The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle · Chapter
The Hanging Stone explained
The Doctor and his companions explore Spidermonkey Island, witnessing the Whispering Rocks and a massive hanging stone over a volcano.
What happens
The Doctor and his companions explore Spidermonkey Island, witnessing the Whispering Rocks and a massive hanging stone over a volcano. The Doctor explains that if the stone falls into the volcano, it could break the air-chamber and cause the island to sink. They return to Popsipetel to find that a new chief is being elected after an all-night council.
Themes in this chapter
Adventure and Exploration
The Doctor and his party explore the Whispering Rocks and the volcano, discovering the island's unique geography and legends.
Cultural Exchange and Understanding
The Popsipetel guides share their legends and customs, including the crowning of kings and the prophecy of the hanging stone.
Characters to notice
- Doctor Dolittle
Explores the island, examines the hanging stone, and explains its potential danger to the island's buoyancy.
- Tommy Stubbins
Narrates the exploration and asks questions about the hanging stone.
- Bumpo Kahbooboo
Comments on the hanging stone and its potential to fall through the earth.
- Long Arrow
Mentioned as recovering from his illness; the Doctor visits him upon returning to Popsipetel.
Key passages
“But the change of heart in the Bag-jagderags was really sincere. The Doctor had made a great impression on them—a deeper one than even he himself realized at the time.”
The Bag-jagderags genuinely changed their attitude; the Doctor's influence on them was more profound than he knew.
Highlights the Doctor's impact on the native people.
“There was a legend among the people, they said, that when the greatest of all Popsipetel kings should be crowned in the ivory chair, this hanging stone would tumble into the volcano’s mouth and go straight down to the centre of the earth.”
A local legend foretold that the hanging stone would fall into the volcano when the greatest Popsipetel king was crowned.
Introduces a prophecy tied to the island's fate.