Doctor Know-All

Doctor Know-All

Once there lived a poor farmer named Crabb. He had a small house, two oxen, and an old cart. To earn his bread, he cut firewood and hauled it to town.

One day he sold a whole cartload to a wealthy doctor. While the doctor counted the money, he sat down to dinner. Soup steamed on the table, fresh bread smelled wonderful, and apple drink shone in a pitcher.

Crabb looked at it all and thought:

“It must be good to be a doctor. People respect you, and you do not have to work in the wet forest. I wonder whether I could become one too?”

He gathered his courage.

“Sir, is it very difficult to become a doctor like you?”

The doctor decided to make a joke.

“Not at all. Buy a large book with a rooster on the cover, put on a respectable coat, hang a sign above your door saying ‘Doctor Know-All,’ and there you are.”

Crabb did not realize it was a joke.

He sold his cart and oxen, bought a primer with a rooster on the cover, a new coat, and a bright sign.

Soon his door announced:

DOCTOR KNOW-ALL.

His wife, Greta, read the sign and shook her head.

“Crabb, a sign does not make a person wise.”

“But now everyone knows where to find me,” he replied solemnly.

For several weeks, Crabb gave people the simplest advice: rest, drink warm tea, and do not walk barefoot on cold ground. Whenever he did not know an answer, he slowly turned the pages of his primer as though every secret in the world were hidden there.

One day a luxurious carriage stopped outside.

A servant stepped out.

“Are you Doctor Know-All?”

Crabb glanced at his sign.

“That is what it says.”

“My master has lost a large sum of money. People say you know everything. Come help us find it.”

Crabb swallowed.

He had no idea how to find stolen money.

“I will come, but my wife Greta must come too.”

So Crabb and Greta arrived at a great estate.

The master first invited them to dinner.

When the first servant brought a dish, Crabb nudged Greta.

“There is the first one.”

He meant the first course.

But the servant turned pale. He was one of the people who knew where the missing money was hidden.

“He recognized me!” thought the servant.

A second servant brought another dish.

“And there is the second,” whispered Crabb.

The second servant nearly dropped the plate.

The third heard:

“And the third.”

He became frightened too.

Greta stared at her husband.

“Why are you counting servants?”

“I am not counting servants. I am counting courses so I know when dessert is coming.”

Then a fourth servant carried in a covered bowl.

The master smiled.

“Doctor Know-All, show us your wisdom. Guess what is beneath the lid.”

Crabb felt his palms turn cold.

He stared at the bowl, then at his primer, and sighed:

“Poor Crabb, now you are caught.”

The master lifted the lid.

Inside were cooked crabs.

“Incredible!” he cried. “You even knew that!”

Crabb blinked.

“Well... today I seem to be unusually lucky.”

The three frightened servants looked at one another. Now they were certain Doctor Know-All truly knew everything.

After dinner, they called him into the corridor.

“Doctor, we must speak with you.”

They confessed that they had hidden the money themselves. At first they thought no one would notice, but now they were afraid and wanted to return it.

“Show me where it is,” said Crabb. “Then return every coin and do not do such a thing again.”

They led him to the hiding place.

Crabb returned to the hall with a very serious expression. He placed the primer before him, turned several pages, and announced:

“My book will now tell me where to look.”

Meanwhile another servant, curious to test the famous doctor, hid behind a large stove.

Crabb kept turning pages, trying to find the rooster picture.

“I know you are somewhere here,” he muttered at the missing rooster. “You may as well come out!”

The servant behind the stove jumped.

“He knows about me too!”

He rushed from his hiding place.

Everyone stared.

Greta covered a smile with her hand.

Crabb then announced where the money was hidden, and soon the entire sum was recovered.

The master was delighted.

“Doctor Know-All, you have lived up to your name!”

Crabb looked at Greta. She raised one eyebrow.

For the first time that day, he decided to tell the complete truth.

“Not exactly, sir. Luck helped me greatly today. And some people found enough conscience to correct their mistake. I certainly do not know everything.”

The master laughed.

“Then at least you know one rare thing: when to admit that you do not know something.”

He paid Crabb generously.

When Crabb returned home, he took down the DOCTOR KNOW-ALL sign and put it in the storeroom.

“No longer a doctor?” asked Greta.

“Perhaps someday,” he said. “But first I must learn. One rooster on a book cover is not enough to make a person wise.”

From then on, Crabb read a great deal, listened carefully to people, and was never ashamed to say:

“I do not know that yet.”

Sometimes he showed visitors the old sign and told them about the extraordinary day when luck had truly made him Doctor Know-All for a few hours.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨