39 pages 1 hour read

James Herriot

All Creatures Great and Small

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1972

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Chapters 22-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 22-31 Summary

Angus Grier is a cantankerous Scottish vet. James brings him a dog to operate on and goes with him on a visit. When James protests going onto the farm because he didn’t bring his Wellington boots, Grier has a solution: a full-body calving suit of stiff rubber. In it, James is an object of great entertainment for the farmers and Grier himself.

The skirmishes between Siegfried and Miss Harbottle continue, as do the ones between Tristan and Siegfried. On a night when Tristan wants to go to a ball, Siegfried sends him to open a hematoma on the ear of a pig. Both Siegfried and James are too frightened of the pig to do it themselves. Tristan does his best to avoid the task, but finally hops into the pen and does battle with the pig, who bursts the hematoma himself by running into a wall—and the job is done.

James faces his fears when he must operate on a giant horse with a tumor on its belly. When he finally nerves himself up to make an attempt the horse kicks him in the leg. But even with the dent in his muscle to remind him of the kick, the reality of getting kicked turned out not to be as bad as he feared, and he learns to overcome his nerves.