Chapter VI of Bennie Ben Cree, “The Dismal Canal,” is here in full — 220 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter VI of Bennie Ben Cree, “The Dismal Canal,” is here in full — 220 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
|The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market. The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground. “Hiop!” said Mr. Todd. “Here you be! An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
Chapter VI of Bennie Ben Cree, “The Dismal Canal,” is here in full — 220 sentences across 44 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/44 · 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.
plural of “bag” — a flexible container with a single opening
From this reading “|The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.”
the amount that many barrels might hold
From this reading “|The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.”
inflected form of “flop” — fall loosely
From this reading “The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.”
large stinging paper wasp
From this reading “An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!”
to incline or bend from a vertical position
From this reading “The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.”
plural of “mule” — hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse; usually sterile
From this reading “The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.”
move unsteadily, with a rocking motion
From this reading “An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!”
Scottish chemist noted for his research into the structure of nucleic acids (born in 1907)
From this reading “|The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.”
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.
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 An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
plural of “bag” — a flexible container with a single opening
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
the amount that many barrels might hold
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “Here you be!
(of a surface) not written or printed on
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
plural of “ear” — the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
inflected form of “flop” — fall loosely
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
the solid part of the earth's surface
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading “Here you be!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Hiop!” said Mr. Todd.
large stinging paper wasp
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
inflected form of “hang” — be suspended or hanging
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
to incline or bend from a vertical position
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
filled with a great quantity
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
roused to anger
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
the world of commercial activity where goods and services are bought and sold
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
a form of address for a man
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
plural of “mule” — hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse; usually sterile
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
a coniferous tree
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
unmistakably (“plain” is often used informally for “plainly”)
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
bring forth or yield
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “Hiop!” said Mr. Todd.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
the act of someone who picks up or takes something
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
move unsteadily, with a rocking motion
From this reading An' the cap'n pine blank mad like a teeter end hornet!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The great lean mules hung their heads and flopping ears hear the ground.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
Scottish chemist noted for his research into the structure of nucleic acids (born in 1907)
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
any of various kinds of wheeled vehicles drawn by an animal or a tractor
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
in the company of; together with
From this reading |The waggon was loaded with barrels and bags, and plainly Mr. Todd was taking produce to some market.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Here you be!
Chapter 6 of Bennie Ben Cree by Arthur [Adapter] Colton holds 220 sentences, grouped into 44 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 6 holds 220 sentences of Bennie Ben Cree, unabridged, divided into 44 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of Bennie Ben Cree by Arthur [Adapter] Colton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 220 sentences, grouped into 44 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 44 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 44 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 6 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 Bennie Ben Cree by Arthur [Adapter] Colton on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1306 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #48147 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #48147, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 108 minutes of reading across 262 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Bennie Ben Cree section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of Bennie Ben Cree 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 Bennie Ben Cree, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
