Chapter 1 of Tales is here in full — 202 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Tales is here in full — 202 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
TALE I. THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY. With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances. SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It. Deep shame hath struck me dumb.
Chapter 1 of Tales is here in full — 202 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis
From this reading “With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.”
flesh of a castrated male chicken
From this reading “With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.”
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading “THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.”
plural of “instance” — an occurrence of something
From this reading “With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.”
bordered by a line of things
From this reading “With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.”
plural of “orator” — a person who delivers a speech or oration
From this reading “THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.”
plural of “saw” — a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people
From this reading “With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.”
English poet and dramatist considered one of the greatest English writers (1564-1616)
From this reading “SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It.
the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
financial assistance in time of need
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
flesh of a castrated male chicken
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply
From this reading Deep shame hath struck me dumb.
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
opinion or judgment
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
an old form of “has”
From this reading Deep shame hath struck me dumb.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading TALE I.
plural of “instance” — an occurrence of something
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It.
bordered by a line of things
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Deep shame hath struck me dumb.
belonging to the modern era; since the Middle Ages
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
plural of “orator” — a person who delivers a speech or oration
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
a charge of ammunition for a single shot
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
plural of “saw” — a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
English poet and dramatist considered one of the greatest English writers (1564-1616)
From this reading SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It.
a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
From this reading Deep shame hath struck me dumb.
an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading Deep shame hath struck me dumb.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading TALE I.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE DUMB ORATORS; OR THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.
having or prompted by wisdom or discernment
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
in the company of; together with
From this reading With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe - Full of wise saws and modern instances.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It.
Chapter 1 of Tales by George Crabbe holds 202 sentences, grouped into 41 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 1 holds 202 sentences of Tales, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Tales by George Crabbe exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 202 sentences, grouped into 41 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 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 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 1 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 Tales by George Crabbe on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1908 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #5217 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #5217, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 159 minutes of reading across 382 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tales section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of Tales 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 Tales, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
