Doctor Know-All

One day, a farmer took some wood to the market. A doctor saw the sledge with the wood and said to himself, "Winter has come and I have no wood." Then he stopped the farmer and said, "Bring the sledge with the wood into my yard, I want some wood."

Soon, the farmer was in the doctor's yard. The yard was large. In one corner there were horses, in another cows and a lot of hens ran around.

When the wood was on the ground in the doctor's yard, the farmer went into the house to get his money. It was dinner-time and the farmer saw all the nice things on the table. He took his money and wanted to leave the house but stopped at the door and said: "What a good thing it is to be a doctor! You are so rich! I want to be a doctor too! I want to be rich too."

"Well," answered the doctor, "I can tell you what you must do. Get a book, a handbag for medical things, some nice new clothes for yourself and a new sledge. Then write on the door of your house: Doctor Know-All." The farmer did so.

At that time somebody took a lot of money from a very rich man who lived not far from the farmer's house. And nobody knew where the money was. One day the rich man's wife said to her husband, "I have heard that there is a doctor not far from us, Doctor Know-All. I think he must know everything. If so, he must know where our money is. Let's ask him to come and help us." The rich man went to the farmer and asked him for help.

"Well, I can come," answered the farmer, "but my wife must come with me."

The farmer and his wife came to the rich man just at dinner-time. The rich man asked the farmer to have dinner with him.

"And my wife too," answered the farmer.

"All right, and your wife too," repeated the rich man. The husband and the wife sat down at the table. They were greatly pleased with everything that they saw around them. The farmer began to count the number of dishes. A man came in and brought the first dish. It was soup.

"That's the first!" said the farmer to his wife. The man went pale and quickly left the room, for he was one of the men who took the rich man's money. He thought that Doctor Know-All knew everything about it.

Then another man came in with the meat, and the farmer said to his wife, "And that's the second!"

And so he repeated the sentence every time when somebody brought in a new dish.

After dinner, the five men came up to the farmer, when the rich man was not in the room and said, "How did you learn about the money? Who told you everything? If you do not say a word, we can give you a lot of money."

The five men gave the farmer a lot of money and told him where the rich man's money was. It was in the house under the floor. The farmer and his wife laughed happily and looked at each other.

After that, the rich man said to the farmer, "And now, Doctor Know-All, tell us what you know and show us what you can." The farmer took out the book and began to read it. But as he did not know how to read, he turned the pages over the wrong way.

"It is strange, Doctor, very strange," said the rich man, "But you are reading the book from back to front."

"There's nothing strange about it," answered the farmer. "I am not blind, and I know how to hold my book. If I want to know where the money is and to get it back, I must read my book this way."

Soon the farmer shut his book and said, "The money is in a bag under the floor."

And, of course, the money was there. The rich man was very happy to have his money back. He thanked the farmer and gave him a lot of money. And the farmer and his wife were very pleased too. They were rich and lived happily to the end of their days.