The Legendary Story Zhang Baotong 2019.3.11

A saga is a story with a bizarre plot or unusual behavior of characters. Here's a legendary story about Fleming and Churchill. Fleming won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his invention of penicillin, while Churchill was the British Prime Minister during World War II and won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his documentary book "No Need for War".

The story is told one day at the end of the 19th century. At that time, Alexander Fleming's father, Fleming Sr., was a poor farmer in Scotland, but he was kind-hearted and helpful. One day he was working in the fields, and suddenly he heard someone crying for help in the nearby mud, it turned out that a little boy had accidentally fallen into the mud, and the mud was about to flood his chest, so Fleming Sr. did not hesitate to jump into the mud and try to save the boy.

Just then, a gentleman arrived in a carriage and was anxiously looking for his lost son. When he learned that Fleming Sr. had saved his son, he was very moved and offered to reward him with a large sum of money. However, the farmer refused. He said he deserved it and didn't need to be rewarded. Just then, Fleming, the farmer's son, ran to his father. When the gentleman saw the farmer's son, he said to the farmer, "Since you have saved my son and refuse to accept my great reward, let me sponsor your son to go to school and receive a formal education." Your son is a smart kid at first glance, and if he can get a formal education, he will definitely be very successful in the future. Old Fleming was impressed by the gentleman's sincerity and accepted his grant.

The gentleman was very trustworthy and kept old Fleming's son in school until he was admitted to St. Mary's Medical College. After graduating from university, Fleming began to pursue medical research, and in 1928 discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic in human history. Later, penicillin gradually began to be used in clinical practice, saving the lives of hundreds of millions of patients, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The son of the gentleman who was rescued by his father from the quagmire was Winston Churchill, who later became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

During World War II, Churchill was ill with pneumonia during a visit to Africa, which was a terminal illness at the time. At this critical juncture, Alexander Fleming rushed from England to Africa and saved Churchill's pneumonia with penicillin. Churchill held Fleming's hand tightly and said excitedly, thank you very much, you father and son gave me two lives. Fleming smiled and replied that you're welcome, it was my father who saved you the first time, but if it wasn't for your father helping me, I wouldn't be where I am today, so in a sense, it was your father who saved you.

In this way, a farmer rescues a child he didn't know, which changes the fate of both children and has a major impact on human history.

This is a very meaningful story about two great Englishmen who helped each other, repaid their kindness with virtue and formed a good relationship. However, the story sounded more like it to me than it was. So, after listening to this story, I went to look up the biographies of these two great people. It turned out that Churchill had spent time in Africa, but that was in 1907, at the age of 33, he was serving as the vice-minister to the governor-general, and he was touring the African countries of the British colonies while holding official meetings and accumulating material for his "My Journey to Africa". His books, published in 1908, include "The Railways of Uganda", "A Closer Look at Kenya", "The East African Highlands" and "Walking Tours". Because World War II had not yet begun, his book naturally had nothing to do with World War II. Moreover, Churchill's father had been the British Chancellor of the Exchequer for many years, so it was impossible to take his son to Kimalnock in Scotland in a horse-drawn carriage.

And judging by Fleming's profile, he was born in 1881, 7 years younger than Churchill. According to the introduction, Fleming went to London to work with his brother who was a medical practitioner at the age of 13, and because he unexpectedly received an inheritance from his uncle, he entered St. Mary's Medical School, University of London, and after graduating in 1906, he stayed in the laboratory of his alma mater to help his mentor Dr. Wright conduct immunology research. This sentence completely denies that Fleming was sponsored by Churchill's father to go to school, and that he followed his brother to London to work. He enrolled at St Mary's Medical School, University of London, not because of Churchill's father's patronage, but because he received an inheritance from his uncle.

Penicillin was widely used to treat the wounded during World War II, saving thousands of wounded and soldiers. Even if Churchill had pneumonia, there was no need to ask Fleming to travel from England to Africa to treat him. He was a researcher, not a doctor. Besides, Churchill was busy directing the war at that time, so how could he have time to visit Africa?

Although this story is made up, it really educates many people to treat each other with kindness and integrity, and educates and guides more people to have kindness by treating kindness with kindness and repaying kindness with virtue.