Chapter 5 of A mirror for witches is here in full — 345 sentences across 69 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of A mirror for witches is here in full — 345 sentences across 69 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_The night crackles with Fire. Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners. On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out. The first took the noon-house of the Church. The second the ropewalk of Deacon Pentwhistle.
Chapter 5 of A mirror for witches is here in full — 345 sentences across 69 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/69 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
From this reading “Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.”
in a consecutive manner
From this reading “On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.”
plural of “corner” — a place off to the side of an area
From this reading “Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.”
plural of “crackle” — the sharp sound of snapping noises
From this reading “_The night crackles with Fire.”
a Protestant layman who assists the minister
From this reading “The second the ropewalk of Deacon Pentwhistle.”
plural of “laugh” — the sound of laughing
From this reading “Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.”
plural of “meet” — a meeting at which a number of athletic contests are held
From this reading “Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.”
a female sorcerer or magician
From this reading “Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
lacking funds
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship
From this reading The first took the noon-house of the Church.
in a consecutive manner
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
plural of “corner” — a place off to the side of an area
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
plural of “crackle” — the sharp sound of snapping noises
From this reading _The night crackles with Fire.
a Protestant layman who assists the minister
From this reading The second the ropewalk of Deacon Pentwhistle.
start firing a weapon
From this reading _The night crackles with Fire.
plural of “fire” — the event of something burning (often destructive)
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading The first took the noon-house of the Church.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
any place of pain and turmoil
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
plural of “laugh” — the sound of laughing
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
plural of “meet” — a meeting at which a number of athletic contests are held
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading _The night crackles with Fire.
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The first took the noon-house of the Church.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The second the ropewalk of Deacon Pentwhistle.
workplace consisting of a long narrow path or shed where rope is made
From this reading The second the ropewalk of Deacon Pentwhistle.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading The second the ropewalk of Deacon Pentwhistle.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
that is looked for
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
not in physical motion
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _The night crackles with Fire.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading On three nights, consecutively, great fires broke out.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading The first took the noon-house of the Church.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
a female sorcerer or magician
From this reading Hell laughs and a Witch meets that which she long has sought._ Still in the month of May, catastrophe came to Cowan Corners.
in the company of; together with
From this reading _The night crackles with Fire.
Chapter 5 of A mirror for witches by Esther Forbes holds 345 sentences, grouped into 69 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 5 holds 345 sentences of A mirror for witches, unabridged, divided into 69 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of A mirror for witches by Esther Forbes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 345 sentences, grouped into 69 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 69 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 69 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 5 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A mirror for witches by Esther Forbes on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2490 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #75212 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #75212, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 207 minutes of reading across 498 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A mirror for witches section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of A mirror for witches to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A mirror for witches, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
