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NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 2 Animals, Birds, and Dr. Dolittle, Part II — Let us discuss

Book page 49 & 50 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
What became a common sight in Puddleby after Doctor Dolittle started treating animals? 1. Humans talking to farm animals 2. Farm animals wearing glasses 3. Farm animals learning bird language 4. Birds riding atop farm animals
Answer

The correct option is 2. Farm animals wearing glasses.

After the plough horse got its fine, big pair of green spectacles and stopped going blind, the text says: “soon it became a common sight to see farm animals wearing glasses in the countryside, round Puddleby; and a blind horse was a thing unknown.”

Tip: Notice the small phrase “a blind horse was a thing unknown”. It is the writer's quiet way of telling us that one clever idea — testing an animal's eyes — wiped out blindness among the working horses of a whole district.
Q2.
What challenges do you think Doctor Dolittle might face if more and more animals come to him for help?
Answer

Success brings its own problems. Dolittle would face at least five:

  1. Space and crowding — his garden was already “nearly always crowded with animals trying to get in to see him”.
  2. Time — one man cannot examine horses, cows, sheep, badgers, harvest mice and bats in a single day. Serious cases might have to wait.
  3. Keeping species apart — a cat and a mouse, a dog and a rabbit cannot sit in the same waiting room in peace.
  4. Money and medicines — animals cannot pay. He gave up his human patients, so his income and his stock of medicines would run short.
  5. Language load — every new species means learning a new language before he can even take the case history.
Q3.
How might he overcome these challenges to ensure that he provides good treatment?
Answer

He can solve each problem with a simple, practical arrangement — and the story shows him already beginning to do so.

ChallengeHow he can overcome it
Crowding and species mixingSeparate entrances and waiting areas — exactly what he does with the doors marked HORSES, COWS, SHEEP and the mouse tunnel into the cellar
Too little timeFixed timings for each kind of animal, and an emergency queue for the badly hurt — like the “Come in again Tuesday” he gives the horse
Working aloneTrain helpers. Polynesia can interpret; Jip and the other household animals can bring cases in and calm frightened patients
Cost of medicinesAccept help in kind from farmers — fodder, grain, repairs — and keep writing books (he had already written one about cats) for an income
Repeat illnessesTeach prevention: tell the animals themselves what to eat and what to avoid, so fewer fall ill
Why it works: Every one of these ideas keeps his one great advantage — personal conversation with the patient — while removing the crowd around it. Good systems do not replace a good doctor; they give him time to be one.
Q4.
Arrange the following events in correct order according to the story. Two have been done for you. Share your answers with your classmates and the teacher. 1. Doctor Dolittle decides to stop being a doctor for people and becomes a doctor for animals. 2. Animals from near and far come to Doctor Dolittle for help, crowding his garden. 3. A man with a stomach-ache visits Doctor Dolittle and suggests he should treat animals instead of people. (i) 4. Polynesia teaches Doctor Dolittle animal languages, and he starts understanding and communicating with animals. 5. A plough horse with vision problems visits Doctor Dolittle, who prescribes green spectacles, to improve the horse's eyesight. 6. The parrot, Polynesia, encourages Doctor Dolittle to become an animal doctor, revealing that animals can talk. (ii) 7. Doctor Dolittle installs special doors for different animals to enter his house for treatment. 8. Doctor Dolittle's ability to communicate with animals helps him diagnose and treat their illnesses effectively. 9. Doctor Dolittle gains fame among animals worldwide, and they come to him from various places for his help. 10. Word spreads, and people start bringing their sick pets and farm animals to Doctor Dolittle for treatment.
Answer

The correct order is 3 → 6 → 4 → 1 → 10 → 5 → 8 → 2 → 7 → 9. (The book has already filled in 3 as (i) and 6 as (ii).)

OrderEvent no.What happensProof from the text
(i)3The Cat's-food-Man, who has a stomach-ache, suggests he treat animals“Why don't you give up being a people's doctor, and be an animal doctor?”
(ii)6Polynesia urges him to do it and reveals that animals talk“Did you know that animals can talk?”
(iii)4Polynesia teaches him bird and animal languageShe sits on the kitchen table all afternoon “giving him bird words to put down in the book”
(iv)1He gives up human patients“Then he gave up being a people's doctor altogether.”
(v)10Word spreads; people bring pets and farm animals“old ladies began to bring him their pet pugs and poodles … farmers came many miles”
(vi)5The plough horse comes and gets green spectacles“One day a plough horse was brought to him …”
(vii)8His language skill makes diagnosis and cure easy“they told him where the pain was and how they felt … it was easy for him to cure them”
(viii)2Animals from near and far crowd his garden“his big garden was nearly always crowded with animals”
(ix)7He builds a separate door for each kind of animal‘HORSES' over the front door, ‘COWS' at the side, ‘SHEEP' on the kitchen door, a tunnel for mice
(x)9He becomes famous among animals worldwide“the birds who flew to other countries in the winter told the animals in foreign lands”
Tip: When you sequence a story, look for time-markers instead of guessing — “When the Cat's-food-Man had gone”, “At teatime”, “After a while”, “One day”, “And so, in a few years' time”. They give you the order almost free.
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