Summary
Chapter 21
Herriot performs a successful operation on a dog. However, as the dog recovers, he howls uncontrollably and does not regain consciousness very quickly. While Herriot and Siegfried go on farm calls, Tristan must stay and watch the dog. When they come back, Tristan has put cotton in his ears, and the dog is still howling and unconscious. After dinner, Tristan has to stay again with the dog while Herriot and Siegfried go to a meeting. When they return, Tristan is drunk; the dog has started to come out of his anesthesia, but is unstable on his feet. Siegfried makes Tristan take the dog into his room for the night so he can take care of it. The dog paces all night, keeping Tristan awake. The next day, the dog finally returns home, and Siegfried appears to be pleased with having tortured his brother for the night.
Chapter 22
An elderly dog needs an operation. Siegfried tells Herriot to take it to Angus Grier, a bad-tempered vet in another district, because Grier had been treating the dog before. Herriot stays to watch Grier operate on the dog; during the operation, Grier insults a veterinary student he has taken on as an assistant. After the operation, Herriot has to wait for the dog to come out of the anesthesia, so Grier invites him to come on a farm visit to a cow. When Grier asks Herriot to help with a simple operation for the cow, Herriot initially refuses because he is not dressed to work on cows. Grier is annoyed by this, so he has Herriot dress up in a full, heavy rubber suit, supposedly so that Herriot can help. The farmers, upon seeing Herriot in the rubber suit, are curious as to what Herriot’s function will be in the surgery; they are surprised when Herriot’s only function is to hand Grier a simple tool. Later, Herriot sees Grier chuckling to himself.
Chapter 23
A farmer named Dan Cooper fears his cow is dead, and asks Herriot to come look at it. Herriot discovers that the cow has “milk fever,” which has made her weak and unable to walk; she is stuck on a riverbank in the rain. Herriot gives her an injection, and she is able to walk again. Dan is highly appreciative and invites Herriot inside for breakfast. Herriot is impressed by the delicious, homemade Yorkshire sausage he is given by the Cooper family. He is happy when Mrs. Cooper sends Herriot home with a parcel full of sausage and a pie. When Herriot returns to Skeldale House, he hears Siegfried and the secretary arguing. Herriot witnesses a scene where Siegfried becomes enraged with Miss Harbottle, and tears up a slip of paper while glaring at her menacingly.
Chapter 24
Siegfried caught Tristan coming home from an annual party, known as the Bellringers’ Party, and was furious. Now that Tristan and Herriot plan to go to a village dance, Siegfried tells Tristan that he has to leave for the night and stay at his mother’s house. Siegfried says that this is due to unexpected visitors in Skeldale House. Tristan is upset that his plans are ruined, and decides to defy Siegfried’s orders and go to the dance anyway. As a punishment, Siegfried gives Tristan the particularly difficult job of draining a hematoma (a swelling filled with blood clots) on a pig’s ear. The pig is large, mean, and aggressive, and both Siegfried and Herriot have been putting the job off because of its level of difficulty. It takes Tristan numerous tries before he is successful. Later, Herriot asks him how Tristan did it. Tristan recounts how he wrestled the pig: in the midst of the fight, the pig bashed its ear against the wall and drained the hematoma itself!
Chapter 25
Herriot describes the beauty and warmth of spring as it arrives in the Dales. With spring comes the birth of baby animals. There is a period of time in spring when lambs are born, known as “lambing.” Herriot notes that he prefers lambing to calving, because the patient is smaller than him, and because lambs are very appealing and fascinating creatures.
Herriot then describes the period of time in spring when horses are castrated. He does not like this work much because he does not feel he is good with horses, and he thinks the horses can tell. Castrations are done on young horses using only a local anesthetic. This means there is the danger of getting kicked by the horse!
Herriot then continues with a story about having to treat a stallion with the tumor. He realizes the procedure will be difficult because of the horse’s size, strength, and stubbornness, and because he is so scared of the horse. During the procedure, Herriot gets a hard kick in the leg, resulting in severe bruises. However, he learns a valuable lesson that “the fear is worse than the reality," and claims that he hasn’t been scared of horses since.
Chapter 26
A charismatic farmer, Phin Calvert, calls on Herriot to attend to his animals. He expects Herriot, a young vet, to use modern and exciting remedies. However, in both cases, the illness is simple. The first case is a case of calves with lead poisoning, which Herriot is able to cure with only Epsom salts. The next case is a case of his prize bull, who turns out to have sunstroke; Herriot cures him by spraying him with cold water. This puzzles Calvert, but he is grateful nonetheless. Later on, at a farmer’s discussion group, the farmers talk of the new technology and knowledge that vets use to treat animals. Phin denies this notion, and tells the other farmers about the new vet (Herriot): “It doesn’t matter what you call him out for, he uses nowt but epsom salts and cold water.”
Chapter 27
Siegfried has decided he wants to put on a very professional show when doing surgery, even when it is surgery in a barn. Siegfried takes Herriot and Tristan to do an operation on a cow who belongs to a friend of theirs, the colonel. The three of them arrive and set up their cleanly surgery space, with gleaming tools, with the colonel watching. Siegfried removes his brand-new tweed jacket, hangs it on the wall, and puts on his surgery smock. However, the surgery takes an unexpected turn when an incision causes the cow’s stomach contents to spew everywhere, inundating Siegfried and spraying his tweed jacket. After this event, they finish the surgery without any issues, but Siegfried is smelly and covered in green muck, and is upset about his new jacket. However, on the way home, Siegfried becomes cheerful again and tells the other two that he still considers the surgery a success.
Chapter 28
A farmer, Mr. Cranford, calls Herriot to examine his dead cow. Cranford claims that the cow was struck by lightning, meaning he would be eligible to claim insurance. Herriot inspects the animal and concludes that it was not struck by lightning but has instead died of heart failure, meaning Cranford would not receive insurance money. Cranford is upset, and Herriot asks to have the animal taken to the knacker, Jeff Mallock, the man who cuts open dead animals. There, Herriot can do a post-mortem exam. Herriot describes the knacker’s lot, where Jeff Mallock takes in all the dead livestock, which he cuts up and sells to dog food companies. Mallock is not an educated man, but he often has his own opinion on the cause of death of the animal, which contradicts the vet's. Sometimes the farmers use Mallock’s opinion against the vet, much to Herriot’s frustration. However, in this case, once the cow is opened, Herriot sees it died from heart failure, and Mallock agrees with Herriot. Cranford is angry, and asks Herriot to lie to the insurance company to claim the death was caused by lightning; Herriot refuses. Cranford tells Herriot that he will be complaining.
Chapter 29
Mr. Cranford is still not satisfied with Herriot’s opinion of the cause of death of the cow, and comes to Skeldale House to complain to Siegfried. Siegfried does not respond to Cranford’s complaints, and allows his dogs to bark unstoppably at Cranford while he talks. Eventually, Cranford grows tired of trying to talk over the noise, so he leaves.
Later, Siegfried reports that Cranford has forgiven them and has asked him to create an ointment for one of Cranford’s other animals. Siegfried says he would not mind losing Cranford as a client since he is so difficult to deal with, but somehow he still keeps coming back. Tristan is sent to mail the ointment to Cranford. Siegfried also gives Tristan a fecal sample to mail to a laboratory. Tristan accidentally gets the two mixed up. Three days later, Cranford calls to complain that he was given “a treacle tin full of cow [excrement]," which amuses everyone at the practice.
Chapter 30
Herriot is concerned about Tricki Woo because he has become very fat and ill due to Mrs. Pumphrey’s pampering of him. Herriot decides to have the dog stay two weeks at the “hospital”—Skeldale House. Herriot does not perform surgery on the dog, but instead has Tricki play and run around with Siegfried’s dogs. While Tricki is “convalescing,” Mrs. Pumphrey sends Tricki extra eggs, sherry, and brandy to assist in his recovery; Herriot, Siegfried, and Tristan are the real beneficiaries of these treats, and they enjoy them heartily. After 2 weeks, Tricki has returned to a normal energetic dog and is returned to Mrs. Pumphrey. Mrs. Pumphrey is overjoyed and extremely grateful.
Analysis
In these chapters, Herriot continues his professional and personal growth in the challenging work he does. By now, Herriot is well-adjusted to life in Darrowby. He is a confident and competent veterinarian who has earned the trust and admiration of many of his clients. As in previous chapters, Herriot’s growth is once again reflected in his descriptions of the natural world. As spring arrives, in Chapter 25, Herriot describes the beauty and warmth of spring as it arrives in the Dales: “Through May and early June my world became softer and warmer” (148). Herriot is warming up to the countryside and getting more comfortable in his profession.
One coming-of-age moment for Herriot happens in Chapter 25, corresponding with the arrival of spring. After Herriot describes the beauty of the spring, and the lovely task of lambing, he then goes on to talk about his fear of working with horses. As a vet, Herriot knows he has to work through this fear, but he finds it difficult. However, when he is kicked by a horse, he realizes that the “fear is worse than the reality and horse work has never worried me much since” (154). By facing his fear, he is able to work through it and grow.
Another episode in Herriot’s professional growth comes in the form of conflict with a difficult farmer. Mr. Cranford seems to be distrustful of all vets, but he is especially wary of Herriot: because Herriot is young, Mr. Cranford believes that he is inexperienced and incompetent. He challenges Herriot’s determination of the cause of death of a cow. Herriot sticks with his professional opinion and does not let Mr. Cranford bully him into lying to the insurance company so that Cranford can get money.
Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki Woo’s subplot is continued in Chapter 30, when Herriot realizes he needs to separate the dog from his owner in order to protect Tricki’s health. Here, Herriot stands up for what he knows is best for the dog, despite his concern that Mrs. Pumphrey may not agree. Luckily for Herriot, the situation turns out better than expected, and Tricki recovers. At the end of the chapter, Herriot witnesses the loving reunion at the end of the chapter: “Tricki….took off from my arms in a tremendous leap and sailed into Mrs. Pumphrey’s lap...he swarmed over her, licking her face and barking” (182-3). Once again, Tricki and Mrs. Pumphrey demonstrate the powerful human-animal connection.
Herriot’s challenges as a vet are also illustrated in his work with Angus Grier, a cruel vet who deliberately tortures Herriot. Grier is primarily characterized through imagery. We are first introduced to the character of Mr. Grier through Siegfried’s scathing descriptions of him as “a cantankerous Aberdonian,” who has a lot of veterinary students that he mistreats. Siegfried also advises Herriot, “Don’t rub Grier the wrong way—or he’ll take it out on you somehow” (127). This foreshadows Grier’s mean treatment towards Herriot, as we expect that Grier has the capacity to be quite vengeful, especially to inexperienced vets. This characterization continues when Herriot first meets Grier. Through grotesque visual imagery, the reader is encouraged to dislike Grier. “He was about fifty something … with fleshy, mottled cheeks, swimmy eyes and the pattern of purple veins which chased each other over his prominent nose. He wore a permanently insulted expression” (127). In this way, the reader is not surprised when Grier tortures Herriot by making him wear a ridiculous, heavy, uncomfortable rubber suit.
These chapters portray incidents that are indicative of the adversity that Herriot must face as a new veterinarian; it is through Herriot’s persistence and good humor that he is able to grow as a person and professional. Herriot is not pessimistic. Rather, he uses his experience with Grier to tell a comical story of how he was made to look foolish. Also, in the situation with Mr. Cranford, Herriot also is able to stand up for his professional integrity, even though he fears damaging the professional relationship he has with the client. Herriot is thus an example of the power of resilience.
