Chapter 4 of The Enchanted Burro is here in full — 440 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Enchanted Burro is here in full — 440 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“_Haniwa_, is it?” The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone. “Then we will see! To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.” He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
Chapter 4 of The Enchanted Burro is here in full — 440 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/88 · 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.
past form of “ambush” — wait in hiding to attack
From this reading “The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.”
with anger
From this reading “The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.”
a condition in which the ends of toes and fingers become wide and thick; a symptom of heart or lung disease
From this reading “He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.”
filled with a great quantity
From this reading “He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.”
social deportment
From this reading “To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.””
hide under a false appearance
From this reading “The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.”
past form of “shift” — make a shift in or exchange of
From this reading “He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.”
the bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates
From this reading “To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.””
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 “To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.””
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 To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
past form of “ambush” — wait in hiding to attack
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
with anger
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
a condition in which the ends of toes and fingers become wide and thick; a symptom of heart or lung disease
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
opinion or judgment
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
to certain extent or degree
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “_Haniwa_, is it?”
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s 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 He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “_Haniwa_, is it?”
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “_Haniwa_, is it?”
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
filled with a great quantity
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
social deportment
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
hide under a false appearance
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
relating to or being on or near the outer side or limit
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
above and across; more than
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
whip with a leather thong at the end
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading “Then we will see!
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
past form of “shift” — make a shift in or exchange of
From this reading He shifted the quirt in his hand, clubbing the loaded end over Andrés’s head.
inflected form of “shine” — be bright by reflecting or casting light
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
the bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading “Then we will see!
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The ambushed eyes seemed fairly outside the mask now, so angrily they shone.
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading To beat a little more manners into that thick skull.”
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading “Then we will see!
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading “Then we will see!
Chapter 4 of The Enchanted Burro by Charles Fletcher Lummis holds 440 sentences, grouped into 88 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 440 sentences of The Enchanted Burro, unabridged, divided into 88 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Enchanted Burro by Charles Fletcher Lummis exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 440 sentences, grouped into 88 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 88 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 88 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 Enchanted Burro by Charles Fletcher Lummis on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3408 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #58954 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #58954, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 284 minutes of reading across 682 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Enchanted Burro section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of The Enchanted Burro 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 Enchanted Burro, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
