Chapter 5 of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and is here in full — 404 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and is here in full — 404 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Our workers are scarce. We have much to do. Let us try this Aiken-Drum.” Then should you have seen the Brownie work! By night he swept the kitchen clean.
Chapter 5 of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and is here in full — 404 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
a junior Girl Scout
From this reading “Then should you have seen the Brownie work!”
free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
From this reading “By night he swept the kitchen clean.”
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading “By night he swept the kitchen clean.”
only a very short time before
From this reading ““Our workers are scarce.”
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading “Then should you have seen the Brownie work!”
possessing sweep
From this reading “By night he swept the kitchen clean.”
make an effort or attempt
From this reading “Let us try this Aiken-Drum.””
plural of “worker” — a person who works at a specific occupation
From this reading ““Our workers are scarce.”
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Let us try this Aiken-Drum.”
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading “Our workers are scarce.
a junior Girl Scout
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
showing who or what does the action
From this reading By night he swept the kitchen clean.
free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
From this reading By night he swept the kitchen clean.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading We have much to do.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading We have much to do.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading By night he swept the kitchen clean.
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading By night he swept the kitchen clean.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading Let us try this Aiken-Drum.”
to a great degree or extent
From this reading We have much to do.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading By night he swept the kitchen clean.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading “Our workers are scarce.
only a very short time before
From this reading “Our workers are scarce.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
possessing sweep
From this reading By night he swept the kitchen clean.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Let us try this Aiken-Drum.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading We have much to do.
make an effort or attempt
From this reading Let us try this Aiken-Drum.”
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Let us try this Aiken-Drum.”
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We have much to do.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
plural of “worker” — a person who works at a specific occupation
From this reading “Our workers are scarce.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Then should you have seen the Brownie work!
Chapter 5 of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and by Frances Jenkins Olcott holds 404 sentences, grouped into 81 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 404 sentences of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and by Frances Jenkins Olcott exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 404 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and by Frances Jenkins Olcott on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4809 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #56914 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #56914, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 400 minutes of reading across 962 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and 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 Book of Elves and Fairies for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
