Summary
Chapter 11
In this chapter, Herriot is sent to see an old dog in an impoverished part of the town. The owner of the dog, an old man, lives off a small street, known as a "yard." The old man tells Herriot that the old dog has been his only companion since his wife passed away. The man is hopeful that the dog can recover soon.
However, when Herriot examines the dog, he finds the dog has inoperable cancer. The dog is clearly in pain; Herriot advises the man that the dog should be put to sleep. The man agrees, and Herriot administers the drug; the dog dies peacefully.
The man then wants to pay Herriot for his services, but Herriot refuses the payment. Herriot feels bad for the man because he has just lost his only companion and he is clearly very poor. Yet, after Herriot leaves the man's home, the man catches up with Herriot and offers him a cigar.
Chapter 12
Siegfried assigns the task of bookkeeping to his brother Tristan. Herriot worries it will cause more problems between the brothers. However, it turns out that Tristan is very good at chatting with the farmers while they pay their bills. All is well until Tristan loses the receipt book—meaning they have no record of which farmers paid their bills! Thus, all of the bills will be issued again next month, even if the customer already paid.
The next month when the double bill goes out, the farmers are very offended and unhappy. Herriot and Siegfried have to apologize to many dissatisfied customers. Siegfried has one especially unfortunate interaction with a man in a bar. To avoid further problems, Siegfried decides to start going to a different bar.
Chapter 13
This chapter introduces Mrs. Pumphrey and her pampered Pekingese dog, Tricki Woo. Herriot treats Tricki Woo’s illnesses, such as “flop bott” and “crackerdog.” Tricki’s ailments are caused by Mrs. Pumphrey overfeeding him; she likes to feed him human food. Herriot realizes that it is impossible to talk sense into Mrs. Pumphrey, although he does try. To show her appreciation, Mrs. Pumphrey sends Herriot gifts, such as hampers full of expensive food, signing the gifts from Tricki Woo. However, when Herriot calls to thank Mrs. Pumphrey, she acts coldly toward him, reminding Herriot that it was Tricki who sent the gift. Thus, Herriot, as Tricki Woo’s “Uncle Herriot," writes Tricki a formal thank you note. Siegfried teases Herriot for being spoiled by Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki.
Chapter 14
The chapter opens on Tristan and Herriot mixing medicines, something that Herriot notes is no longer done in the 1960s, because the medicines come pre-made. Herriot also notes that Tristan re-sat his veterinary exams and passed them, with seemingly no effort.
Siegfried hires a secretary, Miss Harbottle, because he no longer trusts Tristan to hold the receipts. She is extremely stern and stubborn. She is disgusted by their current system, which involves a messy ledger of daily visits, and a disorganized jar full money and bank notes. They also do not have a petty cash box. She tells them they need to be more organized. Siegfried admits that she is tough, but he is happy that she knows what she is doing.
Chapter 15
Tristan causes another domestic disaster at Skeldale House. Siegfried, sick of going to the grocer for bacon and eggs, decides to get hens and pigs. He starts with hens; Tristan is in charge of looking after the hens, but he does not feed them regularly. The hens do not produce any eggs, to the annoyance of Siegfried. Eventually, the hens begin to leave the coop to search for food; the neighbors get annoyed about having to round up Siegfried's hens on a regular basis. In the end, Siegfried gives the hens away to Mrs. Dale. A few weeks later, Siegfried hears that she feeds them regularly, and now the hens are producing 10 eggs a day. He is enraged with Tristan.
Chapter 16
With Siegfried's new piglets, a similar situation occurs. At first, Tristan is amused by the pigs’ personalities, but as they get bigger and stronger, he finds it harder and harder to feed them. When Tristan accidentally leaves the gate open, they trample him and escape. They run through the busy market stalls, scaring the crowd. The pigs are eventually rounded up. The chaos with the pigs also causes Siegfried’s new mare to escape. Siegfried comes home enraged because he has just found out his mare was seen in the vicar’s garden; however, Tristan is exhausted from his day of chasing pigs, and refuses to get the mare; thus, Siegfried has to go himself. Soon after, they have the pigs slaughtered, and they never get more pigs nor hens.
Chapter 17
Miss Harbottle is angry at Siegfried because he frequently empties her petty cash box without writing down when he takes money out. She is also angry because his writing is barely legible, and he often forgets to write his visits in the ledger, meaning Miss Harbottle cannot send out the bills to the farmers on time. Siegfried often avoids facing her and runs out of any confrontation with her by claiming he has urgent calls to attend to.
Chapter 18
Herriot recalls when he was seventeen and in veterinary school in Scotland. He remembers learning about horses. He was so confident with his theoretical knowledge that he felt like he knew everything about horses. On his way home from class, he came across a carriage horse, which he looked at admiringly. As he went to leave, he patted the horse on the nose; suddenly, the horse seized his shoulder with his teeth. Herriot was very embarrassed.
Chapter 19
At Siegfried’s encouragement, Herriot attends a party for Tricki Woo at Mrs. Pumphrey’s. She is famous for having lavish parties. Herriot is nervous for the party because many people will be there and it is a very formal event. At the party, Herriot visits with Tricki; Herriot urges Mrs. Pumphrey to feed the dog less, and she complies. In the ballroom, Mrs. Pumphrey introduces Herriot as “Tricki’s dear kind uncle,” and no one seems to think that it is strange. Mrs. Pumphrey generously urges the waiter to make sure Uncle Herriot’s champagne “glass is full and he has plenty to eat.” Herriot delights in drinking champagne and dancing all night; at the end, he goes home happy.
That same night, Herriot has to go on a farm call to help a pig give birth. The situation on the farm is particularly difficult because there is very little light to see by, and the water he is given to wash up with is cold. Herriot is extremely tired and starts to fall asleep while delivering the piglets. Eventually, the piglets are safely delivered, and Herriot marvels at the wonder of new life. He remembers something he learned in his classes: “If you decide to become a veterinary surgeon you will never grow rich but you will have a life of endless interest and variety” (117). He cheerfully thinks about the variety he has experienced just in this one night.
Chapter 20
Herriot witnesses Siegfried confronting Miss Harbottle, complaining that she is not doing her job correctly. He tells her the money box needs to be full, although Mis Harbottle knows that Siegfried is the one constantly taking money out of the box. He also scolds her for not sending the bills out on time, although she is not able to do so because Siegfried also forgets to record the visits he makes, which she needs in order to send out the bills. Miss Harbottle becomes increasingly infuriated by Siegfried’s inconsistencies, but Siegfried does not leave her a moment to defend herself.
Analysis
These chapters deal with day-to-day struggles faced by veterinarians and demonstrate Herriot’s growth. Literary critic Michael Rossi has defined All Creatures Great and Small as a coming-of-age story, stating, “Leaving the sheltered life of a student behind, [Herriot] has to find his place in the world, make his own choices, and live with the results” (Rossi, 32). For Herriot, this means encountering people who are experiencing hardship, as well as enduring his own share of adversity.
Herriot’s professional challenges and growth are reflected in his attitudes about the natural world around him. The challenges of his career are made harder by the harsh winter climate: “Driving for hours with frozen feet, climbing to the high barns in biting winds which seared and flattened the wiry hill grass” (83). Herriot laments the bleak landscape and the way it makes his work even harder.
One key example of adversity is in the story in Chapter 11 of the impoverished old man with the dying dog. Dogs in the novel—a symbol for warmth, companionship, and domesticity—are often used to illustrate the connection between human and animal, a key theme of the novel. The old man is clearly very connected to the dog, and the dog to the man, which is why the scene is so touching and heartbreaking. The dog is so sick that the only joy he seems to have left is his connection with his owner: “When his master spoke, the tail thumped twice on the blankets and a momentary interest showed in the white old eyes” (74). The story has more to show than just the human-animal connection, however: here, Herriot feels a strong affinity for the old man and the loss he is experiencing. For this reason, Herriot places the importance of this human relationship over the need for payment.
When it comes to the human-animal connection, social class is of little importance; the old man, farmers, and the wealthy, all show strong connections to their animals. The human-animal connection is exemplified through the characterization of Mrs. Pumphrey. She is portrayed as eccentric, wealthy, and devoted to her pet. “She lived with a large staff of servants, a gardener, a chauffeur and Tricki Woo. Tricki Woo was a Pekingese and the apple of his mistress’ eye” (83). She has a strong connection to her dog, treating him in many ways like a human, and feeding him lavish human food. She considers Herriot to be the dog's uncle, and thus has Tricki “write” Herriot letters of appreciation (through her, of course). Though she has good intentions, she jeopardizes Tricki’s health by feeding him “roughly twice the amount of food needed for a dog of his size, and the wrong kind of food” (84). This explores a crucial dilemma: that in pampering our pets too much, we may unintentionally make their life worse. In this way, the book functions as a useful and moralizing text, distilling genuine veterinary knowledge into a humorous novel.
In a series of incidents between Tristan and Siegfried, their subplot is furthered developed. Day-to-day struggles of veterinarians also include the business side of things, at which Siegfried does not excel. If Siegfried does not have a mind for business, then Tristan is even worse, due to his disorganization and almost purposeful thwarting of Siegfried’s plans. Through the events of the receipt book, the piglets, and hens, Tristan is painted even more clearly as Siegfried’s foil, countering every smart plan Siegfried makes and turning it into a disaster. One result is that Siegfried decides to hire a secretary, Miss Harbottle, because he is unable to keep track of the practice’s finances. Yet, Miss Harbottle serves as another foil for Siegfried: in regard to finance, she is strict and organized, whereas he is loose and disorganized.
Chapter 19 closes with a quote that Herriot had heard in veterinary school: “If you decide to become a veterinary surgeon you will never grow rich but you will have a life of endless interest and variety” (117). These chapters are exemplary of the wide range of situations Herriot is encountering in his first year as a vet. From poverty to wealth, harsh conditions to leisure, from conflict to comedy between the Farnon brothers, Herriot experiences all kinds of variety in his work as a vet.
