Then the parrot, talking in a small, high voice like a little girl, said aloud, “Bumpo, someone can turn you into a white prince.”

The King’s son started up off the seat[20] and looked all around.

“What is this I hear?” he cried. “How strange!”

“Worthy Prince,” said Polynesia, “I am Tripsitinka, the Queen of the Fairies. I am hiding in a rose-bud.”

“Oh tell me, Fairy-Queen,” cried Bumpo, “who can make me white?”

“In your father’s prison,” said the parrot, “there lies a famous wizard, John Dolittle. Many things he knows of medicine and magic. Go to him, brave Bumpo, secretly, after the sunset; and he will make you the whitest prince! I must now go back to Fairyland. Farewell![21]”

“Farewell!” cried the Prince. “A thousand thanks, good Tripsitinka!” And he sat down on the seat again with a smile upon his face and started waiting for the sunset.

Very, very quietly Polynesia then slipped out at the back of the tree and flew to the prison to talk to the Doctor.

“Listen,” said the parrot to the Doctor, “Prince Bumpo is coming here tonight to see you. And you have to find some way to turn him white. But make him promise you first that he will open the prison-door and find a ship for you so that you could cross the sea.”

“This is all very well,” said the Doctor. “But it isn’t so easy to turn a black man white.

“I don’t know anything about that,” said Polynesia impatiently. “But you MUST turn this man white. Think of a way – think hard. You’ve got a lot of medicines in the bag. He’ll do anything for you if you change his color. It is your only chance to get out of prison.”

“Well, I think it MIGHT be possible,[22]” said the Doctor. “Let me see —,” and he took his medicine-bag…

That night Prince Bumpo came secretly to the Doctor in prison and said to him, “White Man, I am an unhappy prince. Years ago I went in search of The Sleeping Beauty.[23] I read about her in a book. And I traveled through the world many days and at last I found her and kissed the lady very gently to awaken her – as the book said I should. It is true indeed that she awoke. But when she saw my face she cried out, ‘Oh, he’s black!’ And she ran away and didn’t marry me – but went to sleep again somewhere else. So I came back to my father’s kingdom. Now I know that you are a wonderful magician. So please help me. If you turn me white, so that I may go back to The Sleeping Beauty, I will give you half my kingdom and anything you ask.”

“Prince Bumpo,” said the Doctor and looked thoughtfully at the bottles in his medicine-bag, “I could make your hair a nice blonde color – will you be happy then?”

“No,” said Bumpo. “Nothing else will satisfy me. I must be a white prince.”

“You know it is very hard to change the color of a prince,” said the Doctor – “one of the hardest things that a magician can do. You only want your face white, don’t you?”

“Yes, that is all,” said Bumpo. “Because I will wear shining armor, like the other white princes, and ride on a horse.”

“Must your face be white all over?” asked the Doctor.

“Yes, all over,” said Bumpo, “and I would like my eyes blue too, but I think that will be very hard to do.”

“Yes, it will,” said the Doctor quickly. “Well, I will do what I can for you. You must be very patient. Maybe I will try two or three times. Now come over here by the light – Oh, but before I do anything, you must first go to the beach and get a ship ready, with food in it, to take me across the sea. Do not speak a word about this to any one. And when I make your face white, you must let me and all my animals out of prison. Promise!”

So the Prince promised and went away to get a ship ready at the seashore. When he came back and said that it was ready, the Doctor asked Dab-Dab to bring a basin. Then he mixed a lot of medicines in the basin and told Bumpo to dip his face in it. The Prince leaned down and put his face in the basin. He held it there a long time. At last the Prince lifted his face up out of the basin. It was difficult for him to breathe. And all the animals cried out in surprise because the Prince’s face was as white as snow, and his eyes were gray, not mud-colored! When John Dolittle gave him a little looking-glass, he began dancing around the prison. But the Doctor asked him not to make so much noise about it; and then he told him to open the prison-door. So the Prince unlocked the door. And the Doctor with all his animals ran as fast as they could down to the seashore.

When they came to the beach they saw Polynesia and Chee-Chee – they were on the rocks near the ship.

“I feel sorry about Bumpo,” said the Doctor. “I am afraid that medicine which I used will never last. I think he will be black again when he wakes up in the morning. But he MIGHT stay white – that was a new mixture. Poor Bumpo! I think I will send him some candy when I get to Puddleby. And who knows? – he may stay white after all.”

Then the pushmi-pullyu, the white mouse, Gub-Gub, Dab-Dab, Jip and the owl, Too-Too, went onto the ship with the Doctor. But Chee-Chee, Polynesia and the crocodile stayed behind, because Africa was their home, the land where they were born. And when the Doctor stood upon the boat, he remembered that they had no one with them to guide them back to Puddleby. But then they heard a strange noise, high in the air. The noise became louder and bigger. And Jip said, “Birds! – millions of them!” And then they all looked up. And there they could see thousands and thousands of little birds. And soon all these birds came down. The Doctor could see that they had blue wings and white breasts. And then John Dolittle said, “These are the swallows. They are going back because it will be summer when we get home. Swallows, I thank you! Now we will not lose our way. Pull up the anchor and set the sail!”

The Doctor’s ship had to pass the coast of Barbary. This coast is the seashore of the Great Desert. It is a wild, lonely place – all sand and stones. And the Barbary pirates lived there. And if they saw a boat, they came out in their fast ships and chased it. When they caught a boat like this at sea, they stole everything on it, took the people off, sank the boat and sailed back to Barbary. Then they made the people from the boat write home to their friends for money. And if the friends didn’t send any money, the pirates often threw the people into the sea.

Now one sunny day the Doctor and Dab-Dab were on the ship, walking up and down for exercise; there was a nice fresh wind, and everybody was happy. Soon Dab-Dab saw the sail of another ship a long way behind them. It was a red sail. “I don’t like that sail. I have a feeling it isn’t a friendly ship,” said Dab-Dab. Jip, who was near, began to growl. “I smell bad men,” he growled – “I smell trouble. I smell a fight – six bad men are fighting against one brave man. I want to help him. Woof – oo – WOOF!” Then he barked loudly.

“See!” cried Dab-Dab. “That boat is nearer now. You can count its three big sails – all red. They are coming after us…. Who are they?”

“They are bad sailors,” said Jip; “and their ship is very swift. They are the pirates of Barbary.”

Then the Doctor asked Dab-Dab to fly up and tell the swallows that pirates were after them in a swift ship. When the swallows heard this, they all came down onto the Doctor’s ship. They told him to separate a long thick rope into a lot of thin strings as quickly as he could. Then the Doctor and the animals tied the ends of these strings to the front of the ship; and the swallows took the strings with their feet and flew off, pulling the boat along. Altogether there were two thousand swallows. And then the Doctor’s ship traveled really fast. And all the animals on the ship began to laugh and dance, because the pirates’ ship was now far, far behind.