Chapter 7 of Forging the Blades is here in full — 420 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of Forging the Blades is here in full — 420 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"_Ye-bo_! Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure. But that is now all a thing of bygone years. It is dead, dead and buried. We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
Chapter 7 of Forging the Blades is here in full — 420 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/84 · 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.
placed in a grave
From this reading “It is dead, dead and buried.”
past events to be put aside
From this reading “But that is now all a thing of bygone years.”
properly deserved
From this reading “Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.”
plural of “dog” — a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds
From this reading “We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."”
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading “We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."”
get by special effort
From this reading “Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.”
have in common
From this reading “Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.”
two times
From this reading “Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.”
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 “But that is now all a thing of bygone years.”
a man who is White
In this reading “We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."”
In this reading “Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.”
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 Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It is dead, dead and buried.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
placed in a grave
From this reading It is dead, dead and buried.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
past events to be put aside
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading It is dead, dead and buried.
properly deserved
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
plural of “dog” — a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is dead, dead and buried.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
engage in
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
the one or ones belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
get by special effort
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
cause to go somewhere
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
have in common
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
a special situation
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
the plural of “that”: the people or things further away, or already known
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
two times
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
used to ask for information about something
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
a Caucasian
From this reading We are the white man's dogs to-day, and always shall be."
which person or people
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading Twice did Dingana send me a wife, for he said that a man who could make assegais like mine deserved a share of what those assegais could procure.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "_Ye-bo_!
a late time of life
From this reading But that is now all a thing of bygone years.
Chapter 7 of Forging the Blades by Bertram Mitford holds 420 sentences, grouped into 84 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 7 holds 420 sentences of Forging the Blades, unabridged, divided into 84 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of Forging the Blades by Bertram Mitford exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 420 sentences, grouped into 84 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 84 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 84 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 7 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 Forging the Blades by Bertram Mitford on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5467 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #32567 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #32567, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 455 minutes of reading across 1094 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Forging the Blades section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of Forging the Blades 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 Forging the Blades, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
