Chapter 4 of The Animal Story Book is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Animal Story Book is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.' 'Thank you, Michel. And what of the troubadour and his monkey?' 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that. It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
Chapter 4 of The Animal Story Book is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/86 · 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.
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
From this reading “The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'”
being ten more than thirty
From this reading “It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'”
plural of “franc” — the basic monetary unit in many countries; equal to 100 centimes
From this reading “It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'”
a cooking utensil of parallel metal bars; used to grill fish or meat
From this reading “The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'”
comparative of “hot” — used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning
From this reading “The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'”
plural of “mouse” — any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
From this reading “It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'”
any of various long-tailed primates (excluding the prosimians)
From this reading “And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'”
a singer of folk songs
From this reading “And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'”
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 “It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'”
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 It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
(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 It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
(comparative of “good”) superior to another (of the same class or set or kind) in excellence or quality or desirability or suitability; more highly skilled than another
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
a youthful male person
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
being ten more than thirty
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
plural of “franc” — the basic monetary unit in many countries; equal to 100 centimes
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
a cooking utensil of parallel metal bars; used to grill fish or meat
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'
comparative of “hot” — used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
plural of “mouse” — any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 'Thank you, Michel.
any of various long-tailed primates (excluding the prosimians)
From this reading And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'
and nothing more
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
precisely, exactly
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
term of address for a man
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
express in words
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
express gratitude or show appreciation to
From this reading 'Thank you, Michel.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The hotter the gridiron is the better the cat is afterwards.'
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
a singer of folk songs
From this reading And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading 'To be sure; I was coming to tell you about that.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading And what of the troubadour and his monkey?'
a Caucasian
From this reading It is all right, sir; you are to have Potich for forty francs, only you must give the boy two white mice and a guinea-pig in return.'
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading 'Thank you, Michel.
Chapter 4 of The Animal Story Book by Andrew [Editor] Lang holds 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 4 holds 432 sentences of The Animal Story Book, unabridged, divided into 87 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Animal Story Book by Andrew [Editor] Lang exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 87 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 87 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 4 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 The Animal Story Book by Andrew [Editor] Lang on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3862 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #38208 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #38208, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 321 minutes of reading across 773 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Animal Story Book section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 9 chapters of The Animal Story Book 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 The Animal Story Book, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
