Doctor Knowall

A poor peasant named Crabb drove two oxen with a load of wood to town and sold it to a doctor for two talers. While the money was counted, he watched the doctor eat and drink well and longed to live that way. He asked if he too could become a doctor. “Soon managed,” said the doctor. First, buy an ABC book with a cock on the frontispiece. Second, sell cart and oxen for clothes and whatever belongs to medicine. Third, hang a sign above the door: “I am Doctor Knowall.” Crabb did all three.

After he had “doctored” a little while, a rich lord had money stolen. People spoke of Doctor Knowall in such-and-such a village. The lord drove out and asked if Crabb were Doctor Knowall. “Yes,” he said—but Grete his wife must come too. Both rode to the castle. The table was spread; Crabb insisted Grete sit as well.

When the first servant brought a fine dish, Crabb nudged his wife: “Grete, that was the first”—meaning the first course. The servant, who really was a thief, thought he meant “the first thief,” and fled outside in terror to warn his mates that the doctor knew all. The second was forced in with his dish; Crabb said, “Grete, that is the second.” The third heard, “Grete, that is the third.” The fourth brought a covered dish; the lord told the doctor to guess what lay under the cover. They were crabs. Crabb stared, at a loss, and cried, “Ah, poor Crabb!” The lord shouted that he knew it—and must also know who had the money.

The servants signed him outside and confessed the theft, promising to restore the gold and pay him heavily if he would not denounce them—hanging waited otherwise. They showed him the hiding place. Satisfied, he returned, sat down, and said he would search his book for where the gold was hidden. A fifth servant crept into the stove to listen. Crabb opened the ABC book, turned pages looking for the cock on the frontispiece, and muttered, “I know you are there, so you had better come out!” The man in the stove thought he was found, sprang out crying that the man knew everything. Doctor Knowall showed the lord the money without naming the thieves, took reward from both sides, and became a renowned man.

About this story

“Doctor Knowall” is number 98 in Margaret Hunt’s translation of the Grimms (“Doktor Allwissend”). This telling follows Project Gutenberg’s Grimms’ Fairy Tales (#2591), whose English is based on the translations of Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes.

The joke at dinner depends on the peasant’s name. In this English text he is called Crabb, so when a dish of crabs is served and he sighs, “Ah, poor Crabb,” the lord thinks he has guessed what is under the cover. Joseph Jacobs, in the notes to his Indian Fairy Tales (1892), identifies this tale as a striking parallel to the Sanskrit story of Harisarman, which shares even the pun on the hero’s name. The thieves are let off unnamed, as in the source.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg #2591)

Best for ages 9–12 — a comedy of mistaken meanings, false expertise and theft, with a threat of hanging.

Reading the story closely

Crabb does eventually know where the money is: the frightened servants tell him. Before that, innocent remarks sound like discoveries because the listeners already expect him to know everything. After the confession, he deliberately acts out a search in his book to preserve that reputation.

Sort his three apparent feats—the counted courses, the covered crabs, and the recovered money—into accident, misunderstanding and information received. More than one label may fit. The sign and clothes create an impressive appearance, but the story supplies no evidence that Crabb has learned medicine. Finding stolen money cannot establish medical skill.

Talk about it

• Why did the servants think the doctor knew they were thieves?
• When does Crabb first learn where the money really is, and why does he pretend the book will reveal it?
• If you were in Crabb’s place at the dinner, would you have owned up or kept pretending? Why?

Related stories

• Harisarman — an Indian tale of a pretend wise man saved by lucky guesses, like Crabb
• The Little Peasant — a Grimm peasant who gets rich by bluffing and tricking his neighbours
• Clever Gretel — another short Grimm comedy where a quick tongue gets someone out of trouble