Form 7 (I term)

The Doctor’s Help

There was a bookseller in a small town who did not like to spend his money. One
day a big box of books fell down and hurt his foot.
“Go to the doctor”, said his wife, “and show that foot to him.”
“No”, he said, ”I’ll wait until the doctor comes into the shop next time. Then I’ll ask
him what to do about my foot. If I go to see him, I’ll have to pay him”.
The next day the doctor came into the shop and bought some books.
As the bookseller was wrapping up the books, he told the doctor about his bad foot.
The doctor examined it.
“Yes”, said the doctor. “You must put that foot in hot water every night. Then you
must put some ointment on it”.
He took out a piece of paper and wrote a prescription on it. “Buy this and put it on
the foot before you go to bed every night”, he said.
“Thank you”, said the bookseller. “And now, Sir, here are your books”.
“How much?” asked the doctor. “Two pounds”.
“Good”, said the doctor. “I won’t need to pay you anything”. “Why not?” asked the
bookseller in surprise.
“You asked me to look at your foot. I did so and wrote out a prescription. If people
come to my house, I ask them to pay one pound for a small thing like that. But when I go
to their houses, I want two pounds. And I came here, didn’t I?”