jungles in all weathers for pushmi-pullyus, not a single
one had ever been caught. Even then, years ago, he was the only animal
in the world with two heads.
Well, the monkeys set out hunting for this animal through the forest.
And after they had gone a good many miles, one of them found peculiar
footprints near the edge of a river; and they knew that a pushmi-pullyu
must be very near that spot.
Then they went along the bank of the river a little way and they saw a
place where the grass was high and thick; and they guessed that he was
in there.
So they all joined hands and made a great circle round the high grass.
The pushmi-pullyu heard them coming; and he tried hard to break through
the ring of monkeys. But he couldn’t do it. When he saw that it was no
use trying to escape, he sat down and waited to see what they wanted.
They asked him if he would go with Doctor Dolittle and be put on show
in the Land of the White Men.
But he shook both his heads hard and said, “Certainly not!”
They explained to him that he would not be shut up in a menagerie but
would just be looked at. They told him that the Doctor was a very kind
man but hadn’t any money; and people would pay to see a two-headed
animal and the Doctor would get rich and could pay for the boat he had
borrowed to come to Africa in.
But he answered, “No. You know how shy I am—I hate being stared at.”
And he almost began to cry.
Then for three days they tried to persuade him.
And at the end of the third day he said he would come with them and see
what kind of a man the Doctor was, first.
So the monkeys traveled back with the pushmi-pullyu. And when they came
to where the Doctor’s little house of grass was, they knocked on the
door.
The duck, who was packing the trunk, said, “Come in!”
And Chee-Chee very proudly took the animal inside and showed him to the
Doctor.
“What in the world is it?” asked John Dolittle, gazing at the strange
creature.
“Lord save us!” cried the duck. “How does it make up its mind?”
“It doesn’t look to me as though it had any,” said Jip, the dog.
“This, Doctor,” said Chee-Chee, “is the pushmi-pullyu—the rarest animal
of the African jungles, the only two-headed beast in the world! Take
him home with you and your fortune’s made. People will pay any money to
see him.”
“But I don’t want any money,” said the Doctor.
“Yes, you do,” said Dab-Dab, the duck. “Don’t you remember how we had
to pinch and scrape to pay the butcher’s bill in Puddleby? And how are
you going to get the sailor the new boat you spoke of—unless we have
the money to buy it?”
[Illustration: “‘Lord save us!’ cried the duck. ‘How does it make up
its mind?’”]
“I was going to make him one,” said the Doctor.
“Oh, do be sensible!” cried Dab-Dab. “Where would you get all the wood
and the nails to make one with?—And besides, what are we going to
live on? We shall be poorer than ever when we get back. Chee-Chee’s
perfectly right: take the funny-looking thing along, do!”
“Well, perhaps there is something in what you say,” murmured the
Doctor. “It certainly would make a nice new kind of pet. But does the
er—what-do-you-call-it really want to go abroad?”
“Yes, I’ll go,” said the pushmi-pullyu who saw at once, from the
Doctor’s face, that he was a man to be trusted. “You have been so kind
to the animals here—and the monkeys tell me that I am the only one who
will do. But you must promise me that if I do not like it in the Land
of the White Men you will send me back.”
“Why, certainly—of course, of course,” said the Doctor. “Excuse me,
surely you are related to the Deer Family, are you not?”
“Yes,” said the pushmi-pullyu—“to the Abyssinian Gazelles and the
Asiatic Chamois—on my mother’s side. My father’s great-grandfather was
the last of the Unicorns.”
“Most interesting!” murmured the Doctor; and he took a book out of the
trunk which Dab-Dab was packing and began turning the pages. “Let us
see if Buffon says anything—”
“I notice,” said the duck, “that you only talk with one of your mouths.
Can’t the other head talk as well?”
“Oh, yes,” said the pushmi-pullyu. “But I keep the other mouth for
eating—mostly. In that way I can talk while I am eating without being
rude. Our people have always been very polite.”
When the packing was finished and everything was ready to start, the
monkeys gave a grand party for the Doctor, and all the animals of the
jungle came. And they had pineapples and mangoes and honey and all
sorts of good things to eat and drink.
After they had all finished eating, the Doctor got up and said,
“My friends: I am not clever at speaking long words after dinner, like
some men; and I have just eaten many fruits and much honey. But I wish
to tell you that I am very sad at leaving your beautiful country.
Because I have things to do in the Land of the White Men, I must go.
After I have gone, remember never to let the flies settle on your food
before you eat it; and do not sleep on the ground when the rains are
coming. I—er—er—I hope you will all live happily ever after.”
When the Doctor stopped speaking and sat down, all the monkeys clapped
their hands a long time and said to one another, “Let it be remembered
always among our people that he sat and ate with us, here, under the
trees. For surely he is the Greatest of Men!”
And the Grand Gorilla, who had the strength of seven horses in his
hairy arms, rolled a great rock up to the head of the table and said,
“This stone for all time shall mark the spot.”
And even to this day, in the heart of the jungle, that stone still
is there. And monkey-mothers, passing through the forest with their
families, still point down at it from the branches and whisper to their
children, “Sh! There it is—look—where the Good White Man sat and ate
food with us in the Year of the Great Sickness!”
Then, when the party was over, the Doctor and his pets started out to
go back to the seashore. And all the monkeys went with him as far as
the edge of their country, carrying his trunk and bags, to see him
off.
_THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER_