My name is Dr Frederick Treves. I am a doctor at the London Hospital.
One day in 1884, I saw a picture in the window of a shop near the hospital. I
stopped in front of the shop and looked at the picture. At first I felt
interested, then I felt angry, then afraid. It was a horrible, ugly picture.
There was a man in the picture, but he did not look like you and me. He did not
look like a man. He looked like an elephant. I read the writing under the
picture. It said：Come in and
see the Elephant Man. 2 pence.
I opened the door and went in.
There was a man in the shop. He was a dirty man in an old coat with a
cigarette in his mouth. ‘What do you want？’he asked.
‘I'd like to see the elephant man,
please, ’I said.
The man looked at me angrily. ‘Well, you can't, ’ he said. ‘The shop's closing now. You can come
back tomorrow. ’ ‘I'm sorry, ’I said. ‘ But I would like to see him now. I have
no time tomorrow—I have a lot of work to do. But I can give you more than 2
pence. ’ The man looked at me carefully. Then he took the cigarette out of his
mouth and smiled with his yellow teeth.
‘All right, sir, ’he said. ‘Give me twelve pence then. ’ I gave him
the money and he opened a door at the back of the shop. We went into a little
room. The room was cold and dark, and there was a horrible smell in it.
A creature sat on a chair behind a table. I say a creature, because
it was not a man or a woman, like you or me. The creature did not move or look
at us. It sat very quietly on the chair in the cold, dark, dirty room, and
looked at the table. The creature had a cloth over its head, because of the cold.
On the table in front of it, there was a dead flower.
‘Stand up! ’said the shopkeeper, loudly.
The creature stood up slowly. It took the old cloth off its head,
and put it on the chair.
I looked at the creature and felt sad. I am a doctor, so I know a
lot about accidents and ill people. I see horrible, ugly things every day. But
this creature, this thing, was the worst of all. There were no men or women in
the hospital like him. He wore some old
trousers, but no shirt, coat, or shoes, so I could see his body very well. His
head was the most interesting thing. It was very, very big—like an enormous bag
with a lot of books in it. The head did not have much hair, and there was
another bag of brown, dirty skin at the back of it. This skin came down below
his neck. I could not see one of his eyes very well, because a lot of skin came
down in front of his face, too. An
enormous red tooth came out of his mouth, under his nose. It looked like an
elephant's tooth. The mouth and nose were like holes in the face. The face
could not smile or laugh or look angry or sad, because the skin could not move.
It was dead, like an elephant's face.
There were more bags of dirty skin on the front and back of the
creature's body. These bags came down to his legs. The right arm was enormous,
and there were bags of skin on it, too. The right hand was like a man's foot.
But the left hand the left arm and the left hand were beautiful! The
left arm had wonderful skin, and the fingers of the left hand were long and
beautiful. It was like a young woman's hand!
‘Walk, Merrick! ’ said the shopkeeper
angrily. ‘Come on, quickly, move! ’He hit the creature with his hand.