Doctor Knowall

Once there lived a poor peasant named Crab, who owned only one old horse and a wagon he used to haul wood into town. He had no fine clothes, no fine house, and certainly no fine carriage.

One day, as Crab drove his creaky wagon down the road, a grand carriage rattled past, pulled by four handsome horses. Inside sat a doctor, dressed in silks, riding proud and comfortable. Crab watched him go by with wide eyes.

"Ah," Crab said to his wife that night by the fire, "if only I were a doctor. Then I could ride like that too, instead of hauling logs all day."

His wife looked at him thoughtfully. "Why not become one, then? You know your letters. Buy yourself an ABC book, and call yourself a doctor. See what happens."

Crab liked the sound of that. He bought a little ABC primer, painted the words DOCTOR KNOWALL in bright letters on the side of his wagon, and set off down the road to try his luck.

A New Doctor in Town

Word travels fast in a small village. Before long, a wealthy lord heard that a clever new doctor named Knowall had arrived — a man who "knew everything." And as it happened, the lord was in a terrible fix: a great deal of his silver money had vanished from his house, and no one could say where it had gone.

"Send for Doctor Knowall!" the lord declared. "If he truly knows everything, he will know who stole my silver."

Crab was invited to the lord's grand table for dinner that very evening — the perfect moment, the lord thought, to quietly test whether this doctor was truly as wise as his name suggested. Unknown to Crab, it was four of the lord's own servants who had stolen the silver, and all four were creeping nervously in and out of the dining room, serving the meal.

The Dinner That Gave Everything Away

The first servant came in, carrying a beautifully cooked dish, and set it before Doctor Knowall. Crab, counting the courses in his head so he wouldn't lose track of the meal, muttered under his breath, "That is the first."

The servant froze in the doorway, his heart pounding. He knows I was the first one to take the silver! he thought, and hurried out, trembling.

The second servant carried in the next dish. Crab, still simply counting his courses, said quietly, "That is the second."

The servant's stomach dropped to his boots. He knows about me too!

One by one, the third and fourth servants came and went, and each time Crab murmured his little count — "third... fourth" — thinking only of his supper, the servants grew paler and paler, utterly convinced that this mysterious Doctor Knowall could see straight into their guilty hearts.

By the time the meal ended, the four servants had gathered together in the kitchen, shaking with fright. "He knows everything," one whispered. "We must confess before he tells the master and we're thrown in prison!"

So, one by one, they crept to Doctor Knowall's room that night and begged him, "Please, sir, do not tell the lord it was us! We will show you exactly where the silver is hidden, only spare us!"

Crab, hiding his surprise as best he could, nodded gravely, as if he had known their secret all along. "Very well," he said. "Show me where it lies, and I shall see what can be done."

The Fly That Solved the Mystery

The next morning, Doctor Knowall sat down at a fine table before the lord and his household, opened his little ABC book, and pretended to search through its pages for answers. As he did, a fly buzzed by and landed right on the page.

"Aha!" Crab exclaimed, pointing at the fly with great importance. "I have found him! I see everything now!"

Then, with the whole room watching in amazement, Doctor Knowall led them straight to the very spot where the servants had hidden the stolen silver, exactly as they had told him in secret the night before.

The lord was overjoyed. He praised Doctor Knowall as the wisest man he had ever met and rewarded him with gold, fine clothes, and honor beyond anything Crab had ever dreamed of. From that day on, Crab — the poor peasant who once hauled wood in a rickety wagon — was known far and wide as the great and clever Doctor Knowall.

Moral / Lesson: A little courage, a little luck, and a lot of quick thinking can carry you further than you'd ever expect — even if the world believes you know more than you really do.

Attribution: Adapted from The Brothers Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812) — public domain.