XI: The Black Prince explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Freedom vs. Captivity

  The Doctor and his animals are recaptured and imprisoned, highlighting the struggle for freedom.

• Critique of Human Arrogance

  The King's arrogance in imprisoning the Doctor and the use of trickery to undermine his authority.

Characters to notice

• Doctor Dolittle

  Leads the group after farewell with monkeys, gets lost in jungle, recaptured and imprisoned by the King.

• Polynesia

  Hides in a tree after capture, devises a trick by impersonating a fairy to Prince Bumpo.

• Chee-Chee

  Goes ahead to look for coconuts, becomes separated, later finds Polynesia in the garden.

• Gub-Gub

  Blamed for straying off the path to hunt ginger-roots, contributing to the group getting lost.

• Prince Bumpo

  The King's son, seen reading fairy tales and wishing to be a white prince; Polynesia tricks him.

• King of the Jolliginki

  Orders the Doctor's recapture and imprisonment, sentences him to scrub the kitchen floor.

Key passages

• “We must tread softly and talk low as we go through the land of the Jolliginki. If the King should hear us, he will send his soldiers to catch us again; for I am sure he is still very angry over the trick I played on him.”

  Polynesia warns the group to move quietly and speak softly to avoid being recaptured by the angry King.

  Shows Polynesia's caution and awareness of the King's wrath.

• “If I were only a white prince!”

  Prince Bumpo expresses his wish to be transformed into a white-skinned prince.

  Reveals Bumpo's desire for racial transformation, central to the trick.

• “In thy father's prison, there lies a famous wizard, John Dolittle by name. Many things he knows of medicine and magic, and mighty deeds has he performed.”

  Polynesia, as the fake fairy, tells Bumpo that the Doctor is a powerful wizard who can turn him white.

  Polynesia's deceptive plan to free the Doctor.