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the customer something he desperately wants, but
in
return taking some–
thing far more meaningful. Here the doctor backs away from the deal at the
last minute, turning it down (''I'm not thinking of paying for it by handing
the girl over to you"), but the deal is forced upon him: once he agreed to use
the devil's horses, he could not avoid paying the devil's price.
What appears at the beginning of the story as an effort to resolve a
transportation problem-how can the doctor get to the bedside of his seri–
ously ill patient on this snowy, stormy night-turns out to be an affair
loaded with shame and guilt: the doctor's horse has died of overexertion, he
was unable to protect the girl, and he also failed to cure the patient. Perhaps
this is why the beginning-and in fact most of the story-is rendered as an
apology. It is, however, an absurd, circular apology, almost reminiscent of the
folk song,"There's a hole in my bucket": the first thing cannot be done for
lack of the second, which is prevented by constraints of the third, which
results from a shortage of the fourth, which can be filled only if the first
thing is obtained. If we were to schematize the plot of "A Country Doctor"
as a protocol of an interrogation, the absurdity of the doctor's condition,
and of his defense, would become even more evident.
If everything is ready for the journey, including "a light gig with
big wheels," why do you not go?
Because there is no horse.
Where is the horse?
Died last night.
And why did the horse die?
From "the fatigues of this icy winter."
And why was the horse fatigued in the icy winter?
Because "the whole district made my life a torment with my
night bell."
And why was this call harder for you than others?
This time "I should have to sacrifice Rose."
And why did you abandon her? Why did you let the groom bite
her face?
I reproached him. I threatened to whip him.
Why did you not whip him?
Because I inunediately remembered "that the man was a stranger;
that I did not know where he came from."
And why did you accept help from a stranger when you did not
even know where he came from?
Because "of his own free will he was helping me out when every–
one else failed me."
Why did the others fail you?
"The whole district made my life a torment."
